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- 8th century B.C.E.-3rd century C.E. Classical
myths from Greece and Rome
- ca. 700 B.C.E. The Iliad, dealing with the Trojan
War, and (probably later) the Odyssey
- ca. 560 B.C.E. Death of Aesop on the Greek
island of Samos.
- ca. 300 B.C.E. Demetrius of Phalerum, librarian
of the great library at Alexandria, assembles a
collection, now lost, of two hundred Aesopic
fables found there
- 43 B.C.E.-ca. 420 C.E. Romans conquer Britons;
until ca. 420, Britannia is a province of the
Roman empire
- before 50 C.E. Phaedrus, a freed Greek slave in
Rome, puts Aesop's fables into Latin verse,
adding topical anecdotes and stories of his own
- 2nd century C.E. Apuleius's Metamorphoses, or
The Golden Ass, including "Cupid and Psyche,"
the source of many later versions of "Beauty and
the Beast." Valerius Babrius, another freed
Greek slave, renders his own versions of Aesop
in Greek verse
- 307-37 Reign of Constantine the Great leads to
adoption of Christianity as the official religion of
the Roman empire
- ca. 450 Withdrawal of Roman legions from
Britain; Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britons begins
- 1066 Norman conquest by William I establishes
French-speaking ruling class in England
- ca. 1135-38 Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of
the Kings of Britain, written in Latin, gives
pseudohistorical status to Arthurian and other
legends
- 1337-1452 Hundred Years' War
- 1326 Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans), a
collection of stories in Latin, compiled by monks
- ca. 1375-1400 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 1376 Earliest record of drama performance at
York
- 1455-85 Wars of the Roses
- ca. 1475 The Babees Book, a courtesy book, or
book of manners
- 1476-77 The Ulm Aesop, the first printed
collection of all the known Aesopic fables,
compiled in German by Heinrich Steinhöwell
- 1476 William Caxton sets up first printing press
in England
- ca. 1479 Stans Puer ad Mensam, ascribed to Jon
Lydgate, a courtesy book, including table
manners, designed as an etiquette book for boys
preparing to serve at court; earliest known
printing is by Caxton
- 1483 Caxton publishes an English translation of
Jacobus de Voragine's The Golden Legend
(Legenda Aurea), which was used in schools and
at home to educate children about the lives of
saints and ecclesiastical teachings
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