Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales,

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone,

clay tablets In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

, palm leaves, and metal. Before the spread of writing,

oral literature Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used v ...

did not always survive well, but some texts and fragments have persisted. An unknown number of written works have 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). Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the ''

Egyptian Book of the Dead ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

'', which was recorded in the ''

Papyrus of Ani The Papyrus of Ani is a papyrus manuscript in the form of a scroll with cursive hieroglyphs and colour illustrations that was created c. 1250 BCE, during the Nineteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Egyptians compiled an indivi ...

'' around 1240 BC, but other versions of the book probably date from about the 18th century BC. * 2600 BC: Sumerian texts from

Abu Salabikh The archaeological site of Abu Salabikh (Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh), around northwest of the site of ancient Nippur and about 150 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Baghdad in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq marks the site of a small Sume ...

, including the ''

Instructions of Shuruppak __NOTOC__ The Instructions of Shuruppak (or, ''Instructions of Šuruppak son of Ubara-tutu'') are a significant example of Sumerian wisdom literature. Wisdom literature, intended to teach proper piety, inculcate virtue, and preserve community s ...

'' and the '' Kesh temple hymn'' * 2600 BC: Egyptian ''The Life of

Metjen Metjen (also read as Methen) was an ancient Egyptian high official at the transition time from Third Dynasty of Egypt, 3rd Dynasty to Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, 4th Dynasty. He is famous for his tomb inscription, which states that he worked and live ...

'' from

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

Toby A. H. Wilkinson: ''Early Dynastic Egypt''. Routledge, London/New York 2001, . * 2500 BC: Egyptian ''

Diary of Merer The Diary of Merer (also known as ''Papyrus Jarf'') is the name for papyrus logbooks written over 4,500 years ago by Merer, a middle-ranking official with the title ''inspector'' ( ''sḥḏ'', ''sehedj''). They are the oldest known papyri with ...

'' and

Instruction of Hardjedef The ''Instruction of Hardjedef'', also known as the ''Teaching of Hordedef'' and ''Teaching of Djedefhor'', belongs to the didactic literature of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. It is possibly the oldest of all known Instructions, composed during the 5 ...

* 2500 BC: Sumerian ''

Hymn to Enlil The Hymn to Enlil, Enlil and the Ekur (Enlil A), Hymn to the Ekur, Hymn and incantation to Enlil, Hymn to Enlil the all beneficent or Excerpt from an exorcism is a Sumerian language, Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets in the late third mil ...

'', ''

Enlil and Ninlil Enlil and Ninlil, the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil, or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian language, Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium Anno Domini, BC. Compilation The first lines ...

, and'' ''

Debate between sheep and grain The "Debate between sheep and grain" or "Myth of cattle and grain" is a Sumerian disputation and creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Disputations Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literat ...

'' * 2400 BC: Sumerian ''

Code of Urukagina Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, or Iri-ka-gina ( ; died 2370 BC) was King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash. He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been divinely appointe ...

'' * 2400 BC – 2300 BC: Egyptian ''

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...

'', including the '' Cannibal Hymn'' * 2375 BC: Egyptian ''

The Maxims of Ptahhotep ''The Maxims of Ptahhotep'' or ''Instruction of Ptahhotep'' is an ancient Egyptian literary composition by the Vizier Ptahhotep around 2375–2350 BC, during the rule of King Djedkare Isesi of the Fifth Dynasty. The text was discovered in The ...

'' * 2283 BC: Egyptian ''

Palermo Stone The Palermo Stone is one of seven surviving fragments of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The stele contained a list of the kings of Egypt from the First Dynasty (c.3150–2890 BCE) through to the early par ...

'' * 2270 BC: Sumerian '' Enheduanna's Hymns'' * 2250 BC: Egyptian ''

Autobiography of Weni The Autobiography of Weni is a tomb inscription from Ancient Egypt, which is significant to Egyptology studies. Weni the Elder, or Uni, was a court official of the 6th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The location of the Tomb of Weni was lost as a re ...

'' and ''

South Saqqara Stone The South Saqqara Stone is the lid of the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian queen Ankhesenpepi I, which was inscribed with a list for the reigns of the pharaohs of the 6th Dynasty from Teti, Userkare, Pepi I, Merenre to the early years of Pepi ...

