List of fiction set in ancient Greece

There is a body of ancient and modern fiction set in ancient Greece and ancient Greek culture, including Magna Graecia and Hellenistic kingdoms. Titles include:

Books[edit]

Bronze Age and mythistoricals[edit]

Atlantis[edit]

• Poul Anderson, The Dancer from Atlantis (1971)

Crete[edit]

Daedalus[edit]

• Michael Ayrton
  • The Testament of Daedalus (1962)
  • The Maze Maker (1967)
• Erick Berry, Winged Girl of Knossos (1933)
• Ernst Schnabel, Story for Icarus (1958)

Theseus, Ariadne, Circe, Phaedra[edit]

• Eleanor Farjeon, Ariadne and the Bull (1945)
• André Gide, Theseus (1946)
• Roger Lancelyn Green, Mystery at Mycenae (1957)
• Madeline Miller, Circe (2018)
• Steven Pressfield, Last of the Amazons (2002)
• Mary Renault, "Thesead"
  • The King Must Die (1958)
  • The Bull from the Sea (1962)
• Tony Robinson & Richard Curtis, Theseus: The King Who Killed the Minotaur (1988)
• Fred Saberhagen, Ariadne's Web (2000)
• Ian Serraillier, The Way of Danger (1962)
• Althea Urn, Five Miles from Candia (1959)

Miscellaneous Minoan[edit]

• Moyra Caldecott, The Lily and the Bull (1979)
• Paul Capon, The Kingdom of the Bulls (1961)
• Kristmann Gudmundsson, Winged Citadel (1940)
• Nikos Kazantzakis, At the Palaces of Knossos (1981)
• Dmitri Merezhkovsky, The Birth of the Gods (1924)
• S.V. Peddle (Vince Peddle & Sandra Peddle), The Moon Maiden (2003)
• Richard Purtill
  • The Golden Gryphon Feather (1979)
  • The Stolen Goddess (1980)
• Thomas Burnett Swann
  • The Forest of Forever (1971)
  • Cry Silver Bells (1977)
  • The Day of the Minotaur (1966)
• James Watson, The Bull Leapers (1970)

Hercules, Jason et al.[edit]

• Ivor Bannet, The Amazons (1948)
• Otar Chiladze, A Man Was Going Down the Road (1973)
• John Gregory Betancourt
  • Hercules: The Gates of Hades (2001)
  • Hercules: The Vengeance of Hera (1997)
  • Hercules: The Wrath of Poseidon (1997)
• Ken Catran, Voyage with Jason (2000)
• Keith DeCandido
  • Cheiron's Warriors (1999)
  • The Ares Alliance (2000)
• Tobias Druitt, Corydon and the Island of Monsters (2005)
• Robert Graves, The Golden Fleece (U.K.) aka Hercules, My Shipmate (U.S.) (1945)
• Kerry Greenwood, Medea (1997)
• Edison Marshall, Earth Giant (1960)
• Fred Saberhagen
  • God of the Golden Fleece (2001)
  • The Arms of Hercules (2000)
  • The Face of Apollo (1999)
• Ian Serraillier, The Clashing Rocks (1963)
• Miranda Seymour, Medea (1972)
• Henry Treece, Jason (1961)
• Christa Wolf, Medea: A Novel (1998)
• Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris, Jason and the Gorgon's Blood (2004)

Trojan War[edit]

• Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls (2018)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Firebrand (1987)
• Nancy Bogen, Klytaimnestra, Who Stayed at Home (1980)
• Lindsay Clarke, The War at Troy (2004)
• Elizabeth Cook, Achilles (2003)
• Caroline B. Cooney, Goddess of Yesterday (2002) (aka On the Seas to Troy, UK, 2004)
• Donald Cotton, The Myth Makers, a Doctor Who serial (1965)
• Gordon Doherty
  • The Crimson Throne (2021)
  • The Shadow of Troy (2021)
  • The Dark Earth (2022)
• Bernard Evslin, The Trojan War (1971)
• David Gemmell
  • Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow (2005)
  • Troy: Shield of Thunder (2006)
• Adèle Geras, Troy (2000)
• Noel B. Gerson, The Trojan (1962)
• Roger Lancelyn Green, The Luck of Troy (1961)
• Judith Hand, The Amazon and the Warrior (2004)
• Terence Hawkins, The Rage of Achilles (2009)
• Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships (2019)
• Tom Holland, The Poison in the Blood (2006)
• Jack Lindsay, Cressida's First Lover (1931)
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi, The Talisman of Troy (2004)
• Colleen McCullough, The Song of Troy (1998)
• Maude Meagher, The Green Scamander (1933)
• Mark Merlis, An Arrow's Flight (1998)
• Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles (2011)
• Christopher Morley, The Trojan Horse (1937)
• Phillip Parotti
  • The Greek Generals Talk (1986)
  • The Trojan Generals Talk (1988)
• Richard Powell, Whom the Gods Would Destroy (1970)
• Laura Riding, A Trojan Ending (1937)
• S.P. Somtow, The Shattered Horse (1986)
• S. M. Stirling
  • Against the Tide of Years (1999)
  • On the Oceans of Eternity (2000)
• Rex Stout, The Great Legend (1916)
• Henry Treece, The Windswept City (1967)
• Barry Unsworth, The Songs of the Kings (2002)
• Tyrone Walls, To Die Like an Amazon (2002)

Helen[edit]

• John Erskine, The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1925)
• Margaret George, Helen of Troy (2006)
• H. Rider Haggard & Andrew Lang, The World's Desire (1890)
• Eva Hemmer Hansen, Scandal in Troy (1956)
• Kevin Mathews, Helen of Troy (1965)
• Richard Purtill, The Mirror of Helen (1983)
• Miranda Seymour, Goddess (1979)
• Edward Lucas White, Helen (1925)

Cassandra[edit]

• Hilary Bailey, Cassandra, Princess of Troy (1993)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Firebrand (1987)
• Kerry Greenwood, Cassandra (1995)
• Ursule Molinaro, The Autobiography of Cassandra, Princess and Prophetess of Troy (1979)
• Georgia Sallaska, Priam's Daughter (1970)
• Christa Wolf, Cassandra (1983)

Odysseus[edit]

• John Arden, Cogs Tyrannic (1991)
• Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad (2005)
• Lindsay Clarke, The Return from Troy (2005)
• H. C. Crew, The Lost King (1929)
• John Erskine, Penelope's Man: The Homing Instinct (1928)
• François Fénelon, The Adventures of Telemachus (1699)
• Adèle Geras, Ithaka (2000)
• Robert Graves, Homer's Daughter (1955)
• Eyvind Johansson, Return to Ithaca (1952)
• Eden Phillpotts, Circé's Island (1926)
• Tony Robinson & Richard Curtis
  • Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All (1986)
  • Odysseus: The Journey through Hell (1987)
• Paul Shipton, The Pig Scrolls (2004)
• Ernst Schnabel, The Voyage Home (1958)
• Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris, Odysseus in the Serpent Maze (2001)

Miscellaneous Mycenaean[edit]

• John Barth, Chimera (1972)
• Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1993)
• Paul Capon
  • Warrior's Moon (1960)
  • Lord of the Chariots (1962)
• Maurice Druon, The Memoirs of Zeus (1964)
• John Erskine, Venus: The Lonely Goddess (1949)
• Jackie French, Oracle (2010)
• Roger Lancelyn Green, The Land Beyond the North (1958)
• Kerry Greenwood, Electra (1996)
• Victoria Grossack & Alice Underwood, Iokaste (2004)
• Pierre Louys, The Twilight of The Nymphs (1928)
• Ursule Molinaro, Power Dreamers: The Jocasta Complex (1995)
• Phillip Parotti, Fires in the Sky (1990)
• John Cowper Powys, Atlantis (1954)
• Steven Pressfield, Last of the Amazons (2002)
• Mary Ray
  • Standing Lions (1968)
  • Shout against the Wind (1970)
  • Song of Thunder (1978)
  • The Golden Bees (1984)
• Georgia Sallaska
  • Three Ships and Three Kings (1969)
  • The Last Heracles (1974)
• Gladys Schmitt, Electra (1966)
• Ian Serraillier, The Gorgon's Head (1961)
• George Shipway
  • Warrior in Bronze (1977)
  • King in Splendour (1979)
• Henry Treece
  • The Golden One (1961)
  • Electra (1963)
  • Oedipus (1964)

