# List of historical fiction by time period

&#x2D; IMPORTANT: Please do not add entries to this page unless the work has a separate article in Wikipedia &#x2D; 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)

* Before Adam by Jack London
* Earth's Children series by Jean Auel
* Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell
* Pillar of the Sky by Cecelia Holland
* Mammoth Trilogy by Stephen Baxter
* The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone
* Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver
* First North Americans by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
* The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea by Mary Renault
* The Inheritors by William Golding
* The Quest for Fire by J.-H. Rosny

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

* Pharaoh by Bolesław Prus
* The Egyptian and The Secret of the Kingdom by Mika Waltari
* River God by Wilbur Smith
* Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge
* Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
* Men of Bronze by Scott Oden
* Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
* The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
* Troy Series by David Gemmel
* Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves
* Creation by Gore Vidal
* Gates of Fire, Last of the Amazons, The Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign and Tides of War by Steven Pressfield
* Hannibal by Ross Leckie
* Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert
* Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, and Funeral Games by Mary Renault
* Child of a Dream, The Sands of Ammon, and The Ends of the Earth (Alexander Trilogy) by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
* Memnon by Scott Oden
* The Source by James A. Michener
* The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
* The Madonna Secret by Sophie Strand
* Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
* Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
* Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough
* Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor
* Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator (Cicero Trilogy) by Robert Harris
* Emperor series by Conn Iggulden
* Kleopatra Pharaoh by Karen Essex
* The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George
* The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder
* Augustus by John Williams
* Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
* King Jesus by Robert Graves
* The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
* Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice
* The Gospel According to the Son by Norman Mailer
* The Gospel According to Lazarus by Richard Zimler
* The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
* The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
* The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain
* I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves
* Eagles of the Empire series and Gladiator series by Simon Scarrow
* Insaan Aur Devta by Nasim Hijazi
* Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz
* The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
* Pompeii by Robert Harris
* Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
* The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
* Helena by Evelyn Waugh
* Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik
* Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong and retold by Eiji Yoshikawa
* Julian by Gore Vidal
* Raptor by Gary Jennings
* A Struggle for Rome by Felix Dahn

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

* A Dream of Eagles (aka Camulod Chronicles) by Jack Whyte (4th–6th)
* The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (6th)
* Count Belisarius by Robert Graves (6th)
* Tom a Lincoln by Richard Johnson
* The King's Sons by George Manville Fenn (9th)
* Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (9th)
* The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell (9th–10th)
* Corban Loosestrife series by Cecelia Holland (10th)
* The Whale Road, The Wolf Sea and others (Oathsworn series) by Robert Low (late 10th)
* The Long Ships (Röde Orm) by Frans G. Bengtsson (late 10th)
* The Evening and the Morning (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (late 10th)
* Lion of Ireland and Pride of Lions by Morgan Llywelyn (late 10th–early 11th)
* Vinland by George Mackay Brown (early 11th)
* The Physician by Noah Gordon (11th)
* Samarkand by Amin Maalouf (11th)
* The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (11th)
* The Last English King by Julian Rathbone (mid-11th)
* The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth (late 11th)
* King Raven series (Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck) by Stephen R. Lawhead (late 11th)
* The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (late 11th)
* When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance, and Devil's Brood (Plantagenet series) by Sharon Kay Penman (12th)
* The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (12th)
* The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour (12th)
* The Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters (mid-12th)
* The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth (12th)
* Kay the Left-Handed by Leslie Barringer (12th)
* Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett (12th)
* Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike (12th)
* The Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson (12th)
* Witiko by Adalbert Stifter
* New Tale of the Heike by Eiji Yoshikawa (late 12th)
* Ivanhoe, The Talisman and others (Waverley Novels) by Sir Walter Scott (late 12th)
* Insurrection by Robyn Young (13th)
* Wolf of the Plains, Lords of the Bow and others (Conqueror series) by Conn Iggulden (13th)
* Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, and The Reckoning (Welsh Princes series) by Sharon Kay Penman (13th)
* Brethren, Crusade, and Requiem (Brethren Trilogy) by Robyn Young (13th)
* The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain (13th)
* Poland by James A. Michener (mid-13th–early 15th)
* The Journeyer by Gary Jennings (late 13th–early 14th)
* The Lion of Flanders by Hendrik Conscience (late 13th–early 14th)
* The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (early 14th)
* Valperga by Mary Shelley (early 14th)
* Harlequin, Vagabond, Heretic and 1356 (The Grail Quest series) by Bernard Cornwell (14th)
* The Accursed Kings (Les Rois maudits) by Maurice Druon (14th)
* Katherine by Anya Seton (14th)
* World Without End (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (14th)
* Kristin Lavransdatter series and The Master of Hestviken series by Sigrid Undset (14th)
* The Knights of the Cross (Krzyżacy) by Henryk Sienkiewicz (14th–early 15th)
* Cathedral of the Sea (La catedral del mar) by Ildefonso Falcones (late 14th)
* Morality Play by Barry Unsworth (late 14th)
* L'Anneau du pêcheur by Jean Raspail (late 14th–early 15th)
* Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell (early 15th)
* The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (15th)
* The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
* The House of Niccolò series by Dorothy Dunnett (mid-15th)
* Quentin Durward by Walter Scott (15th)
* The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (late 15th)
* The Family by Mario Puzo (late 15th)
* Romola by George Eliot (late 15th)
* I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis (late 15th)

