Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Greek, and Latin. The earliest vernacular translation is an incomplete Old English prose text from the 11th century, sometimes called the first English novel. The existence of this unique text is unusual, as secular prose fiction from that time is extremely rare. The manuscript copy may only have survived because it was bound into a book together with Archbishop Wulfstan's homilies. Various versions of the tale were later written in most European languages. A notable English version is in the eighth book of John Gower's Confessio Amantis (1390), which uses it as an exemplum against lust. It is described as being based on Pantheon, but it contains many details that work does not but the old Historia does. Its numerous vernacular versions, along with the Latin ones, attest to its popularity throughout the Middle Ages. It appears in an old Danish ballad collected in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser. Robert Copland translated from the French the romance of Kynge Appolyne of Thyre (W. de Worde, 1510). Later versions and influence The story was retold in thirteenth-century Castilian as Libro de Apolonio. It is also a major inspiration of the chanson de geste Jordain de Blaivies. Robert Copland wrote an early 16th-century prose version. William Shakespeare and George Wilkins's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre was based in part on Gower's version, with the change of name probably inspired by Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Apollonius of Tyre was also a source for his plays Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors. Notes External links , from Gesta Romanorum Plot summary Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio" The 1682 reprint of Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio" The Anglo-Saxon version in the 1834 Benjamin Thorpe English translation The Latin Library edition of the Latin text The Librivox audio edition of the Latin text includes Latin text&translation of Historia Apollonii regis Tyri Latin prose texts Translations into Latin Medieval legends Early medieval literature Romance (genre) Fictional kings