List of historical fiction by time period

This list of historical fiction is designed to provide examples of notable works of historical fiction (in literature, film, comics, etc.) organized by time period.

For a more exhaustive list of historical novels by period, see Category:Historical novels by setting, which lists relevant Wikipedia categories; see also the larger List of historical novels, which is organized by country, as well as the more general Category:Historical novels and Category:Historical fiction.

Novels

Set in Prehistory (c. 30,000 BC – 3000 BC)

Set in Classical Antiquity (c. 3000 BC – 500 AD)

Set in the Middle Ages (c. AD 500 – 1500)

Set in the Early Modern Period (c. 1500 – 1760)

Set during the Industrial Revolution and Napoleonic era (c. 1760 – 1850)

Set during recent history (c. 1850 – 1950)

Theatre

Set 2000 BC – 600 AD

• Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
• Britannicus by Jean Racine
• Caligula by Albert Camus
• Cato, a Tragedy by Joseph Addison
• The Death of Pompey by Pierre Corneille
• Socrates on Trial by Andrew David Irvine
• Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw
• The Siege of Numantia by Miguel de Cervantes
• Salome by Oscar Wilde

Set 600 AD – 1550

• St Joan by George Bernard Shaw
• William Shakespeare's English history plays
• Edward II, Tamburlaine, and The Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe
• Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello
• In Extremis: The Story of Abelard & Heloise and Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton
• The Jester's Supper by Sem Benelli
• Marie Tudor by Victor Hugo
• Götz von Berlichingen by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot

Set after 1550

• Egmont and Torquato Tasso by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Mary Stuart and Demetrius by Friedrich Schiller
• Cross and Sword by Paul Green
• Cromwell by Victor Hugo

Opera

Set 3000 BC – 600 AD

• Aida and Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi
• Akhnaten by Philip Glass
• Cléopâtre and Hérodiade by Jules Massenet
• Mosè in Egitto by Gioachino Rossini
• Giulio Cesare by George Frideric Handel
• Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz
• Sapho by Charles Gounod
• L'Olimpiade by Metastasio
• Germanicus by Georg Philipp Telemann

Set 600 AD – 1800

• Gustave III by Daniel Auber
• Henry VIII by Camille Saint-Saëns
• William Tell by Gioachino Rossini
• Les Huguenots and Le prophète by Giacomo Meyerbeer
• Fosca and Salvator Rosa by Antônio Carlos Gomes
• Fernand Cortez by Gaspare Spontini
• Thérèse by Jules Massenet
• Le roi l'a dit by Léo Delibes
• Tamerlano and Rodelinda by George Frideric Handel
• Les Abencérages by Luigi Cherubini
• Montezuma by Roger Sessions
• Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi

Films and television

Set in Prehistory (c. 30,000 BC – 3000 BC)

• 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968. First section.
• Iceman 2017

Poetry

• The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron: Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, 8th century BC
• The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold: life of Gautama Buddha, 6th or 5th century BC
• The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: reign of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus in Rome, 6th century BC
• Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay: Horatius Cocles vs Lars Porsena, Rome, 6th century BC
• Roderick the Last of the Goths by Robert Southey: reign of Roderic, 8th century Hispania
• King Alfred by John Fitchett: reign of Alfred the Great, 9th century England
• The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton: reign of Alfred the Great, 9th century England
• The Saga of King Olaf by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: reign of Olaf Tryggvason, 10th century Norway
• Madoc by Robert Southey: legend of Madoc, 12th century Wales
• Isabella, or the Pot of Basil and The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats: European Middle Ages
• Marmion by Sir Walter Scott: reign of Henry VIII of England & the Battle of Flodden, 1513
• The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Battle of Flores, 1591
• Bonnie Dundee by Sir Walter Scott: Viscount Dundee and the Jacobite rising of 1689
• Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755–1764)
• Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: American Revolutionary War (1775)
• Battle of Niagara by John Neal: War of 1812

Comics

Prehistoric

• Rahan by Roger Lecureux and Jean-François Lecureux
• Akim by Roberto Renzi

Ancient

• 300 by Frank Miller
• Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower

Wuxia manhua

• Three Kingdoms by Yū Terashima
• Fung Wan by Ma Wing-shing
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Andy Seto
• The Ravages of Time by Chan Mou
• Threads of Time by Noh Mi-young
• Ying Xiong Wu Lei by Ma Wing Shing

Samurai manga

• Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki
• Azumi by Yū Koyama
• Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike

See also

• List of historical novels
• List of historical novelists
• List of historical video games
• List of fiction set in ancient Greece
• List of fiction set in ancient Rome

External links

• Database of German historical novels
• Historical Fiction database, divided by time period.
• A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales by Jonathan Nield (1902). Project Gutenberg etext (accessed 05-2014)
• A selection of historical novels set by epoch and author. (accessed 08-2010)

This page was last edited on 1 April 2024, at 09:02