Ancient literature

Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, clay tablets, papyri, palm leaves, and metal. Before the spread of writing, oral literature did not always survive well, but some texts and fragments have persisted. One can conclude that an unknown number of written works too have likely not survived the ravages of time and are therefore lost.
Incomplete list of ancient texts
Bronze Age
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, a Sumerian priestess and public figure dating to ca. 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
2600: Egyptian The Life of Metjen, from Saqqara
2500: Egyptian Diary of Merer (Oldest papyrus), Instruction of Hardjedef
2500: Sumerian Hymn to Enlil and Enlil and Ninlil
2500: Sumerian Debate between sheep and grain
2400: Sumerian Code of Urukagina
2375: Egyptian The Maxims of Ptahhotep
2323: Egyptian Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn
2283: Egyptian Palermo stone
2270: Sumerian Enheduanna's Hymns
2250: Egyptian Autobiography of Weni
2250–2000: Earliest Sumerian stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
2200: Egyptian Autobiography of Harkhuf
2125: Sumerian Building of Ningirsu's Temple
2100: Sumerian Curse of Agade
2100: Sumerian Debate between Bird and Fish
2100: Sumerian Inanna's Descent into the Underworld
2100: Sumerian Self-praise of Shulgi
2100: Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu and the Song of the hoe
2050: Egyptian The Satire of the Trades
2000: Egyptian Coffin Texts and Teaching for King Merykara
2000: Sumerian Lament for Ur and Lament for Sumer and Ur
2000: Sumerian Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
2000: Sumerian Debate between Winter and Summer
Middle Bronze Age: ca. 2000 to 1600 BC (approximate dates shown)
2000–1900: Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, the Prophecy of Neferti, and the first of the Harper's Songs
1950: Akkadian Laws of Eshnunna and Hymn to Ištar
1950: Egyptian Instructions of Amenemhat, the Akhmim wooden tablets, and the Heqanakht papyri
1940: Sumerian Correspondence of the Kings of Ur
1900: Akkadian Legend of Etana
1900: Sumerian Code of Lipit-Ishtar and The Legend of Adapa
1900: Egyptian Instructions of Kagemni
1900: Akkadian Summa izbu and Šumma ālu
1900: Akkadian Namburbi
1900: Akkadian Iškar Zaqīqu
1859–1840: Egyptian The Eloquent Peasant
1859–1840: Egyptian Story of Sinuhe (in Hieratic)
1859–1840: Egyptian Dispute between a man and his Ba
1859–1813: Egyptian Loyalist Teaching
1850: Akkadian Kultepe texts, Bārûtu, the Counsels of Wisdom, the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, the Iškar Zaqīqu, and the Labbu Myth
1800: Akkadian Enûma Eliš
1800: Sumerian Correspondence of the Kings of Ur
1800: Egyptian Berlin Papyrus 6619 and the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus
1780: Akkadian Mari letters, including the Epic of Zimri-Lim
1754: Akkadian Code of Hammurabi stele
1750: Hittite Anitta text
1750: Akkadian Agushaya Hymn
1700: Akkadian Atra-Hasis epic
1700: Egyptian Westcar Papyrus
1700: Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
1650: Egyptian Ipuwer Papyrus and the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
1650: Sumerian Dialogue between a Man and His God
1600: Akkadian Eridu Genesis and Enuma Anu Enlil
1600: Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus
Late Bronze Age: ca. 1600 to 1200 BC (approximate dates shown)
1600: Hittite Code of the Nesilim
1600: Akkadian Ḫulbazizi
1550: Egyptian Book of the Dead
1550: Egyptian Instruction of Any, King Neferkare and General Sasenet, the Tale of the Doomed Prince, the Litany of Re, and the Ebers Papyrus
1550: Akkadian Bullussa-rabi's Hymn to Gula
1550: Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa
1500: Akkadian Poor Man of Nippur
1500: Hittite military oath
1500–1300: Ugaritic Baal Cycle
1500–1200: Ugaritic Legend of Keret
1500–1200: Sanskrit Rig Veda
1500: Akkadian Dynasty of Dunnum
1500: Akkadian Chronicle of Early Kings
1450: Egyptian The Taking of Joppa
1450: Akkadian Assyrian law
1425: Egyptian Amduat
1400: Akkadian Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal
1400: Akkadian Autobiography of Kurigalzu
1400: Akkadian Amarna letters
1350: Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat
1350: Akkadian Šurpu
1330: Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten
1300: Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope, Papyrus Anastasi I
1300: Akkadian Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, the Dream of Kurigalzu, The Hemerology for Nazi-Maruttaš, Iqqur Ipuš, and Summa izbu
1274: Akkadian Adad-nārāri Epic
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
Iron Age texts predating Classical Antiquity: 12th to 8th centuries BC
1200: The Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, and Samaveda
1100: Akkadian Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabāt
1050: Egyptian Story of Wenamun
1050: Akkadian Sakikkū (SA.GIG) "Diagnostic Omens" by Esagil-kin-apli.
