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(Click on the date for the reference source, and on the entry for an article on the subject. Please note only underlined items have entries written for them.)
| 75,000 b.c.e. | "Discoveries of the earliest human altars reveal evidence of bear, wolf, and other animals cults. The identification of humans or gods with animals is one of the most common elements of myth and religion." |
| 6000 b.c.e. | "Cave drawings in Catal Huyuk depict hunters draped in leopard skins, thus demonstrating how early humans learned to hunt by aping animal predators." |
| 2000 b.c.e. | "Suggested date when the Epic of Gilgamish was written down, giving us, in the character of Enkidu the first literary expression of a werewolflike creature." |
| 850 b.c.e. | "Suggested date for Homer's Odyssey, a work filled with accounts of werecreatures and shapeshifters, such as Circe, who transformed her lovers into swine." |
| Circa 753 b.c.e. | Rome founded; supposedly by Romulus and Remus, who were suckled by a she-wolf. |
| Circa 700 b.c.e. | Celtic civilization emerged in Austria; the so-called Hallstatt culture. |
| Circa 550 b.c.e. | Buddha lived about this time. So also did Confucius and Lao Tse. |
| 438 b.c.e. | Herodotus recited his History in Athens. |
| 427 b.c.e. | Aristophanes began his career. Plato born. He lived to 347. |
| 214 b.c.e. | Great Wall of China begun. |
| 186 b.c.e. | The Roman version of the rite of Dionysos, the Bacchanalia, became so notorious for licence that it was outlawed by the Senate. |
| 44 b.c.e. | Julius Caesar assassinated. |
| 247 | Goths cross Danube in great raid. |
| 743 | The law helped transfer the characteristics of evil spirits to human witches. The Pagans had set out offerings of food and drink for minor spirits. The Synod of Rome assumed that these spirits were demons and outlawed the offerings. Shortly thereafter these demons began to be called witches. |
| Circa 900 | The most important legal document of the early Middle Ages relating to witchcraft is issued; the Canon Episcopi. |
An Irish coven led by Dame Alice Kyteler was tried by the Bishop of Ossory for worshiping a Non-Christian god. |
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First documentation of the Masonic Fraternity in the Regius Poem. |
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Joan of Arc was popularly bruited as a sorceress and originally alleged a witch, but she was officially condemned as a heretic and was burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic. |
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The Malleus Maleficarum, "the Hammer of the Witches," was produced by Dominicans Kramer and Springer, two of Pope Innocentıs Inquisitors. |
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The Inquisition records interrogations that speak of the "Benandanti;" the "wolf witches" of Italy. |
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The first statute against witchcraft in England was passed by Parliament towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII, and it was soon revoked in 1547. |
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A new statute against witchcraft was issued under Elizabeth I, ordering the death penalty for witches, enchanters, and sorcerers. These individuals were to be prosecuted under civil, not ecclesiastical law, and for this reason witches in England were always hanged rather burnt as on the continent. |
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1604 |
James the Sixth of Scotland convinced Parliament to pass his new act changing the emphasis from the Malleficarum to "a pact with the Devil" type thinking, to heighten the acts against Witches. By the end of his reign even though his attitude had changed, his act remained in effect until 1736. |
| 1692 | The trial of a Livonian werewolf took place at Jurgensburg, his name was Thiess an old man in his eighties. The old man emphatically rejected the notion that werewolves were the servants of the devil. He told his inquisitors that the devil was their enemy to the point that they, just like dogs -- because werewolves were indeed the hounds of God -- pursued the devil, tracked him down, and scourged him with whips of iron. |
14 Dec 1692 |
The Massachusetts General Counsel enacted the 1604 bill to give "more particular direction in the execution of the laws against Witchcraft." It remained Massachusetts Law until 1695. |
