This timeline shows key texts (literary, cinematic, and TV) and events in the evolution of cultural representations of wolves, werewolves, and wild children. Click on the left and right arrows to move through the history. (We will be continually updating this and are open to suggestions.)
c. 1600–c. 1155 BCE
| The Epic of Gilgamesh |
8th C BCE
| Wolves in the Old Testament: |
| ‘And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them’ (Isaiah 11:6); ‘“The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD’ (Isaiah 65:25) |
7th C BCE
| Romulus and Remus, founding of Rome claimed as 7th C BCE (in Livy, 27-25 BCE) |
6th C BCE
| ‘Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain’ (Ezekiel 22:2). Solon of Athens introduces a 5-drachma bounty for every male wolf killed and 1-drachma for every female. |
4th C BCE
| Aesop’s Fables, ‘The boy who cried wolf’, and others |
3rd C BCE
| Celts start breeding ancestors of Irish wolf-hound. |
80–90 CE
| Wolves in the New Testament: ‘Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves’ (Matthew 7:15); ‘Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves’ (Luke 10: 3). |
late 1st C CE
| Petronius, The Satyricon |
c. 8 CE
| Lycaon in Ovid, Metamorphoses |
80–90 CE
| Wolves in the New Testament: ‘Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves’ (Matthew 7:15); ‘Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves’ (Luke 10: 3). |
800–813 CE
| Charlemagne brings in laws to establish a special corps of wolf hunters. |
12th C CE
| Medieval werewolf romances: Marie de France, Bisclavret; Guillaume de Palerne (became William of Palerne in English, c. 1350). |
13th C. CE
| Odin, Geri, and Freki; Fenrir (Norse myth): Poetic Edda; Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda |
17 Dec. 1483 CE
| Incursion of wolves into the centre of Paris. |
16th C. CE
| Final wolf in England is killed under Henry VII. |
1573
| Gilles Garnier, ‘The Werewolf of Dole’, is found guilty of lycanthropy (including killing and eating children) and witchcraft and put to death by being burnt at the stake. |
1589
| Peter Stumpp (c. 1564–1589), ‘Werewolf of Bedburg, put to death for crimes of lycanthropy including killing and eating his victims. |
1614
| John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi: uses the term ‘lycanthropy’ as the diseases that Ferdinand is suffering from; Ferdinand claims to be ‘hairy on the inside’. |
1630
| First wolf bounty in American settlement introduced at Plymouth Colony. |
1684
| Final wolves killed in Scotland. |
1697
| Charles Perrault, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ |
1712–1775
| ‘The Wild Girl of Champagne’ (Marie-Angelique Memmie Le Blanc) |
1713 (?)–1785
| Peter the Wild Boy of Hanover |
1726
| An Enquiry How The Wild Youth Lately Taken in the Woods Near Hanover (and Now Brought over to England) Could Be Left, and By What Creature He Could Be Suckled |
1729
| Daniel Defoe, Mere Nature Delienated, or a Body without a Soul |
1735
| Linnaeus, Systema Naturae |
1749–1788
| Buffon, Histoire naturelle generale et particuliere, 36 vols |
1764–1767
| Beast of Gevaudan: a ‘monstrous’ wolf who is supposed to have terrorized Gevaudan, France, killing and eating a large number of humans. (Victims number anywhere between 60-210 people). Many people were brought in to hunt this creature. |
1788 (?)–1828
| Victor of Aveyron |
1798
| William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads |
1802
| Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, An Historical Account of the Discovery and Education of a Savage Man: Or, the First Developments, Physical and Moral, of the Young Savage Caught in the Woods Near Aveyron in the Year 1798 |
1806
| Mary Robinson, ‘The Savage of Aveyron’ |
1812-22
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, ‘Little Red Cap’
1824
| Charles Maturin, The Albigenses: a Gothic novel which also features a man claiming to suffer from lycanthropy who is ‘hairy on the inside’. |
1833
| Anselm von Feuerbach, Casper Hause. An Account of an Individual Kept in a Dungeon, Separated from All Communication with the World, from Early Childhood to about the Age of Seventeen |
1839
| Captain Frederick Marryat, ‘The White Wolf of Hartz Mountain’: early (first?) female werewolf |
1857
| George W. M. Reynolds, Wagner the Wehr-Wolf |
1865
| Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Were-Wolves |
1885
| Emily Gerard, ‘Transylvanian Superstitions’, in The Nineteenth Century |
1894
| Kirby Flower Smith, ‘An Historical Study of the Werewolf in Literature’ |
1894, 1895
| Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books |
1896
| Clemence Housman, The Were-Wolf |
1897
| Bram Stoker, Dracula |
1903, 1906
