TIMELINE PREHISTORY

TIMELINE PREHISTORY
Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.

All rights reserved.  May not be reproduced without permission.  

May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
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What were the ancient precursors to modern Science Fiction as we know it?
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Most recently updated: 17 April 1998

Ancient Precursors
Oldest Science Fiction Novel
In one sense, the oldest science fiction novel we have is a 3,000-year-old 
version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, probably established in the oral 
tradition of 1,000 years earlier than that.  Modern authors such as Robert 
Silverberg have reworked its details, because it has so many themes of 
modern science fiction: the search for immortality, travel in strange 
lands, encounters with weird creatures, trips beyond normal reality, and a 
superhuman hero.

Science Fiction in the Bible
9th Century B.C. prophet Elijah said: "Behold, there appeared a chariot of 
fire, and horses of fire... and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into 
heaven" [II Kings 2:12].  Some scholars consider this an early Close 
Encounter with UFO technology, or at least it served as an inspiration for 
some early science fiction of that variety.

6th Century B.C. prophet Ezekiel described "a fire infolding itself, and a 
brightness was about it... out of the midst of fire" and then he reports 
something not unlike astronauts or winged aliens in a flying saucer "a 
wheel within a wheel" which has many portholes or "eyes" around it, rising 
from the ground with much noise and bright colors and using something like 
a tractor beam to pick up "four living creatures" [Ezekiel 1:4-28].

Egyptian Mythology
Various science fiction novels which are based on Egyptian mythology.  The 
two best of these, in my opinion, are "Creatures of Light and Darkness" by 
Roger Zelazny, and "Ancient Evenings" by Norman Mailer (whom I had met as a 
child, at a party in his Columbia Heights apartment in Brooklyn).  

Finland: "Kalevala"
The Finnish epic "Kalevala" is one of the sources of all modern fantasy and 
science fiction.  It includes, for example, a plot thread about a 
homunculus, similar to the Jewish "Golem" legend, and thus an ancestor of 
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", which is inarguably science fiction.

The word "Fantasy" is from the Greek word for imagination, and one can 
claim that the imagination of Greek writers was the origin of all science 
fiction.

Greek Myths, Drama, and Philosophy
Greek myths from 2,000-5,000 years ago are essential to any history of 
Fantasy, and Lucian of Samosata (ca. 125 AD) wrote satires with definite 
science fiction elements.  For example, "Icaromenippos" includes Icarus 
flying to the Moon and adventuring with its inhabitants.  Lucian's "A True 
Story" is both a parody of the fantasies and proto-science fiction tales of 
2,000 years ago, but includes the first space war in literature, a battle 
near the Moon.

Aristophanes' comedies are bristling with utopian and fantastic elements.  
In "The Birds", people exhausted by wars join with birds in constructing 
"cloudcuckooland" in between Earth and Heaven.  In "The Frogs", he takes us 
on a tour of Hell.  In "Peace", Trygaeus rides a giant beetle to Heaven to 
seek the help of Zeus, and in "Lysistrata" women end war by withholding 
sexual favors until peace is achieved.

Since Greek philosophy was the orgin of Science, Greece plays an ancestral 
role for all science fiction.  To pick an example almost at random, when 
Archimedes said "Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I 
shall move the Earth" he anticipated the entire planet-smashing 
solar-system reconfiguring style of science fiction in the sense of 
Asimov, Bear, Brin, and Clarke.

If we hold that Science Fiction is the literature of the search for Utopia, 
then we must begin our analysis with Plato's "Republic" -- the definitive 
utopia.  Of course, I would have been banned from The Republic, as I am a 
poet, and Plato considered such men dangerous to the social order.  By the 
way, the Republic was to have exactly 5,040 citizens, which some readers 
today would recognize as 7! = 1x2x3x4x5x6x7.  "Utopia" is derived from the 
Greek for "nowhere."

If science fiction is based on exotic travels, monsters, larger-than-life 
heros outwitting their foes, and technology indistinguishable from magic, 
then all must give credit to Homer's "Odyssey", some 2,500 years ago.

For that matter, Homer's "Iliad" is the basis of all realistic war fiction, 
including science fictional space battles.  And if the robot is a main icon 
of science fiction, then Greece deserves credit for inventing Hephaistos, 
god of the forge, in being assisted by women constructed of gold 
(as described in "The Iliad").  And did not Daedalus built the bronze 
warrior Talos?

Myths of India
It goes without saying that India has a nearly infinite set of mythologies 
and fables, which have been a source for fantasists and science fiction 
authors such as Roger Zelazny.  India (mostly from Bombay, or "Bollywood") 
is the world's #1 producer of motion pictures, many of which have a fantasy 
element.  The ancient "Veda" tales/poems can themselves be considered the 
roots of science fiction.

Tales from Old English and Middle English
Beowulf fought the monster Grendel, and Grendel's mother...

