It is known that Apollo was linked to wolves and Artemis alongside with him (as Lycea in Troezena). One one his cult titles was Lyceios. It is easy to understand as they were sylvan deities and the wolf is an animal most characteristic of the the forest world and a symbol of hunting.Apollo was a patron god of Sparta.

Cartledge proposed that 'Lycourgos'could be a projection of Apollo, the particular wolfish aspect of him that gave the laws to the Spartans, as his name means 'wolf worker'.

The fact is that the wolves had many qualities that were ideals for the Spartans;such properties were easier observed by the Spartans in the open wilderness where they lived (Sparta was never really urbanised). They loved hunting like their patron gods, Apollo and Artemis, due to the fact that hunting is a martial sport that sharpens one's martial skills. The wolves are perfect predators. The Spartans must have seen in the social structure of the pack elements very close to their own that were the founding stone of their political edifice. Namely, its monarchic leadership that must continueously provide proof of its worthiness and the collective work that ensured the packs survival. Wolfs have to rely on collaboration and coordination to hunt down animals bigger than their size. As for the Spartans, it wasn't size that mattered but coordination, hierarchy, each 'wolf' knowing its part.

But wolfs are loners as well and are capable of spending a time on their own before joining or creating a new Pack (=agele in Greek). It could be that in their final initiatory practice,the Crypteia, the Spartans were imitating the Ways of the Lonely Wolf.We should not forget that their whole agoge(=upbringing)was that of a cub intended to be a hunter (wolf cubs are the general object of attention by all members of the pack, as the Spartans were encouraged to think of all elders as their fathers and not only their personal family).One of the age divisions of the young Spartans was also called 'agele'=pack.

Now whether Apollo was thought to have given the Laws that 'worked' Sparta into a fierce 'lycanthropic' society, we cannot say. But we can see that their ideals where closely resounding the lifestyle of the wolves they observed in the wilderness;they must have feared and admired them likewise for their independence, fierceness, obedience to the leader, coordination and collaboration and most of all the instinct of survival.

It should be remembered that the Romans tried to genetically link themselves with the Spartans (a preposterous fiction similar to modern FYROM's claim of Macedonic descent).Whether they knew of a Spartan admiration for the wolf society (we are not aware of today) and which they linked to their aetiological myth of Remus and Romulus and the she-wolf it is hard to say.But the exposure of children in the Apothetai to the mercy of the wolves (wolves are renowned for upbringing foreign cubs)provides an interesting historical parallel.

In conclusion, the Wolf must have had an eminent place in Spartan lore, we are not aware of today and can only suppose through mere conjecture.