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Wadi Tidwa, in Messak Mellet, is the home of some of the strangest rock paintings and engravings of the Libyan Sahara.
Powerfully expressive and rich in unknown mythology.
The Lycaon Man engraving, from Wadi Tidwa (Tidoua), Messak Mellet.
The art of the Messak Mellet and Messak Settafet is wonderfully explored by Rudiger and Gabriele Lutz in their fantastic book "The Secret
Of The Desert, The Rock Art of Messak
Sattafet And Messak Mellet (1995)".
In page 158, they wrote:
"Lycaon man (width 50, height 72), Wadi Tidoua. 11RV22
Bas-relief of a lycaon man with an oversized head. The creature has human
features. It carries an emblem, probably a lion head. Only in engravings
of the southern Messak Mellet do such figures convey the impression of
worldly chiefs having appropriated the power of the lycaon – the mystical
“Robusta”.
The Lycaon man chasing an elephant?
The name lycaon comes from Greek lukos (wolf) + anthropos (man):
the transformation of a human being into a wolf, or Lycanthropy. In populat folklore, Werewolf (wer ‘man’
+ wulf ‘wolf’) is a person who takes the shape of a wolf. Can we draw a connection between the two? Dows the story has its origin in the Sahara? Most probably yes.
An engraving of an ostrich?
Mystical woman performing some sort of a ritual or ceremony!
Hippopotamus engraving from Wadi Tidwa.
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