'' * 2250 BC – 2000 BC: Earliest Sumerian stories in the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

'' * 2200 BC: Egyptian '' Autobiography of Harkhuf'' * 2125 BC: Sumerian '' Building of Ningirsu's Temple'' * 2100 BC: Sumerian '' Curse of Agade'', ''

Debate between bird and fish The "Debate between bird and fish" is an essay written in the Sumerian language on clay tablets, dating back to the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. It belongs to the genre of Sumerian disputations, Sumerian disputation. Genre Six Sumerian disput ...

'', ''

Inanna's Descent into the Underworld Inanna is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assy ...

'', '' Self-praise of Shulgi'', ''

Code of Ur-Nammu The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known surviving law code. It is from Mesopotamia and is written on tablets, in the Sumerian language . It contains strong statements of royal power like "I eliminated enmity, violence, and cries for justice."Cos ...

'', and '' Song of the hoe'' * 2084 BC: Sumerian ''

Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...

'' * 2050 BC: Egyptian ''

The Satire of the Trades ''The Satire of the Trades'', also called ''The Instruction of Kheti'', is a didactic work of ancient Egyptian literature. It takes the form of an sebayt, instruction and was composed by a scribe from Sile named Kheti for his son Pepi. ''The Satir ...

'' Middle Bronze Age: 2000 BC to 1601 BC (approximate dates shown) * 2000 BC: Egyptian ''

Coffin Texts The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial n ...

'' and ''

Teaching for King Merykara The ''Teaching for King Merykara'', alt. ''Instruction Addressed to King Merikare'', is a literary composition in Middle Egyptian, the classical phase of the Egyptian language, probably of Middle Kingdom date (2025–1700 BC). In this ''sebayt' ...

'' * 2000 BC: Sumerian ''

Lament for Ur The Lament for Ur, or Lamentation over the city of Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the time of the fall of Ur to the Elamites and the end of the city's third dynasty (c. 2000 BC). Laments It contains one of five known Mesopotamian ...

'', ''

Lament for Sumer and Ur The lament for Sumer and Urim or the lament for Sumer and Ur is a poem and one of five known Mesopotamian "city laments"—dirges for ruined cities in the voice of the city's tutelary goddess. The other city laments are: *The Lament for Ur ...

'', ''

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' is a legendary Sumerian language, Sumerian account, preserved in early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BC). It is one of a series of accounts describing the conflicts ...

'', and ''

Debate between Winter and Summer The Debate between Winter and Summer or Myth of Emesh and Enten is a Sumerian creation myth belonging to the genre of Sumerian disputations, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Disputations Seven "debate" topics are ...

'' * 2000 BC – 1900 BC: Egyptian '' Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor'', ''

Prophecy of Neferti The ''Prophecy of Neferti'' is one of the few surviving literary texts from ancient Egypt. The story is set in the Old Kingdom, under the reign of King Sneferu. However, the text should be attributed to an individual named Neferyt, who most likely ...

'', and the first of the Harper's Songs * 1950 BC: Akkadian ''

Laws of Eshnunna The Laws of Eshnunna (abrv. LE) are inscribed on two cuneiform tablets discovered in Tell Abū Harmal, Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities headed by Taha Baqir unearthed two parallel sets of tablets in 1945 and 1947. The two table ...

'' and '' Hymn to Ištar'' * 1950 BC: Egyptian ''

Instructions of Amenemhat Instructions of Amenemhat (aka "Teaching of King Amenemhat to His Son Senusret") is a short ancient Egyptian poem of the ''sebayt'' genre written during the early Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle Kingdom. The poem takes the form of an intensely dr ...

'', the Akhmim wooden tablets, and the

Heqanakht papyri The Heqanakht Papyri or Heqanakht letters (also spelled Hekanakht) are a group of papyri dating to the early Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt that were found in the tomb complex of Vizier Ipi. Their find was located in the burial chamber of a se ...

* 1940 BC: Sumerian ''

Correspondence of the Kings of Ur The ''Correspondence of the Kings of Ur'' (CKU), also known as the ''Royal Correspondence of Ur'', is a collection of 24 literary letters written in the Sumerian language and attributed to kings of the Ur III period, 2048–1940 BCE (2112–2004 ...

