On 24 Sep 1998, Patrick Juola wrote:
>> Really? Find a novel prior to 1000ad that
>> a) Purports to tell events "realistically" (e.g. no allegories)
> b) Is expressly about characters that are not supposed to
> have existed (e.g. no epics about legendary heroes)
>> Both the _Bible_ and Homer's canon, for instance, are supposedly
> about people who really existed and were treated as such by their
> audiences.
>> I doubt you'll be able to.
>> -kitten
>>don't much like to reply to something that's going to be cross-posted, but
how about:
Petronius - Satyricon
Apuleius - Golden Ass
and then the Greek novels,
Achilles Tatius - Leucippe and Cleitophon
Heliodorus - Aethiopica
and several others.