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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
 Bronze Age Mesopotamia  Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Writing  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  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  Vedic period), the earliest literature from Ancient India, parts of the Hebrew Bible  Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament; cf. dating the Bible), and the Avestan Gathas (see date of Zoroaster). Classical Antiquity  Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean is generally considered to begin with Homer  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  Classics were in ancient Greek, from the 3rd century BC, Greek literature  Greek literature was joined by Latin literature. Equally ancient is Classical Indian literature. This is generally divided into two canons: Sanskrit Sanskrit literature, which began with the grammarian Pāṇini  Pāṇini and reached its golden age under the rule of the Gupta empire, and Classical Tamil literature  Tamil literature which began with the works of Agastya. Chinese classics in China refers to any pre-Qin Dynasty literature. In Late Antiquity  Late Antiquity the beginnings of classical Syriac and Middle Persian literature emerge. 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. Contents 1 List of ancient texts 1.1 Bronze Age 1.2 Iron Age 1.3 Classical Antiquity 1.4 Late Antiquity 2 See also 3 References List of ancient texts[edit] Bronze Age[edit] See also: Sumerian literature, Akkadian literature, Ancient Egyptian
literature, Hittite texts,
Vedic
Early Bronze Age: 3rd millennium BC (approximate dates shown). The
earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC (classical
Sumerian).[1] 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
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[2] 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[3][4] 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) 2000-1900 Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor[5]
1950 Akkadian Laws of Eshnunna
1900 Akkadian Legend of Etana[6]
1900 Sumerian Code of Lipit-Ishtar
1900 Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
1859-1840 Egyptian The Eloquent Peasant[5]
1859-1840 Egyptian
Story of Sinuhe
Late Bronze Age: ca. 1600 to 1200 BC (approximate dates shown) 1700-1100
Vedic
Iron Age[edit] See also
Sanskrit
Iron Age
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 Sakikkū (SA.GIG) “Diagnostic Omens” by
Esagil-kin-apli.[11]
1050 BC The Babylonian Theodicy of Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib.[11]
1000-600 BC Chinese Classic of Poetry (Shījīng), Classic of
Documents (Shūjīng) (authentic portions), Classic of Changes (I
Ching)
950 BC date of the
Jahwist portions of the
Torah
Classical Antiquity[edit] See also
Ancient Greek
8th century BC Greek Trojan War cycle, including the
Iliad
7th century BC
Vedic
Aranyakas Greek: Hesiod: The
Theogony
6th century BC Hebrew Bible: Psalms[citation needed] (according to late dating) Book
of Ezekiel,
Book of Daniel
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Chandogya Upanishad Greek: Sappho Ibycus Alcaeus of Mytilene Aesop's Fables 5th century BC
Vedic
Aitareya Upanishad Taittiriya Upanishad Kenopanishad Avestan: Yasht Chinese:
Spring and Autumn Annals
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
Māṇḍūkya
Hebrew: Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature
Hebrew Torah, also called the
Pentateuch
Laozi
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
Epics:
Mahabharata
Tamil: 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD: Sangam poems Tolkāppiyam (grammar book) Hebrew: Ecclesiastes Greek: Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica
Callimachus
Latin: Lucius
Livius Andronicus
2nd century BC Avestan: Vendidad
Chinese: Sima Qian:
Records of the Grand Historian
Polybius: The Histories Book of Wisdom Septuagint Latin:
Terence
1st century BC Pali: Tipitaka Latin: Cicero: Catiline Orations, Pro Caelio, Dream of Scipio
Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars
Virgil: Eclogues,
Georgics
See also: Pahlavi literature, centuries in poetry: 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st century AD Chinese: Ban Gu:
Book of Han
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: Aśvaghoṣa:
Buddhacharita
Yadegar-e Zariran (Memorial of Zarēr) Visperad Drakht-i Asurig (The Babylonian Tree) Greek: Arrian: Anabasis Alexandri
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
Epictetus
Latin: see Classical Latin Apuleius: The Golden Ass Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars 3rd century Avestan: Khordeh
Avesta
Distichs of Cato Hebrew: Mishnah Late Antiquity[edit] See also: 4th century in poetry, 5th century in poetry 4th century Latin: see Late Latin Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, On Christian Doctrine
Faltonia Betitia Proba:
Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi
Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian Hebrew: Gemara 5th century Chinese: Bao Zhao: Fu on the Ruined City (蕪城賦, Wú chéng fù)
Fan Ye:
Book of the Later Han
Sanskrit:
Kālidāsa
Tirukkural
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 (Περὶ τῆς Οὐρανίας Ἱεραρχίας, "On the Celestial Hierarchy"), Mystical Theology Socrates of Constantinople: Historia Ecclesiastica 6th century Latin: Boethius,
De consolatione philosophiae
See also[edit] Literature portal Early Medieval literature List of languages by first written accounts List of years in literature References[edit] ^ Grimbly, Shona (2000). Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Taylor
& Francis. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-57958-281-4. The earliest
written literature dates from about 2600 BC, when the Sumerians
started to write down their long epic poems.
^ Jones, Mark (2006). Criminals of the Bible: Twenty-Five Case Studies
of Biblical Crimes and Outlaws. FaithWalk Publishing. p. 6.
ISBN 978-1-932902-64-8. The Sumerian code of
Urukagina
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