'' * 1900 BC: Akkadian '' Legend of Etana'', '' Summa izbu'', ''

Šumma ālu Šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin is the title for a series of a collected number of cuneiform texts of ancient Mesopotamia amounting to one hundred and twenty clay tablets. The title translates as ''If a City is Situated on a Height'', and it lists o ...

Namburbi The NAM-BÚR-BI are Spell (paranormal), magical texts which take the form of incantations (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''namburbȗ''). They were named for a series of prophylactic Babylonian and Assyrian rituals to avert Wikt:inauspicious, inauspi ...

'', and ''

Iškar Zaqīqu The Dream Book, iškar dZaqīqu (“core text of the god Zaqīqu”), is an eleven tablet compendium of oneiromancy written in Akkadian. Tablets two to nine form the manual of deductive divination, while tablets one, ten and eleven provide ritua ...

'' * 1900 BC: Sumerian ''

Code of Lipit-Ishtar The Code of Lipit-Ishtar is a collection of laws promulgated by Lipit-Ishtar (), a ruler in Lower Mesopotamia. As cuneiform law, it is a legal code written in cuneiform script in the Sumerian language. It is the second-oldest known extant le ...

'' and ''The Legend of

Adapa Adapa was a Mesopotamian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story, commonly known as "Adapa and the South Wind", is known from fragmentary tablets from Tell el-Amarna in Egypt (around 14th century BC) and from ...

'' * 1900 BC: Egyptian ''

Instructions of Kagemni The ''Instructions of Kagemni'' is an ancient Egyptian instructional text of wisdom literature which belongs to the ''sebayt'' ('teaching') genre. Although the earliest evidence of its compilation dates to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, its authors ...

''Parkinson (2002), pp. 46, 50, 313. * 1859 BC – 1840 BC: Egyptian '' Dispute between a man and his Ba'' * 1859 BC – 1813 BC: Egyptian ''

Loyalist Teaching ''The Loyalist Teaching'', or ''The Loyalist Instructions'', is an ancient Egyptian text of the ''sebayt'' ('teaching') genre. It survives in part from a stela inscription of the mid Twelfth dynasty of Egypt.Cairo CG 20538. The whole text can be ...

'' * 1850 BC: Egyptian '' The Eloquent Peasant'' * 1850 BC: Akkadian '' Kultepe texts'', '' Bārûtu'', the ''

Counsels of Wisdom Counsels of Wisdom is a piece of Babylonian wisdom literature written in Akkadian language, Akkadian containing moral exhortations. It is composed primarily of two-line units, without sections. A translation of extant portions of the text was publis ...

'', the ''

Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin The Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin is one of the few literary works whose versions are attested in both Old Babylonian, Middle Babylonian and the Standard Babylonian of the late Neo-Babylonian period, a literary life of around 1,500 years. It seems to ...

'', and the '' Labbu Myth'' * 1800 BC: Akkadian earliest complete version of the ''

'' * 1800 BC: Egyptian

Berlin Papyrus 6619 The Berlin Papyrus 6619, simply called the Berlin Papyrus when the context makes it clear, is one of the primary sources of ancient Egyptian mathematics. One of the two mathematics problems on the Papyrus may suggest that the ancient Egyptians k ...

Moscow Mathematical Papyrus The Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, also named the Golenishchev Mathematical Papyrus after its first non-Egyptian owner, Egyptologist Vladimir Golenishchev, is an ancient Egyptian mathematical papyrus containing several problems in arithmetic, ge ...

, and ''

Story of Sinuhe The ''Story of Sinuhe'' (also referred to as Sanehat or Sanhath) is a work of ancient Egyptian literature. It was likely composed in the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty after the death of Amenemhat I and the ascention of Senwosret I as sole ...

'' (in

Hieratic Hieratic (; ) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BCE ...

) * 1780 BC: Akkadian Mari letters, including the '' Epic of Zimri-Lim'' * 1754 BC: Akkadian ''

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian language, Akkadi ...

