Iamblichus was the author of the Βαβυλωνιακά (Babyloniaka, "Babylonian History"), a romance novel in Greek, which, if not the earliest, was at least one of the first productions of this kind in Greek literature. It contained the story of two lovers, Rhodanes and Sinonis. According to the Suda, it consisted of 39 books; but Photios,[6] who gives a tolerably full epitome of the work, mentions only 17.[7] A perfect copy of the work in MS. existed down to the year 1671, when it was destroyed by fire.