Based on a television program[edit]

• Mel Odom, Young Hercules (1999)

Archaic Greece[edit]

Sappho[edit]

• Peter Green, The Laughter of Aphrodite (1965)
• Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap (2003)
• Martha Rofheart, Burning Sappho (1974)
• Thomas Burnett Swann, Wolfwinter (1972)

Aesop[edit]

• John Vornholt, The Fabulist (1993)

Miscellaneous Archaic[edit]

• Georg Ebers, An Egyptian Princess (1864)
• Ernst Eckstein, Aphrodite (1886)
• Nigel Frith, Olympiad (1988)
• Tom Holt, Olympiad (2000)
• David Pownall, The Sphinx and the Sybarites (1993)
• Mary Ray, The Voice of Apollo (1964)
• Mary Renault, The Praise Singer (1979)
• George R. Stewart, Years of the City (1955)
• Ivan Yefremov, The Land of Foam (1958)

5th century BCE[edit]

Persian Wars[edit]

• John Buchan, The Moon Endureth (short story "The Lemnian") (1912)
• John Burke, The Lion of Sparta (1961)
• Christian Cameron, The Long War
  • Killer of Men (2010)
  • Marathon (2011)
  • Poseidon's Spear (2012)
  • The Great King (2014)
  • Salamis (2015)
  • The Rage of Ares (2016)
• William Stearns Davis, A Victor of Salamis: A Tale of the Days of Xerxes, Leonidas, and Themistocles (1907)
• Clare Winger Harris, Persephone of Eleusis (1923)
• Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pausanias, the Spartan (1873)
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Spartan (2002)
• Jon Edward Martin, In Kithairon's Shadow (2003)
• Roderick Milton, Tell Them in Sparta (1962)
• Margarett Mirley
  • The Leave-Takers (2004)
  • Dream-Thoughts (2004)
  • Trysts (2004)
• Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire (1998)
• Mary Renault, The Lion in the Gateway (1964)
• Caroline Snedeker
  • The Perilous Seat (1923)
  • The Spartan (1911)
• L. Sprague de Camp, The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate (1961)
• Gore Vidal, Creation (1982)
• Jill Paton Walsh, Farewell, Great King (1972)
• Gene Wolfe
  • Soldier of the Mist (1986)
  • Soldier of Arete (1989)
  • Soldier of Sidon (2006)

Pericles and/or Aspasia[edit]

• Gertrude Atherton, The Immortal Marriage (1927)
• Taylor Caldwell, Glory and the Lightning (1974)
• Robert Hamerling, Aspasia (1875)
• W. Savage Landor, Pericles and Aspasia (1836)
• Margery Lawrence, The Gate of Yesterday (1960)
• Rex Warner, Pericles the Athenian (1963)

Alcibiades[edit]

• Gertrude Atherton, The Jealous Gods (1928)
• Charles H. Bromby, Alkibiades (1905)
• Daniel Chavarría, The Eye of Cybele (2002)
• Anna Bowman Dodd, On the Knees of the Gods (1908)
• Peter Green, Achilles His Armour (1955)
• Gertrude R. Levy, The Violet Crown (1954)
• M. Pardoe, Argle's Oracle (1959)
• Steven Pressfield, Tides of War (2000)
• Rosemary Sutcliff, The Flowers of Adonis (1969)

Socrates[edit]