'' stele * 1750 BC: Akkadian ''

Agushaya Hymn The Agušaya Hymn or Song of Agušaya is an Old Babylonian literary work, a “song of praise”, written in the Akkadian language concerning the goddess Ištar, identified with the serpent deity Irnina. It may have been called “the Snake has ...

'' * Late 18th century BC: Hittite ''

Anitta text Anitta, son of Pitḫana, was a Middle Bronze Age king of Kuššara (c. 1740-1725 BC middle chronology). The city has not yet been identified. He is the earliest known ruler to compose a text in the Hittite language. His high official, or ''rab ...

'' * 1700 BC: Akkadian ''

Atra-Hasis ''Atra-Hasis'' () is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic, recorded in various versions on clay tablets and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise'). The narrative has four focal points: An organisation of allie ...

'' * 1700 BC: Egyptian ''

Westcar Papyrus The Westcar Papyrus (inventory-designation: ''P. Berlin 3033'') is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of King ...

'' * 1650 BC: Egyptian ''

Ipuwer Papyrus The Ipuwer Papyrus (officially Papyrus Leiden I 344 ''recto'') is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus made during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and now held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands. It contains the ''Admonitions ...

'' * 1650 BC: Sumerian ''

Dialogue between a Man and His God The Dialogue between a Man and His God is the earliest known text to address the answer to the question of why a god permits evil, or theodicy, a reflection on human suffering. It is a piece of Wisdom Literature extant on a single clay cuneiform ...

'' Late Bronze Age: 1600 BC to 1201 BC (approximate dates shown) * 1600 BC: Hittite ''

Code of the Nesilim The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from – 1500 BCE. They have been preserved on a number of Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Hattusa ( CTH 291–292, listing 200 laws). Copi ...

'' * 1600 BC: Akkadian ''

Ḫulbazizi Ḫulbazizi, inscribed in cuneiform phonetically ''Ḫul.ba.zi.zi'', “the Evil is Eradicated” or more literally "Evil (be) gone", is an ancient Mesopotamian exorcistic incantation series extant in earlier Sumerian and later Akkadian forms, th ...

Eridu Genesis Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth or Sumerian Flood Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, how the o ...

and

Enuma Anu Enlil Enuma Anu Enlil ( ,'' The Assyrian Dictionary'', volume 7 (I/J) – ''inūma'', The Oriental Institute, Chicago 1960, s. 160. ''When he gods Anu and Enlil'' .., abbreviated EAE, is a major series of 68 or 70 tablets (depending on the recension) ...

'' * 1600 BC: Egyptian

Edwin Smith Papyrus The Edwin Smith Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical manual, medical text, named after Edwin Smith (Egyptologist), Edwin Smith who bought it in 1862, and the oldest known surgical treatise on trauma (medicine), trauma. This document, which ma ...

* 1550 BC: Egyptian ''

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' is the name given to an Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC ...

'', ''

Instruction of Any ''The Instruction of Any'', or ''Ani'', is an Ancient Egyptian text written in the style of wisdom literature which is thought to have been composed in the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, with a surviving manuscript dated from the Twenty-F ...

'', '' King Neferkare and General Sasenet'', the '' Tale of the Doomed Prince'', the ''

Litany of Re The Litany of Re (or more fully "''Book of Praying to Re in the West, Praying to the United One in the West''") is an important ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom.Hornung (1999) p.136 Like many funerary texts, it was written on the ...

'',

Rhind Mathematical Papyrus The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP; also designated as papyrus British Museum 10057, pBM 10058, and Brooklyn Museum 37.1784Ea-b) is one of the best known examples of ancient Egyptian mathematics. It is one of two well-known mathematical papyri ...

, and the

Ebers Papyrus The Ebers Papyrus, also known as Papyrus Ebers, is an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal knowledge dating to (the late Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom). Among the oldest and most important medical papyri of Ancient Egypt, it ...

* 1550 BC: Akkadian '' Bullussa-rabi's Hymn to Gula'' * 1550 BC: Babylonian

Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa (''Enuma Anu Enlil'' Tablet 63) is the record of astronomical positions for Venus, as preserved in numerous cuneiform clay tablet, tablets dating from the first millennium BC. Scholars believe that this astronomical ...

