The Ancient Novel

Ancient forms of the novel are as old as the drama. Many stories which became part of the European traditional literature originated in Egypt. In India the ancient novel most likely began with the Adventures of the Ten Princes by Dandin, who was a Sanskrit in the late part of the 6Th century A.D. The ancient Chinese novel began to develop during the time of the Yuan Dynasty of the 13Th and 14Th centuries; which is full of dramatic content but lacks in characterization. The first notable ancient Japanese novel is The Tale of Genji from the 11Th century. This novel is a very long book which contains a great deal of information about Japanese court society around 1000 A.D. After a long decline the ancient Japanese novel entered a renaissance during the 17Th century, as is seen in the novels by Bakin, Kioden, Saikaku, and Tanechiko. Bakin is probably the most famous of these authors, with his novel Tale of The Eight Dogs as one of the most famous ancient novels in Japanese literature. In the early centuries of Christianity, ancient Greek novels enjoyed considerable popularity. Some of the notable ancient Greek novels are AEthiopica by Heliodorus of Emesa, Syria; the Ephesiaca (which has many parallels to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) by Xenophon of Epheus; Apollohius of Tyre and Clitophon and Leucippe by Achilles Tatius of Alexandria Egypt; and Daphnis and Chloe by the famous Greek author Longus. The most notable ancient novels written in Latin during this time period are the Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, a native of Numidia, and the Satyricon which is considered to be a novel by the Roman author Gaius Petronius Arbiter. The ancient novel lead the way for advancements in the novel during the Middle Ages and Renaissance period.