The Three Musketeers is a historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. Situated between 1625 and 1628, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan (based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan) after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d'Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age – Athos, Porthos and Aramis, "the three inseparables", as these are called – and gets involved in affairs of the state and court.