* 1500 BC: Akkadian ''

Poor Man of Nippur The Poor Man of Nippur is an Akkadian story dating from around 1500 BC. It is attested by only three texts, only one of which is more than a small fragment. There was a man, a citizen of Nippur, destitute and poor, Gimil-Ninurta was his name, a ...

'' * 1500 BC:

Hittite military oath The Hittite military oath ( CTH 427) is a Hittite text on two cuneiform tablets. The first tablet is only preserved in fragments (KBo XXI 10, KUB XL 13, and minor fragments), the second tablet survives in three copies, and can be restituted almo ...

* 1500 BC – 1300 BC:

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...

'' Baal Cycle'' * 1500 BC – 1200 BC: Ugaritic ''

Legend of Keret The Legend of Keret, also known as the Epic of Kirta, is an ancient Ugaritic epic poem, dated to Late Bronze Age, circa 1500 – 1200 BCE. It recounts the myth of King Kirta of Hubur. It is one of the Ugaritic texts. In the legend, Kirta i ...

'' * 1500 BC – 1000 BC: Sanskrit ''

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

'' * 1500 BC: Akkadian '' Dynasty of Dunnum'' and ''

Chronicle of Early Kings The Chronicle of Early Kings, named ABC 20 in Grayson’s ''Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles'' and CM 40 in Glassner’s ''Chroniques mésopotamiennes'' is a Babylonian chronicle preserved on two tablets: tablet ABM 26472 (98-5-14, 290) tablet ...

'' * 1450 BC: Egyptian '' The Taking of Joppa'' * 1450 BC: Akkadian ''

Assyrian law Assyrian law, also known as the Middle Assyrian Laws (MAL) or the Code of the Assyrians, was an ancient legal code developed between 1450 and 1250 BCE in the Middle Assyrian Empire. (E-book edition) It was very similar to Sumerian and Babylonian l ...

(E-book edition)'' * 1425 BC: Egyptian ''

Amduat The ''Amduat'' (, () is an important Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Similar to previous funerary texts, such as the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom's Pyramid Texts, or the First In ...

'' * 1400 BC: Akkadian ''Marriage of

Nergal Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...

and

Ereshkigal In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal (Sumerian language, Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲 REŠ.KI.GAL, lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In la ...

'', '' Autobiography of Kurigalzu'', and Amarna letters * Mid 14th century BC: Egyptian ''

Great Hymn to the Aten The Great Hymn to the Aten is the longest of a number of hymn-poems written to the sun-disk deity Aten. Composed in the middle of the 14th century BC, it is varyingly attributed to the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten or his courtiers, dependin ...

'' * 1350 BC: Ugaritic ''

Tale of Aqhat The Tale of Aqhat or Epic of Aqhat is a Canaanite myth from Ugarit, an ancient city in what is now Syria. It is one of the three longest texts to have been found at Ugarit, the other two being the Legend of Keret and the Baal Cycle. It dates ...

'' * 1350 BC: Akkadian ''

Šurpu The ancient Mesopotamian incantation series Šurpu begins ''enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t'' 'eppušu'', “when you perform the rituals for (the series) ‘Burning,’” and was probably compiled in the middle Babylonian period, ca. 1350–105 ...

'' * 1300 BC: Egyptian ''

Instruction of Amenemope ''Instruction of Amenemope'' (also called ''Instructions of Amenemopet'', ''Wisdom of Amenemopet'') is a literary work composed in Ancient Egypt, most likely during the Ramesside Period (ca. 1300–1075 BCE); it contains thirty chapters of advic ...

'', ''

Papyrus Anastasi I Papyrus Anastasi I (officially designated papyrus British Museum 10247) is an ancient Egyptian papyrus containing a Satire, satirical text used for the training of scribes during the Ramesside Period (i.e. Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth and ...

'' * 1300 BC: Akkadian ''

Ludlul bēl nēmeqi ("''I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom''"), also sometimes known in English as ''The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer'', is a Mesopotamian poem (ANET, pp. 434–437) written in Akkadian that concerns itself with the problem of the unjust suff ...

'', the '' Dream of Kurigalzu'', '' The Hemerology for Nazi-Maruttaš'', ''

Iqqur Ipuš Iqqur Ipuš (“he destroyed, he built”) is an ancient Mesopotamian menology, first described as "An Almanac from ancient Babylonia", a work recording favorable and inauspicious months in which one might choose to carry out a wide variety of enter ...