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

* The King's Cavalier by Samuel Shellabarger (late 15th–early 16th)
* Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger (early 16th)
* Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex (early 16th)
* Then and Now by W. Somerset Maugham
* Q by Luther Blissett
* As minas de prata by José de Alencar
* Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory
* The Heart of Jade (El corazón de piedra verde) by Salvador de Madariaga (early 16th)
* The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler (early 16th)
* Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (16th)
* Aztec by Gary Jennings (16th)
* The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić (16th–20th)
* The Tournament by Matthew Reilly (mid-16th)
* Matthew Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom (mid-16th)
* Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett (mid-16th)
* Brazil Red by Jean-Christophe Rufin (mid-16th)
* The Siege of Malta by Walter Scott (mid-16th)
* My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (late 16th)
* La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas (late 16th)
* Shōgun by James Clavell (late 16th)
* A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess (late 16th)
* Kenilworth by Walter Scott (late 16th)
* The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (early 17th)
* The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (early 17th)
* Black Robe by Brian Moore
* The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (17th)
* Hunger's Brides by W. Paul Anderson (17th)
* Silence by Shūsaku Endō (17th)
* With Fire and Sword, The Deluge and Fire in the Steppe by Henryk Sienkiewicz (17th)
* Waverley, Rob Roy and others (Waverley Novels) by Walter Scott (17th)
* I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni (mid-17th)
* Memoirs of a Cavalier by Daniel Defoe (mid-17th)
* The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (mid-17th)
* Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (mid-17th)
* Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer (mid-17th)
* An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (mid-17th)
* Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken (mid-17th)
* Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (mid-17th)
* The Deer and the Cauldron by Jin Yong (late 17th)
* Shinjū, The Snow Empress and others (Sano Ichiro series) by Laura Joh Rowland (late 17th)
* Imprimatur by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti (late 17th)
* Leo Africanus and Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf (16th / 17th)
* Hawaii, Chesapeake and Caribbean by James A. Michener
* Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (17th)
* Rachel Dyer by John Neal (late 17th)
* The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (early 18th)
* Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper (18th)

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

* Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
* A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett
* Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
* The Bastard, The Rebels and others (The Kent Family Chronicles) by John Jakes
* Logan by John Neal
* Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds
* Seventy-Six by John Neal
* Brother Jonathan by John Neal
* Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth and Proceed, Sergeant Lamb by Robert Graves
* The Revolution at Sea saga by James L. Nelson
* The Fort by Bernard Cornwell
* Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
* A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
* Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
* Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
* La Sanfelice by Alexandre Dumas
* The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss
* The Red City by Silas Weir Mitchell
* Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
* Hornblower series by C. S. Forester
* Lord Ramage by Dudley Pope
* The Bolitho novels by Alexander Kent
* The Secret River by Kate Grenville
* The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
* Stealing Athena by Karen Essex
* Wellington and Napoleon Quartet by Simon Scarrow
* National Episodes by Benito Pérez Galdós
* Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann (early 19th)
* War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
* The Berrybender Narratives by Larry McMurtry
* The Revenant by Michael Punke
* The Awakening Land trilogy by Conrad Richter
* Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
* Burr by Gore Vidal
* Poldark series by Winston Graham
* Alaska by James A. Michener
* The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
* Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
* Tai-Pan by James Clavell
* April Morning by Howard Fast
* The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
* Montevideo, or the new Troy by Alexandre Dumas
* The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally
* Isles of Despair by Ion Idriess
* The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye (19th)

### Set during recent history (c. 1850 – 1950)

* The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser (1830s–1890s)
* The Starbuck Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
* The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
* Peony by Pearl S. Buck (1850s)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
* Cézanne’s Quarry by Barbara Corrado Pope
* The Blood of Lorraine by Barbara Corrado Pope
* The Missing Italian Girl by Barbara Corrado Pope
* The Lambing Flat by Nerida Newton
* The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
* Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck (1860s–1900s)
* North and South trilogy by John Jakes
* Shiloh by Shelby Foote (1862)
* The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1863)
* The James Reasoner Civil War Series by James Reasoner
* Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
* Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
* Silk by Alessandro Baricco (1860s)
* The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1860s)
* The Judges of the Secret Court by David Stacton (1865)
* Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry (1870s)
* The Sackett series by Louis L'Amour
* Under the North Star trilogy by Väinö Linna (1880s–1950s)
* The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen (1881–1882)
* Narratives of Empire series by Gore Vidal
* An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (1890s–1900s)
* The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (1893)
* Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The March by E. L. Doctorow
* Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, and Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett
* Centennial, The Covenant, Texas, and Journey by James A. Michener
* The Road to Wellville by T. C. Boyle
* The War of the End of the World (La guerra del fin del mundo) by Mario Vargas Llosa (late 19th)
* Tai-Pan and Gai-Jin by James Clavell
* The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness (Kreizler series) by Caleb Carr
* The L.A. Quartet and the Underworld USA Trilogy by James Ellroy
* Beloved by Toni Morrison
* The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg
* Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
* The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
* Drood by Dan Simmons
* The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus (WWI)
* A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle (1910s)
* The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (1915–1969)
* Troubles by J. G. Farrell (1919–1921)
* The Haj by Leon Uris (1922–1950s)
* The Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk (WWII)
* Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally (WWII)
* Enigma by Robert Harris (WWII)
* The Warsaw Anagrams by Richard Zimler (WWII)
* Exodus by Leon Uris (1940s)

## 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