• Paul Levinson, The Plot to Save Socrates (2006)
• Cora Mason, Socrates (1953)
• Fritz Mauthner, Mrs. Socrates (1926)
• Mary Renault, The Last of the Wine (1956)
• Geoffrey Trease, The Crown of Violet aka Web of Traitors (U.S.) (1952)

Miscellaneous 5th century[edit]

• A. J. Church, Callias: A Tale of the Fall of Athens (1892)
• I. O. Evans, Olympic Runner (1955)
• Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters (1996)
• Tom Holt, Walled Orchard series
  • Goatsong: A Novel of Ancient Athens (1989)
  • The Walled Orchard (1991)
• John Galen Howard, Pheidias (1929)
• Noel Langley, Nymph in Clover (1948)
• Edward Leatham, Charmione: A Tale of the Great Athenian Revolution (1859)
• Jon Edward Martin, Shades of Artemis (2004)
• Iona McGregor, The Snake and the Olive (1974)
• Naomi Mitchison, Cloud Cuckoo Land (1925)
• George Moore, Aphrodite in Aulis (1931)
• Nicholas Nicastro, The Isle of Stone: A Novel of Ancient Sparta (2005)
• Jan Parandowski, The Olympic Discus (1939)
• Mary Renault
  • The Mask of Apollo (1966)
  • The Praise Singer (1978)
• Caroline Snedeker, Theras and His Town (1925)
• José Carlos Somoza, The Athenian Murders (2002)
• Henry De Vere Stacpoole, The Street of the Flute-Player (1912)
• Arthur S. Way, Sons of the Violet-Crowned (1929)
• Christoph Martin Wieland,
  • The Story of Agathon (1766-7)
  • The Republic of Fools (1774)
• Frank Yerby, Goat Song (1967)

4th century BCE[edit]

Xenophon[edit]

• Michael Curtis Ford, The Ten Thousand (2001)
• Xenophon of Ephesus, Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes (2nd century)

Alexander the Great[edit]

• Anna Apostolou
  • A Murder in Macedon (1997)
  • A Murder in Thebes (1998)
• Konrad Bercovici, Alexander (1928)
• Ben Bova, Orion and the Conqueror (1994)
• Mary Butts, The Macedonian (1933)
• Christian Cameron, God of War (2012)
• A. J. Church, A Young Macedonian in the Army of Alexander the Great (1890)
• Paul C. Doherty
  • The House of Death (2001)
  • The Godless Man (2002)
  • The Gates of Hell (2003)
• Maurice Druon (Maurice Kessel), Alexander the God (1960)
• David Gemmell
  • Lion of Macedon (1990)
  • Dark Prince (1993)
• Tom Holt, Alexander at the World's End (1999)
• Nikos Kazantzakis, Alexander the Great (1941)
• Harold Lamb, Alexander of Macedon (1946)
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi
  • Alexander: Child of a Dream (2001)
  • Alexander: The Sands of Ammon (2001)
  • Alexander: The Ends of the Earth (2001)
• Klaus Mann, Alexander: a Novel of Utopia 1929)
• Edison Marshall, The Conqueror (1962)
• Aubrey Menen, A Conspiracy of Women (1965)
• Naomi Mitchison, The Young Alexander the Great (1960)
• Marshall Monroe Kirkman
  • Iskander (1903)
  • The Romance of Alexander and Roxana (1909)
  • The Romance of Alexander the King (1909)
• Nicholas Nicastro, Empire of Ashes (2004)
• Scott Oden, Memnon (2006)
• Robert Payne, Alexander the God (1954)
• Steven Pressfield, The Virtues of War (2005)
• Mary Renault, Alexander trilogy
  • Fire from Heaven (1969) — the early life of Alexander the Great
  • The Persian Boy (1972) — Alexander the Great after his conquest of Persia
  • Funeral Games (1981) — the successors of Alexander
• Katherine Roberts, The Mausoleum Murder (2003)
• Melissa Scott, A Choice of Destinies (1986)
• Judith Tarr
  • Lord of the Two Lands (1993)
  • Queen of the Amazons (2004)
• Jakob Wasserman, Alexander in Babylon (1949)
• Ivan Yefremov, Thais of Athens (1972)