'', and '' Summa izbu'' * 1274 BC: Akkadian '' Adad-nārāri Epic'' * 1240 BC: Egyptian ''

'',

* 1200 BC – 900 BC: Akkadian version and younger stories in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' * 1200 BC: Akkadian ''

Tukulti-Ninurta Epic Tukilti-Ninurta Epic is an Assyrian epic written in Akkadian describing and glorifying the wars and conquests of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I against the Babylonian king Kashtiliash IV during the Kassite dynasty. Though in principle succ ...

'' * 1200 BC: Egyptian ''

Tale of Two Brothers The "Tale of Two Brothers" is an ancient Egyptian story that dates from the reign of Seti II, who ruled from 1200 to 1194 BC during the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. The story is preserved on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which is currently held in ...

Iron Age

Iron Age texts predating Classical Antiquity: 12th to 8th centuries BC * 1200 BC: The ''

Yajurveda The ''Yajurveda'' (, , from यजुस्, "worship", and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism'' (Edito ...

'', ''

Atharvaveda The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (, , from ''wikt:अथर्वन्, अथर्वन्'', "priest" and ''wikt:वेद, वेद'', "knowledge") or is the "knowledge storehouse of ''wikt:अथर्वन्, atharvans'', the proced ...

'', and ''

Samaveda The ''Samaveda'' (, , from '' सामन्'', "song" and ''वेद'', "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and is one of the sacred scriptures in Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a l ...

'' * 1100 BC: Akkadian '' Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabāt'' * 1050 BC: Egyptian ''

Story of Wenamun The Story of Wenamun (alternately known as the Report of Wenamun, The Misadventures of Wenamun, Voyage of Unamūn, or nformallyas just Wenamun) is a literary text written in hieratic in the Late Egyptian language. It is only known from one incom ...

'' * 1050 BC: Akkadian ''Sakikkū'' (SA.GIG) "Diagnostic Omens" by

Esagil-kin-apli Esagil-kin-apli, was the ''ummânū'', or chief scholar, of Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina, 1067–1046 BCE, as he appears on the Uruk ''List of Sages and Scholars'' (165 BCE)W 20030,7 the Seleucid ''List of Sages and Scholars'', obverse line 16 ...

. * 1050 BC: Akkadian ''

Alamdimmû Esagil-kin-apli, was the ''ummânū'', or chief scholar, of Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina, 1067–1046 BCE, as he appears on the Uruk ''List of Sages and Scholars'' (165 BCE)W 20030,7 the Seleucid ''List of Sages and Scholars'', obverse line 16, ...

'' * 1050 BC: The '' Babylonian Theodicy'' of Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib. * 1010 BC: Akkadian ''

Royal Inscription of Simbar-Šipak Simbar-Šipak, or perhaps ''Simbar-Šiḫu'',Earlier readings render his name as ''Simmash-Shipak''. (typically inscribed m''sim-bar-''d''ši-i-''ḪU or ''si-im-bar-ši-''ḪU in cuneiform, where the reading of the last symbol is uncertain) was a ...

'' * 1000 BC: Chinese ''

Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

(Shījīng)'' * 1000 BC: Akkadian '' Dialogue of Pessimism'', '' Chronicle P'', '' Maglû'', '' Bīt rimki'', ''

Zu-buru-dabbeda Zu-buru-dabbeda, inscribed ''zú-buru''5''-dib-bé-da'', is the most complete exemplar of a small body of similarly themed texts from ancient Mesopotamia. Composed in Akkadian, it is a compendium of incantations against field pests such as locusts ...

'', ''

Advice to a Prince Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to: * Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct * Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder * Advice (p ...

'', '' Asakkū marsūtu'', the '' Great Prayer to Šamaš'', the '' MUL.APIN'', the ''

Sag-gig-ga-meš The incantation series inscribed in cuneiform Sumerograms as ÉN SAG.GIG.GA.MEŠ, Akkadian: ''muruṣ qaqqadi'', “headache” (literally “sick-head”), is an ancient Mesopotamian nine-tablet collection of magical prescriptions against the demo ...

