Artamène, or The Great Cyrus

Artamène, or The Great Cyrus is a novel sequence published in ten volumes between 1649 and 1653. The title pages credit the work to the French writer Georges de Scudéry, but it is usually attributed to his sister, the writer Madeleine de Scudéry. At about 1,954,300 words, it is considered one of the longest novels ever published, and despite its considerable success at the time it was never reissued in full, largely because of its length.

Its major classical sources are Herodotus's Histories and Xenophon's Cyropaedia, with further material drawn from Plutarch, Justin, Polyaenus, Pliny, Ovid, Strabo and the Bible. Beneath its ancient setting the work is a roman à clef about contemporary figures, and several characters are inspired by personalities of the Fronde. The most frequent identifications include Louis II de Bourbon-Condé as Cyrus, Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé as Mandane, Anne de Gonzague de Clèves as Elise, and Turenne as the King of Assyria.