1050: Akkadian Alamdimmû
1050: The Babylonian Theodicy of Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib.
1010: Akkadian Royal Inscription of Simbar-Šipak
1000: Chinese Classic of Poetry (Shījīng)
1000: Akkadian Dialogue of Pessimism, Chronicle P, Maglû, Bīt rimki, Zu-buru-dabbeda, Advice to a Prince, Asakkū marsūtu, the Great Prayer to Šamaš, the MUL.APIN, the Sag-gig-ga-meš, and Šēp lemutti
900: Akkadian Epic of Erra
900: Vedic Sanskrit Aranyaka
Classical Antiquity
9th century BC
Chinese:
Classic of Changes (I Ching)
Akkadian:
Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite
8th century BC
Greek:
Trojan War cycle, including the Iliad and the Odyssey
Sanskrit:
Brahmanas
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Isha Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
Aitareya Upanishad
Taittiriya Upanishad
Akkadian:
The Chronicle of the Market Prices
The Hymn to Ninurta as Savior
The Mîs-pî
7th century BC
Vedic Sanskrit
Shulba Sutra (containing geometry related to fire-altar construction)
Manava Sulbasutra
Baudhayana sutra
Shatapatha Brahmana – Commentary on the Vedas
Nirukta (technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of Sanskrit words)
Kausitaka Upanishad
Greek:
Hesiod: The Theogony and Works and Days
Archilochus
Alcman
Semonides of Amorgos
Solon
Mimnermus
Stesichorus
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Ketef Hinnom amulets, the oldest found Biblical text (amulets with the Priestly Blessing, which are recorded in the Book of Numbers)
Chinese:
Classic of Documents (Shūjīng) (authentic portions)
Akkadian:
The Dynastic Chronicle
The Eclectic Chronicle
The Marduk Prophecy
6th century BC
Sanskrit:
Sushruta: Sushruta Samhita (Book on Surgery and Medicine)
Kapila: Samkhya-sutra, Kapilanyayabhasa, Kapila Gita, Dṛṣṭantara Yoga
Kanada: Vaiśeṣika Sūtra (Book on Atomism)
Kashyapa Samhhita (Book on Medicine)
Pratishakhyas
Greek:
Sappho
Ibycus
Alcaeus of Mytilene
Aesop's Fables
Akkadian:
The autobiography of Adad-guppi
The Abnu šikinšu
The Nabonidus Chronicle
The Verse Account of Nabonidus
Cyrus Cylinder
5th century BC
Sanskrit:
Pāṇini:Aṣṭādhyāyī
Kenopanishad
Apastamba: Apastamba Dharmasutra, Apastambha Smriti
Avestan: Yasht
Chinese:
Spring and Autumn Annals (Chūnqiū) (722–481 BC, chronicles of the state of Lu)
Confucius: Analects (Lúnyǔ)
Classic of Rites (Lǐjì)
Commentaries of Zuo (Zuǒzhuàn)
Mozi: Mozi (book) (Mòzǐ)
Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ)
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:
Katha Upanishad
Prashnopanishad
Mundaka Upanishad
Māṇḍūkya Upanishad
Bhadrabahu: Kalpa Sūtra
Chankaya: Arthshastra, Chanakya Neeti
Salihotra: Shalihotra Samhita (treatise on veterinary medicine)
Vyasa: Mahabharata, Puranas, Brahma Sutras
Jaimini: Mimamsa Sutras, Jaimini Sutras, Ashvamedhika Parva
Valmiki : Ramayana
Bhāsa: Svapnavāsavadattam, Pancarātra, Pratijna Yaugandharayaanam, Pratimanātaka, Abhishekanātaka, Bālacharita, Karnabhāram, Dūtaghaṭotkaca, Chārudatta, Madhyamavyayoga and Urubhanga.