"Gawain and the Green Knight" (circa 1370): one of the best of the 
alliterative English verse romances, this opens in King Arthur's court on 
New Year's Day.  A huge green knight rides a green horse into the ahll and 
challenges any of Arthur's knights to give him a blow with the axe he 
bears, the Green Knight to return the blow a year later.  Accepting the 
challenge, Gawain strikes off the knight's head.  The knight picks it up 
and rides away.  As the end of the ensuing year approaches, Gawain makes 
his perilous way to search for the Green Chapel.  He stops at a splendid 
castle on Christmas Eve and is cordially received by the lord, whose wife 
tests Gawain's chastity each of the three days he is there.  Having agreed 
to accept from the lord the trophies of the lord's daily hunt in return 
for whatever he, Gawain, has received, he gives the lord the three kisses 
he got from the lady, but not the magic girdle she gave him on the third 
day.  Then he meets the Green Knight at the chapel nearby.  Gawain 
flinches under the axe once; the knight feints once; then the blow is 
harmlessly delivered.  The Green Knight, Bercilar de Hautdesert, is the 
lord of the castle in disguise; the whole affair was a test of the hero.

Latin Enertainments and Compilations

Apuleius [circa 125-circa 175]: Latin author born in North Africa, who 
     resided variously in Athens, Carthage, and Rome.  Best known for:
     * Metamorphoseon sue de Asino Aureo Libri XI [circa 165] better
          known in translation as "The Golden Ass", editions include:
          * The xi Bookes of the Golden Asse, Containing the Metamorphoses 
          of Lucius Apuleius [UK: 1566] translation by William Adlington

The "Gesta Romanorum" (compiled circa 1350, printed circa 1472) was as 
widely read for several centuries as the "Arabian Nights", or the "Morte 
d'Arthur."  It has been a treaury of entertainment and moral education for 
all kinds of readers.  Its full title, "Gesta Romanorum moralizata" 
indicates its compiler's didactic purpose.  The work has been an 
inexhaustible source that furnished the raw material for great litterature 
from Boccaccio and Chaucer to Schiller and Rossetti.  It was fathered by 
the monks.  The tales were largely derived from Roman history, but are in 
truth merely legends. At a later stage the moral spect became secondary; 
the collection was prized chiefly as a book of entertainment.  Oriental 
allegoric infleunces are clearly indicated, as for instance the fables of 
Bidpai and the "Arabian Nights."  The authorities cited for classical 
allusions are the minor luminaries of Roman antiquity: Valerius Maximus, 
Macrobius, Aulus Gellius, Pliny, Seneca, Boethius, and occasionally Ovid.


|Introduction: Overview and Summary
|Prehistory: Ancient Precursors
|16th Century: Ariosto and Cyrano on the Moon
|17th Century: Literary Dawn
|18th Century: Literary Expansion
|19th Century: Victorian Explosion
|1890-1910: Into Our Century
|1910-1920: The Silver Age
|1920-1930: The Golden Age
|1930-1940: The Aluminum Age
|1940-1950: The Plutonium Age
|1950-1960: The Threshold of Space
|1960-1970: The New Wave
|1970-1980: The Seventies
|1980-1990: The Eighties
|1990-2000: End of Millennium
|2000-2010: Future Prizewinners

Where to Go for More
 51 Useful Reference Books
Beyond the World Wide Web... there is the library of old-fashioned books 
printed on paper.  I strongly recommend that you start or follow-up your 
explorations of this web site by consulting any or all of these outstanding 
sources:
     
ALDISS: "Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction", Brian W. 
     Aldiss (New York: Doubleday, 1973; Schocken Paperback, 1974)

ALLEN: "Science Fiction Reader's Guide", L. David Allen 
     (Centennial Press, 1974)

AMIS: "New Maps of Hell", Kingsley Amis (London: Gollancz, 1960; 
     New York: Harcourt Brace, 1960)

ASH1: "Who's Who in Science Fiction", by Brian Ash (Taplinger, 1976)

ASH2: "The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", edited by Brian Ash 
     (Harmony Books, 1977)
   
ASHLEY: "The History of the Science Fiction Magazine" [3 volumes]
     (London: New English Library, 1974)

ASIMOV "Asimov on Science Fiction" (New York: Avon, 1981)

ATHELING: "The Issue at Hand", "William Atheling, Jr." [James Blish]
     (Chicago: Advent, 1964)

BARRON: "Anatomy of Wonder", edited by Neil Barron (Bowker, 1976)

BAXTER: "Science Fiction in the Cinema", John Baxter 
     (London: A. Zwemmer, 1970; New York: A. S. Barnes, 1970)
     
BERGONZI: "The Early H.G. Wells", Bernard Bergonzi 
     (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1961)

BLEILER: "The Checklist of Fantastic Literature" Everett F. Bleiler
     (Chicago: Shasta, 1948)