| Jack London, The Call of the Wild and White Fang |
1913
| The Werewolf, dir. by Henry MacRae |
1914
The Legend of the Phantom Tribe, dir. by Henry MacRae The White Wolf, dir. by Barry O’Neil
1915
| US government takes on the responsibility for killing wolves. Official hunters are paid full time. According to Luigi Boitani (a leading wolf biologist), ‘wolf persecution became an irrational obsession with no objective relationship to the actual threat. This is the stuff of which legends of elusive beasts of imaginary cunning and resistance were made: Old Whitey of Bear and Rags the Digger in Colorado, the Truxton Wolf in Arizona, and Three Toes and the Custer Wolf in South Dakota’. |
1927
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
1928
Aino Kallas, The Wolf’s Bride: A Tale from Estonia
1933
Guy Endore, Werewolf of Paris: A Novel
1934
| Final wolves from original population in France seen (potentially); they may have been killed long before this. |
1935
| Werewolf of London, dir. by Stuart Walker |
1941
| The Wolf Man, dir. by George Waggner |
1942
Cat People, dir. by Jacques Tourneur
1943
Red Hot Riding Hood, dir. by Tex Avery
1944
Olaf Stapledon, Sirius
1946
She-Wolf of London, dir. by Jean Yarbrough
1956
The Werewolf, dir. by Fred F. Sears
1957
I Was a Teenage Werewolf, dir. by Gene Fowler Jr
1960
Ted Hughes, Lupercal
1961
The Curse of the Werewolf, dir. by Terence Fisher
1970
| L’Enfant sauvage, dir. by Francois Truffaut (France) |
1972-77
Roy Thomas, Jeanie Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Mike Ploog, Werewolf by Night (Marvel Comics)
1975
Jeder Für Sich Und Gott Gegen Alle [The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser], dir. by Werner Herzog (Germany)
1976
La Lupa Mannara [Werewolf Woman], dir. by Rino Di Silvestro (Italy)
1978
Whitley Strieber, The Wolfen
1979
| Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber |
1981
| An American Werewolf in London, dir. by John Landis |
1981
| Tanith Lee, Lycanthia The Howling, dir. by Joe Dante Wolfen, dir. by Michael Wadleigh |
1982
| Ursula K. Le Guin, ‘The Wife’s Story’ |
1983
Michael Jackson: Thriller, dir. by John Landis
1984
1986
Angela Carter, 'Peter and the Wolf', in Black Venus;
Teen Wolf, dir. by Rod Daniel
1989
S. P. Somtow, Moon Dance
1991
Julia Kristeva, The Old Man and the Wolves;
Dances with Wolves, dir. by Kevin Costner
1993
Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms, Discworld, 15
1993
Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms, Discworld, 15
1994
Kate William, A Date with a Werewolf, Sweet Valley High, 105 Wolf, dir. by Mike Nichols Jill Paton Walsh, Knowledge of Angels
1995
Laurell K. Hamilton, Circus of the Damned, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, 3
1997
Annette Curtis Klause, Blood and Chocolate
1997–2003
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon (TV series)
1997–2007
| J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter series |
2001
Kelly Armstrong, Bitten, Women of the Underworld, 1 Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark, Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire), 1 Ginger Snaps, dir. by John Fawcett Marcus Sedgwick, The Dark Horse
2002
| Michael Morpurgo, The Last Wolf Dog Soldiers, dir. by Neil Marshall |
2003
| Neil Gaiman, The Wolves in the Walls, ill. by Dave McKean |
2004
Kim Harrison,Dead Witch Walking, The Hollows, 1
2005
Carrie Vaughn, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Norville, 1
2005–2008
| Stephenie Meyer, Twilight series |
2006
Keri Arthur, Full Moo Rising, Riley Jenson Guardain, 1 Kresley Cole, A Hunger Like No Other, Immortals After Dark, 2
2007
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, The Shadowhunter Chronicles: The Mortal Instruments, 1 Rachel Vincent, Stray, Shifters
2008
Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth
2008–2013
Being Human, created by Toby Whithouse (TV series)
2008–2014
True Blood, created by Alan Ball (TV series)
2011–2017
Teen Wolf, created by Jeff Davis (TV series)
2009
Gail Carriger, Soulless, The Parasol Protectorate, 1 Patricia Briggs, Cry Wolf, Alpha and Omega, 1
2009–2011
| Maggie Stiefvater, The Wolves of Mercy Falls series |
2010
Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Raised by Wolves, Raised by Wolves, 1 Jackson Pearce, Sisters Red, Fairytale Retellings, 1 Martin Millar, Lonely Werewolf Girl, Lonely Werewolf Girl, 1 The Wolfman, dir. by Joe Johnston
2011
Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf Red Riding Hood, dir. by Catherine Hardwicke
2012
Anne Rice, The Wolf Gift, The Wolf Gift Chronicles, 1 Ôkami Kodomo No Ame to Yuki [Wolf Children], dir. by Mamoru Hosoda
2013
Benjamin Percy, Red Moon
2019
Stephen King, Cycle of the Werewolf