Hebrew: Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature
Chinese:
Laozi (or Lao Tzu): Tao Te Ching
Zhuangzi: Zhuangzi (book)
Mencius: Mencius
Shang Yang: The Book of Lord Shang (Shāng jūn shū)
Persian:
DNa inscription
Greek:
Xenophon: Anabasis, Cyropaedia, Oeconomicus, Memorabilia, Hellenica
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, Organon, Physics, Historia Animalium, De Partibus Animalium, De Motu Animalium, De Mundo, De Caelo, Poetics, Politics, Magna Moralia, Eudemian Ethics
Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Theaetetus, Parmenides, Symposium, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Republic, Timaeus, Critias, Laws, Menexenus, Phaedo, Lysis, Alcibiades I, Alcibiades II, Hippias minor, Epinomis, Minos, Hipparchus, Ion
Euclid: Elements
Menander: Dyskolos
Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants
Egyptian:
The Famine Stela
3rd century BC
Avestan: Avesta
Etruscan: Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb)
Sanskrit:
Pingala: Chandaḥśāstra
Moggaliputta-Tissa: Kathāvatthu
Kātyāyana: Vārttikakāra, Śulbasūtras
Vishnu Sharma: Panchatantra
Vedanga Jyotisha
Bharata Muni: Natya Shastra (A theoretical treatise on classical Indian dance and drama)
Elu (Sri Lankan Prakrit): Sīhalattakathā or Hela Atuwā (Pali commentaries of Buddhist teachings that were translated into Sinhalese after the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka)
Tamil:
3rd century BC to 3rd century AD: Sangam poems
Tolkāppiyam (grammar book)
Korakkar (3rd century BC) Siddhar, Physician, Philosopher
Bogar (3rd century BC) Siddhar, Physician, Yogi
Agattiyam
Telugu:
Bhattiprolu Inscriptions (3rd Century BC)
Hebrew: Ecclesiastes
Greek:
Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica
Callimachus (310/305-240 B.C.), lyric poet
Manetho: Aegyptiaca
Theocritus, lyric poet
Latin:
Lucius Livius Andronicus, translator, founder of Roman drama
Gnaeus Naevius (201 BC), dramatist, epic poet
Titus Maccius Plautus (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
Egyptian:
The Demotic Chronicle
The Oracle of the Potter
Akkadian:
The Crimes and Sacrileges of Nabu-šuma-iškun
The Religious Chronicle
2nd century BC
Sanskrit
Patanjali (Founder of Yoga School of Philosophy):Mahābhāṣya (Treatise on grammar and linguistics), Patanjalatantra (medical text), Yoga sūtras
Badrayana (Founder of Vedanta School of Philosophy):Brahma Sutras
Manu:Manusmriti(Laws of Manu)
Avestan: Vendidad
Chinese: Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian (Shǐjì)
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 ), poet
Marcus Pacuvius (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 ), tragic dramatist, philologist
Gaius Lucilius (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
Pali: Tipitaka
1st century BC
Pali (Sri Lanka): Pāli Tripiṭaka (Written under the patronage of King Vattagamani of Anuradhapura in Aluhihare, Matale)
Latin:
Cicero: Catiline Orations, Pro Caelio, Dream of Scipio
Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, Civil War
Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
Livy: History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita)
1st century AD
Sanskrit
Śabara:Sābara-bhāṣyam
Gunadhara:Kasayapahuda
Aśvaghoṣa:Buddhacharita (Acts of the Buddha),Saundarananda, Sutralankara
Chinese: Ban Gu: Book of Han (Hànshū)
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 of the Christian Bible and the Didache
Latin: see Classical Latin
Tacitus: Germania
Ovid: Metamorphoses; also Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto written during his exile
Pliny the Elder: Natural History
Petronius: Satyricon
Seneca the Younger: Phaedra, Dialogues
Statius: Thebaid; also Silvae and unfinished Achilleid
Egyptian:
The Oracle of the Lamb
2nd century
Sanskrit: Aśvaghoṣa: Buddhacharita (Acts of the Buddha)
Pahlavi:
Yadegar-e Zariran (Memorial of Zarēr)
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
The Shepherd of Hermas
Latin: see Classical Latin
Apuleius: The Golden Ass
Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis
Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars
Tertullian: Apologeticus
3rd century
Avestan: Khordeh Avesta (Zoroastrian prayer book)
Pahlavi: Mani: Shabuhragan (Manichaean holy book)
Chinese:
Chen Shou: Records of Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Zhì)
Zhang Hua: Bowuzhi
Greek: Plotinus: Enneads
Latin: see Late Latin
Distichs of Cato
Hebrew: Mishnah
Pali (Sri Lanka): Dīpavaṃsa
Late Antiquity
4th century
Latin: see Late Latin
Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, On Christian Doctrine
Faltonia Betitia Proba: Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi ("A Virgilian Cento Concerning the Glory of Christ")
Apicius (De re coquinaria, "On the Subject of Cooking")
Pervigilium Veneris ("Vigil of Venus")
Sanskrit
Asanga:Dharma-dharmata-vibhaga(Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being), Mahāyānasaṃgraha (Summary of the Great Vehicle)
Vasubandhu:Verses on the Treasury of the Abhidharma, Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇa (Explanation of the Five Aggregates), Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇa (Explanation of the Five Aggregates),Vyākhyāyukti ("Proper Mode of Exposition"), Vādavidhi ("Rules for Debate"), Dharmadharmatāvibhāgavṛtti (Commentary on Distinguishing Elements from Reality), Madhyāntavibhāgabhāṣya (Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes), Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya (Commentary on the Ornament to the Great Vehicle Discourses)
Dignāga:Pramāṇa-samuccaya (Compendium of Valid Cognition),Hetucakra (The wheel of reason)
Haribhadra:Anekāntajayapatākā [The Victory Banner of Anekantavada (Relativism)],Dhūrtākhyāna (The Rogue's Stories),Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya (An Array of Views on Yoga),Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya (Compendium of Six Philosophies)
Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian
Aramaic: Jerusalem Talmud
Pali (Sri Lanka): Mahāvaṃsa
5th century
Armenian:
Movses Khorenatsi (historian): History of Armenia
Chinese:
Bao Zhao: Fu on the Ruined City (蕪城賦, Wú chéng fù)
Fan Ye: Book of the Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhànshū)
Sanskrit:
Kālidāsa (speculated): Abhijñānaśākuntalam (अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्, "The Recognition of Shakuntala"), Meghadūta (मेघदूत, "Cloud Messenger"), Vikramōrvaśīyam (विक्रमोर्वशीयम्, "Urvashi Won by Valour", play)
Pujyapada:Iṣṭopadeśa (Divine Sermons), Sarvārthasiddhi (Attainment of Higher Goals), Jainendra Vyākaraṇa (Jainendra Grammar), Samādhitantra (Method of SelfContemplation), Daśabhaktyādisangraha (Collection of Ten Adorations),Śabdāvatāranyāsa (Arrangement of Words and their Forms)
Aryabhata: Aryabhatiya
Kamandaka:Nitisara(The Elements of Polity)
Bodhidharma:Two Entrances and Four Practices, Treatise on Realizing the Nature, Refuting Signs Treatise
Bhartṛhari:Vākyapadīya(Treatise on Sanskrit grammar and linguistic philosophy), Śatakatraya(The three hundred poems of moral values)
Siddhasena:Nyāyāvatāra, Sanmati sutra, Kalyan Mandir stotra
Sarvanandi:Lokavibhaga(Text on Jain Cosmology)
Tamil:
Tirukkural (Sacred verses)
Silappatikaram (The Tale of the Anklet)
Pahlavi:
Matigan-i Hazar Datistan (The Thousand Laws of the Magistan)
Frahang-i Oim-evak (Pahlavi-Avestan dictionary)
Pali (Sri Lanka)
Buddhaghosa: Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification)
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 (Περὶ τῆς Οὐρανίας Ἱεραρχίας, "On the Celestial Hierarchy"), Mystical Theology
Socrates of Constantinople: Historia Ecclesiastica
Greek:
Nonnus: Dionysiaca
6th century
Latin: Boethius, ("The Consolation of Philosophy", 524).
Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud
Sanskrit:
Varāhamihira:Pañcasiddhāntikā ("[Treatise] on the Five [Astronomical] Canons"), Brihat-Samhita(Great Compilation)Encyclopedic Work
Yativṛṣabha:Tiloya Panatti(Book on Cosmology and Mathematics)
Virahanka
Prabhākara:Triputipratyaksavada ("Doctrine of Triple Perception")
Dharmakirti:Saṃbandhaparikṣhāvrtti (Analysis of Relations),Pramāṇaviniścaya (Ascertainment of Valid Cognition),Nyāyabinduprakaraṇa (Drop of Logic),Hetubindunāmaprakaraṇa (Drop of Reason),Saṃtānāntarasiddhināmaprakaraṇa (Proof of Others' Mindstreams),Vādanyāyanāmaprakaraṇa (Reasoning for Debate)
Praśastapāda :Padārtha-dharma-saṅgraha (Collection of Properties of Matter)
Bhāviveka:Heart of the Middle, Wisdom Lamp
Udyotakara:Nyāyavārttika(Work on logic)
Gaudapada:Mandukya Karika
Sinhalese:
Wansaththppakāsinī (Sinhalese translation of the Pali Mahāvaṃsa)
Sigiriya Poems (Poems written by visitors to the citadel of Sigiriya)
Pali (Sri Lanka): Cūḷavaṃsa
Irish: Early Irish literature
Dallán Forgaill: Amra (life of St Columba)
See also
Early Medieval literature
List of languages by first written accounts
List of years in literature
List of oldest documents
List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts
Biblical manuscript
References
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