Lycastus

The name Lycastus appears in multiple, distinct mythic accounts. In Cretan genealogies he is cited as a son of Minos (Minos I) and Itone, husband of Ida (daughter of Corybas) and father of a later Minos (Minos II), functioning as a dynastic link in Cretan royal succession. In Arcadian tradition a Lycastus is one of twin sons of Ares and Phylonome who were cast into the river Erymanthus, survived, were suckled by a she‑wolf and raised by the shepherd Gyliphus before inheriting the throne of Arcadia. Other mentions treat Lycastus as an autochthonic eponym for a town in Crete or as a mortal lover (the suitor of Eulimene) in a sacrificial narrative. The sources present these as separate local or literary personages rather than a single coherent biography.

The sources provide no sustained physical description beyond human form. Where infancy is narrated (the Arcadian twin version), Lycastus as an exposed infant is washed ashore into the hollow of an oak and temporarily suckled by a she‑wolf; this episode concerns his early survival and fosterage and does not describe any lasting non‑human appearance or transformation. In genealogical listings and eponymic accounts he is portrayed as a conventional legendary king or founder without distinctive physical attributes recorded in the cited material.

Ancient texts and reference compilations do not ascribe supernatural powers to Lycastus. His depicted roles are social and narrative: dynastic progenitor (Cretan king and father of Minos II), exposed-foundling who attains kingship (Arcadian twin raised after she‑wolf fosterage), a thwarted lover attempting to prevent a sacrificial death (Eulimene), and an eponymic ancestor explaining a place‑name. These behaviors are political, familial, and narrative rather than manifestations of magical abilities.