Miscellaneous 4th century[edit]

• Gillian Bradshaw, The Sand-Reckoner (2000) about Archimedes
• Bryher, Gate to the Sea (1958)
• Margaret Doody, Aristotle and Stephanos series
  • Aristotle Detective (1978)
  • Aristotle and the Fatal Javelin (1980)
  • Aristotle and Poetic Justice (2000)
  • Aristotle and the Secrets of Life (2002)
  • Anello di bronzo ("Ring of Bronze") (2003)
  • Poison in Athens (2004)
  • Mysteries of Eleusis (2005)
• John Gardner, The Wreckage of Agathon (1970)
• Noel Gerson, The Golden Lyre (1963)
• William Kotzwinkle, Night Book (1974)
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Tyrant (2005)
• Ursule Molinaro, The New Moon with the Old Moon in Her Arms (1990)
• Mary Renault, Mask of Apollo (1966)
• Katherine Roberts, The Olympic Conspiracy (2004)
• Barnaby Ross, The Scrolls of Lysis (1962)
• José Carlos Somoza, The Athenian Murders (2002)
• L. Sprague de Camp
  • The Arrows of Hercules (1965)
  • An Elephant for Aristotle (1958)
• F. Van Wyck Mason, Lysander (1957)
• Peter Vansittart, A Choice of Murder (1992)

Hellenistic[edit]

• Gillian Bradshaw, The Sand-Reckoner (2000)
• Chariton of Aphrodisias, Chaereas and Callirhoe (1st century)
• Christian Cameron
  • Tyrant (2008)
  • Storm of Arrows (2009)
  • Funeral Games (2010)
  • King of the Bosporus (2011)
  • Destroyer of Cities (2013)
  • Force of Kings (2014)
• Alfred Duggan, Elephants and Castles (1963)
• Georg Ebers
  • The Sisters (1880)
  • Arachne (1898)
• I. O. Evans, Strange Devices (1950)
• Vardis Fisher, The Island of the Innocent (1952)
• William Golding, The Double Tongue (1995)
• Joan Grant, Return to Elysium (1947)
• H.D., Hedylus (1928)
• Jack Lindsay, Come Home at Last (1934)
• Naomi Mitchison, The Corn King and the Spring Queen (1930)
• Eden Phillpotts, The Treasures of Typhon (1924)
• Carolyn Snedeker, The Forgotten Daughter (1933)
• L. Sprague de Camp
  • The Bronze God of Rhodes (1960)
  • The Golden Wind (1969)
• Duncan Sprott
  • The House of the Eagle (2004)
  • Daughter of the Crocodile (2006)
• H. N. Turteltaub, "Hellenic Traders" series, set some time after the death of Alexander
  • Over the Wine Dark Sea (2001)
  • The Gryphon's Skull (2002)
  • The Sacred Land (2003)
  • Owls to Athens (2004)
• Thornton Wilder, The Woman of Andros (1930)

1st century BCE[edit]

• William Golding, The Double Tongue (1995)

2nd century CE[edit]

• Achilles Tatius, The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon (2nd century)
• Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica or Theagenes and Chariclea (2nd century)
• Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (2nd century)
• Lucian, True History (2nd century AD), not necessarily set anywhere near Greece

Plays[edit]

• Andrew David Irvine, Socrates on Trial
• Terence Rattigan, Adventure Story
• William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
• William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
• William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
• William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen

Comics[edit]

• Marvel Illustrated, The Iliad
• Marvel Illustrated, The Odyssey
• Marvel Illustrated, The Trojan War
• Frank Miller, 300
• Eric Shanower, Age of Bronze

See also[edit]

• List of fiction set in ancient Rome
• List of historical fiction by time period
• List of films set in ancient Greece

External links[edit]

• Ancient Greece in fiction