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Bak (Assamese aqueous creature); Bakeneko and Nekomata (cat); Boto Encantado (river dolphin); Itachi (weasel or marten); Jorōgumo and Tsuchigumo (spider); Kitsune, Huli Jing, hồ ly tinh and Kumiho (fox)
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism , as well as the oldest existent literature and epic poems such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Iliad .
Empusa or Empousa (/ ɛ m ˈ p j uː s ə /; [1] Ancient Greek: Ἔμπουσα; plural: Ἔμπουσαι Empousai) is a shape-shifting female being in Greek mythology, said to possess a single leg of copper, commanded by Hecate, whose precise nature is obscure. [2]
Pages in category "Shapeshifters in Greek mythology" The following 29 pages are in this category, out of 29 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. A.
Stories of shapeshifting within Greek context are old, having been part of the mythological corpus as far back as the Iliad of Homer. Usually those legends include mortals being changed as punishment from a god, or as a reward for their good deeds. In other tales, gods take different forms in order to test or deceive some mortal.
A typical folk-tale is that of a man who steals a female selkie's skin, finds her naked on the sea shore, and compels her to become his wife. [18] But the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean.
Cerberus – A Greek mythological dog that guarded the gates of the underworld, almost always portrayed with three heads and occasionally having a mane of serpents, as well as the front half of one for a tail. Drakaina – A female species from Greek mythology that is draconic in nature, primarily depicted as a woman with dragon features.
Male and female werewolves being executed in a broadside, Werewolves from Jülich, printed by Georg Kress, 1591.. In mythology and literature, a werewoman or were-woman is a woman who has taken the form of an animal through a process of lycanthropy.