In Greek mythology, Charon, the ferryman, wore wolf ears. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar had the power to turn enemies into wolves.

Hecate, the goddess of Death, was shown as wearing three wolf heads. In another Greek myth, a king named Lycaon was turned into a wolf by the god Zeus. (the name Lycaon survives today, in the gray wolf subspecies Canis Lupius Lycoan, the eastern timber wolf.)

The Athenians had great respect for the wolf and decreed that any man who killed one had to pay for the funeral for the animal.