Academic Research: Werewolf Origin

Based on my previous research posts, namely where I decided to make a film within the fantasy horror genre, I have concluded that the best thing to do would be to set my film sequence in the past. I have decided to go with the 1700's as I feel that the look will be adequate in terms of fashion and the naivety of the times. Creating an effective juxtaposition between the monsters of the night and the monsters of society.

Before I can pin down the story it's important to get some back-story on my monsters. Where they came from and the general response they caused in their unsuspecting victims.

Poems and Quotes from literary texts...

In Poetry one of the first mentions of Werewolves was in Ovids Metamorphoses
"He himself ran in terror, and reaching the silent fields howled aloud, frustrated of speech. Foaming at the mouth, and greedy as ever for killing, he turned against the sheep, still delighting in blood. His clothes became bristling hair, his arms became legs. He was a wolf, but kept some vestige of his former shape." - Book I:199-243. Translation by A.S. Kline.
http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.html

This poem written in the times of the Romans around 17 or 18 BC crushes all notions of  Werewolves being existent from the 1500's. It does though give a depiction of what a werewolf can look like... Keeping its human shape as it became a beast.

Pictures showing the visuals of stories as well as early sightings in history...

Vergilius Solis (1514-1562) 

Brooks Nathan, Metamorphosen, 1849

18th Century engravings of Werewolves.....

This has given me a better idea in terms of characteristics how I should portray the Werewolf I intend to create for my piece. Mean and unforgiving, raw and savagely.