Sources of fantasy
Though the fantasy genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its sources have a long and distinguished history. Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were an element of literature from its beginning.
In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, John Clute and John Grant separated the concept of fantasy as such from that of "taproot texts", works that are sources for fantasy, but not themselves fantasy.
Ancient Near East
The Epic of Gilgamesh was written over generations following the supposed reign of King Gilgamesh, and is seen as a mythologized version of his life. This figure is sometimes an influence and, more rarely, a figure in modern fantasy. Some scholars believe The Epic of Gilgamesh is a source used by the authors of the Bible, specifically the story of Noah and the flood.
Ancient India
India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology. Several modern fantasy works such as RG Veda draw on the Rig-Veda as a source. Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics, such as the Mahabharata by Vyasa, and the Ramayana by Valmiki, both of which were influential in Asia. The Panchatantra (Fables of Bidpai) was influential in Europe and the Middle East. It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science. Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy.
