But the subgenre is much older than this. Ultimately—like much fantasy—it has its roots in mythology and Classical epics such as Homer's Odyssey, but its immediate progenitors are the swashbuckling tales of Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers (1844), etc.) and Rafael Sabatini (e.g., Scaramouche (1921), itself rooted in the Italian commedia dell'arte) - although these all lack the supernatural element - and early fantasy fiction such as E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros (1922) and Lord Dunsany's The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth (1910). But S&S proper really began in the pulp fantasy magazines.
Seminal S&S
Seminal S&S books and series include
S&S Heroines
Despite the early work of C. L. Moore and others, S&S has had a very male bias. Female characters are too often distressed damsels to be rescued or protected. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress anthology series (1984 onwards) redressed the balance. Bradley encouraged female writers and protagonists: the stories feature skillful swordswomen and powerful sorceresses. The series was immensely popular and Bradley was editing the final volume at the time of her death. Today, active female characters who participate equally with the male heroes in the stories are a regular feature in modern S&S stories even if a major reason is sex appeal.
Although a minor character in one of Howard's Conan stories, Red Sonja of Rogatine was a popular female S&S character in a comic book series Roy Thomas, a series of novels by David C. Smith and Richard Tierney, and an unsuccessful film, Red Sonja (1985), directed by Richard Fleischer.