BRETNOR1: "Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Future", edited by 
     Reginald Bretnor (New York: Coward-McCann, 1953)

BRETNOR2: "The Craft of Science Fiction", Reginald Bretnor 
     (New York: Harper & Row, 1977)

BRINEY: "SF Bibliographies", Robert E. Briney & Edward Wood
     (Chicago: Advent, 1972)

CLARESON1: "SF: The Other Side of Realism", edited by Thomas D. Clareson
     (Gregg Press, 1978)

CLARESON2: "Extrapolation, 1959-1969", edited by Thomas D. Clareson
     (Bowling Green, Ohio: University Popular Press, 1971)

CLARKE: "The Tale of the Future", I. F. Clarke 
     (London: The Library Association, 1961, 1972)

CONTENTO: "Index to the Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections", 
     William Contento G.K. Hall, 1978)

DAY: "Index to the Science Fiction Magazine: 1926-50", Donald B. Day
     (Portland, Oregon: Perri Press, 1952)

DeCAMP: "Science Fiction Handbook", L. Sprague DeCamp
     (New York: Hermitage House, 1953)

ELLIK: "The Universes of E. E. Smith", Ron Ellik & Bill Evans
     (Chicago: Advent, 1966)

EVANS: "The Index of Science Fiction Magazines", Bill Evans with Jack Speer
     (Denver: Robert Peterson, 1946?)

FRANKLIN: "Future Perfect: American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century",
     H. Bruce Franklin (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966)

FREWIN: "One Hundred Years of Science Fiction Illustration", Anthony Frewin
     (London: Jupiter Books, 1974)

GOODSTONE: "The Pulps", Tony Goodstone (New York: Chelsea House, 1970)

GUNN: "Alternate Worlds", James Gunn (Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975)

HARRISON: "John W. Campbell: Collected Editorials from Analog", Harry Harrison
     (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1966)
     
HOLMBERG: "Science Fiction History", John-Henri Holmberg
     (Vanersborg, Sweden: Askild & Karnekull, 1974)

KNIGHT: "In Search of Wonder", Damon Knight (Chicago: Advent, 1956; enlarged 1967)

KYLE: "A Pictorial History of Science Fiction", David Kyle
     (London: Hamlyn House, 1976)

LOCKE: "Worlds Apart", edited by George Locke (London: Cornmarket Reprints, 1972)

LUNDWALL: "Science Fiction: What It's All About", Sam J. Lundwall 
     (New York: Ace Books, 1971)

METCALF: "The Index of Science Fiction Magazines, 1951-1965", Norm Metcalf 
     (J. Ben Stark, 1968)

MILLIES: "Science Fiction Primer for Teachers", Suzanne Millies
     (Dayton OH: Pflaum, 1975)

MOSKOWITZ#1: "The Immortal Storm", Sam Moskowitz 
     (AFSO Press, 1954; Hyperion Press, 19??)

MOSKOWITZ#2: "Explorers of the Infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction", 
     Sam Moskowitz (Cleveland & New York: World, 1963)

MOSKOWITZ#3: "Seekers of Tomorrow", Sam Moskowitz (Cleveland & New York: World, 1963)

NESFA: "Index to the Science Fiction Magazines", New England Science 
     Fiction Association (Cambridge MA: NESFA, 1971)

PERRY: "The Penguin Book of Comics", George Perry & Alan Aldridge
     (London: Penguin, 1971)
     
ROGERS: "A Requiem for Astounding", Alva Rogers (Chicago: Advent, 1964)

ROTTSTEINER: "The Science Fiction Book", Franz Rottsteiner 
     (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975)

SADOUL: "Hier, L'An 2000 [Illustrations from the Golden Age of Science Fiction]",
     Jaxques Sadoul (Paris: Editions Denoel, 1973)
     
STRAUSS: "The MIT Science Fiction Society's Index to the SF Magazines: 1951-64"
     Erwin S. Strauss (Cambridge MA: MIT Science Fiction Society, 1966)
     
TUCK: "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2nd Edition", 
     Donald H. Tuck (Hobart, Tasmania: Donald H. Tuck, 1959)

VERSINS: "Encyclopedie des l'utopie, des voyages extraordinaires et de la 
     science fiction", (Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme, 1972)

WAGGONER: "The Hills of Faraway", Diana Waggoner (Athenaeum, 1978)

WARNER: "All Our Yesterdays", Harry Warner, Jr. (Chicago: Advent, 1969)

WELLS: "Fictional Accounts of Trips to the Moon", Lester G. Wells
     (Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Library, 1962)

WILLIAMSON: "H.G. Wells: Critic of Progress", Jack Williamson
     (Baltimore: Mirage Press, 1973)

WOLLHEIM: "The Universe Makers", Donald A. Wollheim
     (New York: Harper & Row, 1971)




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Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.

All rights reserved.  May not be reproduced without permission.  

May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
entirety, and without charge.