Ancient literature

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This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of literature during ancient times.

The history of literature begins with the invention of writing, in Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Writing developed out of proto-literate sign systems in the 30th century BC, although the oldest known literary texts date from the 27th or 26th century BC.

Literature from the Iron Age includes the earliest texts that have been preserved in a manuscript tradition (as opposed to texts that have been recovered by archaeologists), including the Indian Vedas (see Vedic period), the earliest literature from Ancient India, parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament; cf. dating the Bible), and the Avestan Gathas (see date of Zoroaster).

Classical Antiquity is generally considered to begin with Homer in the 8th century BC, and it continues until the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. Although the earliest Classics were in ancient Greek, from the 3rd century BC, Greek literature was joined by Latin literature. As well as the Western canon, there is also a period of classical Sanskrit literature, Classical Tamil, and Sangam literature in India, Chinese classics in China, and in Late Antiquity the beginning of classical Syriac and Middle Persian literature.

The following is a chronological list of literary works up until the 5th century AD. Literature of the 6th to 9th centuries is covered in Early medieval literature.

For a list of the earliest testimony in each language, see list of languages by first written accounts.

Video Ancient literature

List of ancient texts

Bronze Age

See also: Sumerian literature, Akkadian literature, Ancient Egyptian literature, Hittite texts, Vedic Sanskrit

Early Bronze Age: 3rd millennium BC (approximate dates shown). The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC (classical Sumerian). The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, dating to ca. the 24th century BC. Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which was recorded in the Papyrus of Ani around 1240 BC, but other versions of the book probably date from about the 18th century BC.

• 2600 Sumerian texts from Abu Salabikh, including the Instructions of Shuruppak and the Kesh temple hymn
• 2400 Egyptian Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn
• 2400 Sumerian Code of Urukagina
• 2400 Egyptian Palermo stone
• 2350 Egyptian The Maxims of Ptahhotep
• 2270 Sumerian Enheduanna's Hymns
• 2250-2000 Sumerian Earliest stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
• 2100 Sumerian Curse of Agade
• 2100 Sumerian Debate between Bird and Fish
• 2050 Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu
• 2000 Egyptian Coffin Texts
• 2000 Sumerian Lament for Ur
• 2000 Sumerian Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Middle Bronze Age: ca. 2000 to 1600 BC (approximate dates shown)

• 1950 Akkadian Laws of Eshnunna
• 1900 Akkadian Legend of Etana
• 1900 Sumerian Code of Lipit-Ishtar
• 1900 Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
• 1850 Akkadian Kultepe texts
• 1800 Egyptian Story of Sinuhe (in Hieratic)
• 1800 Sumerian Eridu Genesis
• 1800 Akkadian Enûma Eli?
• 1800 Akkadian Atra-Hasis epic
• 1780 Akkadian Code of Hammurabi stele
• 1780 Akkadian Mari letters, including the Epic of Zimri-Lim
• 1750 Hittite Anitta text
• 1700 Egyptian Westcar Papyrus
• 1650 Egyptian Ipuwer Papyrus

Late Bronze Age: ca. 1600 to 1200 BC (approximate dates shown)

• 1700-1100 Vedic Sanskrit: approximate date of the composition of the Rigveda. Many of these were not set to writing until later.
• 1600 Hittite Code of the Nesilim
• 1500 Akkadian Poor Man of Nippur
• 1500 Hittite military oath
• 1550 Egyptian Book of the Dead
• 1500 Akkadian Dynasty of Dunnum
• 1400 Akkadian Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal
• 1400 Akkadian Autobiography of Kurigalzu
• 1400 Akkadian Amarna letters
• 1330 Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten
• 1240 Egyptian Papyrus of Ani, Book of the Dead
• 1200-900 Akkadian version and younger stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
• 1200 Akkadian Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
• 1200 Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers

Iron Age

See also Sanskrit literature, Chinese literature

Iron Age texts predating Classical Antiquity: 12th to 8th centuries BC

• 1200-1100 BC approximate date of books RV 1 and RV 10 in the Rigveda
• 1200-800 BC approximate date of the Vedic Sanskrit Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, Samaveda
• 1100-800 BC date of the redaction of the extant text of the Rigveda
• 1050 BC Egyptian Story of Wenamun
• 1050 BC Akkadian Sakikk? (SA.GIG) "Diagnostic Omens" by Esagil-kin-apli.
• 1050 BC The Babylonian Theodicy of ?aggil-k?nam-ubbib.
• 1000-600 BC Chinese Classic of Poetry (Sh?j?ng), Classic of Documents (Sh?j?ng) (authentic portions), Classic of Changes (I Ching)
• 950 BC date of the Jahwist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis
• 900 BC Akkadian Epic of Erra
• 850 BC date of the Elohist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis

Classical Antiquity

See also Ancient Greek literature, Syriac literature, Latin literature, Indian literature, Hebrew literature, Avesta

See also: centuries in poetry: 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st

8th century BC

• Greek Trojan War cycle, including the Iliad and the Odyssey
• 800-500 BC: Vedic Sanskrit Brahmanas
• Oldest non-Pentateuchal books of the Hebrew Bible (the Book of Nahum, Book of Hosea, Book of Amos, Book of Isaiah) see Carbon dating the Dead Sea Scrolls

7th century BC

• Vedic Sanskrit
  • Aranyakas
• Greek:
  • Hesiod: The Theogony and Works and Days
  • Archilochus
  • Alcman
  • Semonides of Amorgos
  • Solon
  • Mimnermus
  • Stesichorus

6th century BC

• Hebrew Bible: Psalms (according to late dating) Book of Ezekiel, Book of Daniel (according to conservative or early dating)
• Chinese: Sun Tzu: The Art of War (S?nz? B?ngf?)
• Vedic Sanskrit:
  • Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
  • Chandogya Upanishad
• Greek:
  • Sappho
  • Ibycus
  • Alcaeus of Mytilene
  • Aesop's Fables

5th century BC

• Vedic Sanskrit:
  • Aitareya Upanishad
  • Taittiriya Upanishad
  • Kenopanishad
• Avestan: Yasht
• Chinese:
  • Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch?nqi?) (722-481 BC, chronicles of the state of Lu)
  • Confucius: Analects (Lúny?)
  • Classic of Rites (L?jì)
  • Commentaries of Zuo (Zu?zhuàn)
• Greek:
  • Pindar: Odes
  • Herodotus: The Histories of Herodotus
  • Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
  • Aeschylus: The Suppliants, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Oresteia
  • Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra and other plays
  • Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, Heracleidae, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, The Suppliants, Electra, Heracles, Trojan Women, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes, Bacchae, Iphigeneia at Aulis, Cyclops, Rhesus
  • Aristophanes: The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace, The Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae, The Frogs, Ecclesiazousae, Plutus
• Hebrew: date of the extant text of the Torah

4th century BC

• Sanskrit
  • Ishopanishad
  • Katha Upanishad
  • Prashnopanishad
  • Mundaka Upanishad
  • M????kya Upanishad
• Hebrew: Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature
• Hebrew Torah, also called the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses with a final redaction between 900-450 BC. Some give an alternate date of 1320-1280.
• Chinese:
  • Laozi (or Lao Tzu): Tao Te Ching
  • Zhuangzi: Zhuangzi (book)
  • Mencius: Mencius
• Greek:
  • Xenophon: Anabasis, Cyropaedia
  • Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics
  • Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Theaetetus, Parmenides, Symposium, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Menexenus, Republic, Timaeus
  • Euclid: Elements
  • Menander: Dyskolos
  • Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants

3rd century BC

• Avestan: Avesta
• Etruscan: Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb)
• Sanskrit:
  • Epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana (3rd century BC to 4th century AD)
  • Kha?gavi??na S?kta (Buddhist)
  • A??aka Varga (Buddhist)
  • P?r?yana Varga (Buddhist)
• Tamil:
  • 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD: Sangam poems
  • Tolk?ppiyam (grammar book)
• Hebrew: Ecclesiastes
• Greek:
  • Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica
  • Callimachus (310/305-240 B.C.), lyric poet
  • Manetho: Aegyptiaca
  • Theocritus, lyric poet
• Latin:
  • Lucius Livius Andronicus (c. 280/260 BC -- c. 200 BC), translator, founder of Roman drama
  • Gnaeus Naevius (ca. 264 -- 201 BC), dramatist, epic poet
  • Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 -- 184 BC), dramatist, composer of comedies: Poenulus, Miles Gloriosus, and other plays
  • Quintus Fabius Pictor (3rd century BC), historian
  • Lucius Cincius Alimentus (3rd century BC), military historian and antiquarian

