Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER ONE: THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD -- CHAPTER TWO: FABULA AND HISTORIA THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PAST IN THE MIDDLE AGES -- CHAPTER THREE: GOG, MAGOG AND THE LATTER-DAY EMPEROR -- CHAPTER FOUR: THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1300-1600) -- CHAPTER FIVE: AD FONTES : RENAISSANCE GENEALOGY AND THE MYTH OF THE GOLDEN AGE -- CHAPTER SIX: OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE -- CHAPTER SEVEN: THE EARLY MODERN AGE AND THE ORIGINS OF ROME -- CHAPTER EIGHT: HISTORIA AND FABULA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT -- CHAPTER NINE: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY -- CONCLUSION -- APPENDIX ONE: RENAISSANCE HUMANISM AND THE PROBLEM OF GRACE WITHOUT BAPTISM -- APPENDIX TWO: THE DEBATE ON THE ORIGINS OF ROME IN THE ACADÉMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS -- INDEX OF PERSONS -- ILLUSTRATIONS.

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Historical thought, whether it is expressed in writing or through works of art, inevitably contains elements of fiction. Thus in every phase of the development of historical thinking the question arises: were these fictional elements recognized and if so, how was their function perceived? Was any effort made to distinguish between a documented fact and any assumptions or deductions related to it? In examining the past, was it deemed important to curb the free play of imagination or was it thought that any explanation, no matter how fanciful and irrational, was better than none? This is the question that this book attempts to answer. In doing so, it examines a rich variety of texts and also some works of art ranging from the Ancient Near East to the nineteenth century.