Nebuchadnezzar

Babylonian king (reigned 605-562 B.C.E.) (Byers, 1998) who built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Comay, 1995; Gardner, 1995), and who was punished for his pride and vanity by being afflicted with a mental disorder akin to the modern concept of lycanthropy (Durante, 2006; Garlipp, Godecke-Koch, Dietrich & Haltenhof, 2004; Hays, 2007; Krafft-Ebbing, 1903; Souvay, 1911; Stone, 2006; Tischler, 2006; Tuke, 1892), believing for seven years that he had been turned into an ox (Daniel 4:33, King James Bible):

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

This is archaeologically confirmed by the discovery of a bronze door-step, which bears an inscription stating that it was presented by Nebuchadnezzar to the temple at Borsippa as an offering because of his recovery from illness. Unfortunately his recovery was not long-lived, as he died a year later (Tabouis & Hanotaux, 1931).

Nebuchadnezzar by William Blake (date unknown)

References:

Byers, P.K. (Ed.) (1998). Encyclopedia of world biography. (2nd edition). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.

Comay, J. (1995). Who’s who in the Old Testament. London, England: Routledge.

Durante, C. (2006). On the existence of werewolves. Philosophy Now 57, 22-24.

Gardner, P. (Ed.) (1995). The complete who’s who in the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Garlipp, P., Godecke-Koch, T., Dietrich, D.E., & Haltenhof, H. (2004). Lycanthropy – psychopathological and psychodynamical aspects. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 109: 19–22.

Hays, C.B. (2007). Chirps from the dust: the affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:30 in its ancient Near Eastern context.  Journal of Biblical Literature 126, 2, 305-325.

Krafft-Ebbing, R. von (1903). Textbook of insanity: Based on clinical observations. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.

Souvay, C. (1911). Nabuchodonosor. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10666c.htm

Stone, M.H. (2006). History of schizophrenia and its antecedents. In Lieberman, J.A., Stroup, T.S., & Perkins, D.O. The American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of schizophrenia. Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.

Tabouis, G.R., & Hanotaux, G. (1931). Nebuchadnezzar. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing.

Tischler, N.M. (Ed.) (2006). All things in the Bible. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.

Tuke, D.H. (1892). A dictionary of psychological medicine. Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakiston Son & Co.