2nd century BC

• Avestan: Vendidad
• Chinese: Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian (Sh?jì)
• Aramaic: Book of Daniel
• Hebrew: Sirach
• Greek
  • Polybius: The Histories
  • Book of Wisdom
  • Septuagint
• Latin:
  • Terence (195/185 BC -- 159 BC), comic dramatist: The Brothers, The Girl from Andros, Eunuchus, The Self-Tormentor
  • Quintus Ennius (239 BC -- c. 169 BC), poet
  • Marcus Pacuvius (ca. 220 BC -- 130 BC), tragic dramatist, poet
  • Statius Caecilius (220 BC -- 168/166 BC), comic dramatist
  • Marcius Porcius Cato (234 BC -- 149 BC), generalist, topical writer
  • Gaius Acilius (2nd century BC), historian
  • Lucius Accius (170 BC -- c. 86 BC), tragic dramatist, philologist
  • Gaius Lucilius (c. 160's BC -- 103/2 BC), satirist
  • Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd century BC), public officer, epigrammatist
  • Aulus Furius Antias (2nd century BC), poet
  • Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (130 BC -- 87 BC), public officer, tragic dramatist
  • Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis (2nd century BC), comic dramatist, satirist
  • Lucius Cassius Hemina (2nd century BC), historian
  • Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (2nd century BC), historian
  • Manius Manilius (2nd century BC), public officer, jurist
  • Lucius Coelius Antipater (2nd century BC), jurist, historian
  • Publius Sempronius Asellio (158 BC -- after 91 BC), military officer, historian
  • Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (2nd century BC), jurist
  • Lucius Afranius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), comic dramatist
  • Titus Albucius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), orator
  • Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BC -- after 78 BC), jurist
  • Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd & 1st centuries BC), public officer, poet
  • Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus (154 BC -- 74 BC), philologist
  • Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), historian
  • Valerius Antias (2nd & 1st centuries BC), historian
  • Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (121 BC -- 67 BC), soldier, historian
  • Quintus Cornificius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), rhetorician

1st century BC

• Pali: Tipitaka
• Latin:
  • Cicero: Catiline Orations, Pro Caelio, Dream of Scipio
  • Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars
  • Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid
  • Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
  • Livy: Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome)

See also: Pahlavi literature, centuries in poetry: 1st, 2nd and 3rd

1st century AD

• Chinese: Ban Gu: Book of Han (Hànsh?)
• Greek:
  • Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
  • Josephus: The Jewish War, Antiquities of the Jews, Against Apion
  • The books of the New Testament
• Latin: see Classical Latin
  • Tacitus: Germania
  • Ovid: Metamorphoses
  • Pliny the Elder: Natural History
  • Petronius: Satyricon
  • Seneca the Younger: Phaedra, Dialogues

2nd century

• Sanskrit: A?vagho?a: Buddhacharita (Acts of the Buddha)
• Pahlavi:
  • Yadegar-e Zariran (Memorial of Zar?r)
  • Visperad
  • Drakht-i Asurig (The Babylonian Tree)
• Greek:
  • Arrian: Anabasis Alexandri
  • Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
  • Epictetus and Arrian: Enchiridion
  • Ptolemy: Almagest
  • Athenaeus: The Banquet of the Learned
  • Pausanias: Description of Greece
  • Longus: Daphnis and Chloe
  • Lucian: True History
• Latin: see Classical Latin
  • Apuleius: The Golden Ass
  • Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis
  • Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars

3rd century

• Avestan: Khordeh Avesta (Zoroastrian prayer book)
• Pahlavi: Mani: Shabuhragan (Manichaean holy book)
• Chinese: Chen Shou: Records of Three Kingdoms (S?nguó Zhì)
• Greek: Plotinus: Enneads
• Latin: see Late Latin
  • Distichs of Cato
• Hebrew: Mishnah

Late Antiquity

See also: 4th century in poetry, 5th century in poetry

4th century

• Latin: see Late Latin
  • Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, On Christian Doctrine
  • Apicius (De re coquinaria, "On the Subject of Cooking")
  • Pervigilium Veneris ("Vigil of Venus")
• Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian
• Hebrew: Gemara

5th century

• Chinese:
  • Bao Zhao: Fu on the Ruined City (???, Wú chéng fù)
  • Fan Ye: Book of the Later Han (???, Hòuhànsh?)
• Sanskrit: K?lid?sa (speculated): Abhijñ?na??kuntalam (???????? ??????????, "The Recognition of Shakuntala"), Meghad?ta (??????, "Cloud Messenger"), Vikram?rva??yam (???????????????, "Urvashi Won by Valour", play)
• Pahlavi:
  • Matigan-i Hazar Datistan (The Thousand Laws of the Magistan)
  • Frahang-i Oim-evak (Pahlavi-Avestan dictionary)
• Latin: see Late Latin
  • Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus: De Re Militari
  • Augustine of Hippo: The City of God
  • Paulus Orosius: Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
  • Jerome: Vulgate
  • Prudentius: Psychomachia
  • Consentius's grammar
  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: De Coelesti Hierarchia (???? ??? ???????? ?????????, "On the Celestial Hierarchy"), Mystical Theology
  • Socrates of Constantinople: Historia Ecclesiastica

6th century

• Latin: Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae ("The Consolation of Philosophy", 524 AD), widely considered to be the last work of classical philosophy

Maps Ancient literature

See also

• Early Medieval literature
• List of languages by first written accounts
• List of years in literature

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References

Source of article : Wikipedia