'', and ''

Šēp lemutti The work ''šēp lemutti ina bīt amēli parāsu'' (inscribed GÌR ḪUL''-tim'' AŠ É LÚ TAR''-si''), “to block the entry of the enemy (‘foot of evil’) into someone’s house,” also referred to as ''ana nasāḫ šēp lemutti'', "to expel ...

'' * 900 BC: Akkadian ''

Epic of Erra Erra (sometimes called Irra) is an Akkadian plague god known from an 'epos' of the eighth century BCE. Erra is the god of mayhem and pestilence who is responsible for periods of political confusion. He was assimilated to Nergal at some point. E ...

'' * 900 BC: Vedic Sanskrit ''

Aranyaka The ''Aranyakas'' (; ; IAST: ') are a part of the ancient Indian Vedas concerned with the meaning of ritual sacrifice, composed in about 700 BC. They typically represent the later sections of the Vedas, and are one of many layers of Vedic text ...

Classical Antiquity

9th century BC

* Chinese: ** ''

Classic of Changes The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

'' (''I Ching'') * Akkadian: ** '' Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite'' ** '' Enûma Eliš''

8th century BC

* Greek: ** Trojan War cycle, including the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'' * Sanskrit: **

Brahmana The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedas, Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rigveda, Rig, Samaveda, Sama, Yajurveda, Yajur, and Athar ...

s **

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad The ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' (, ) is one of the Mukhya Upanishads, Principal Upanishads and one of the first Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanisad'' is tenth in the ...

Isha Upanishad The ''Isha Upanishad'' (, ), also known as ''Shri Ishopanishad'', ''Ishavasya Upanishad'', or ''Vajasaneyi Samhita Upanishad'', is one of the shortest Upanishads, embedded as the final chapter (''adhyāya'') of the Shukla Yajurveda. It is a '' ...

Chandogya Upanishad The ''Chandogya Upanishad'' (Sanskrit: , IAST: ''Chāndogyopaniṣad'') is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism.Patrick Olivelle (2014), ''The Early Upanishads'', Oxford University Press; , pp. 166-1 ...

Aitareya Upanishad The Aitareya Upanishad (, ) is a Mukhya Upanishad, associated with the Rigveda. It comprises the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the second book of Aitareya Aranyaka, which is one of the four layers of Rig vedic text. Aitareya Upanishad di ...

Taittiriya Upanishad The Taittiriya Upanishad (, ) is a Vedic era Sanskrit text, embedded as three chapters (''adhyāya'') of the Yajurveda. It is a '' mukhya'' (primary, principal) Upanishad, and likely composed about 6th century BCE. The Taittirīya Upanishad is ...

* Akkadian: ** ''

Chronicle of the Market Prices The Chronicle of Market Prices, designated "Chronicle 23" in Grayson’s ''Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles'', its first publishing, and Mesopotamian Chronicle 50: “Chronicle of Market Prices” in Glassner’s ''Mesopotamian Chronicles'' is an ...

'' ** '' Hymn to Ninurta as Savior'' ** ''

Mîs-pî Mîs-pî, inscribed KA-LUḪ.Ù.DA and meaning “washing of the mouth,” is an ancient Mesopotamian ritual and incantation series for the cultic induction or vivification of a newly manufactured divine idol. It involved around eleven stages: in th ...

7th century BC

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit, also simply referred as the Vedic language, is the most ancient known precursor to Sanskrit, a language in the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is atteste ...

: **

Shulba Sutra The ''Shulva Sutras'' or ''Śulbasūtras'' (Sanskrit: शुल्बसूत्र; ': "string, cord, rope") are sutra texts belonging to the Śrauta ritual and containing geometry related to fire-altar construction. Purpose and origins Th ...

(containing geometry related to fire-altar construction) *** Manava Sulbasutra *** Baudhayana sutra **

Shatapatha Brahmana The Shatapatha Brahmana (, , abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Yajurveda, Śukla Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the ...

– Commentary on the Vedas **

Nirukta ''Nirukta'' (, , "explained, interpreted") is one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Nirukta" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: ...

(technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of Sanskrit words) ** Kausitaka Upanishad * Greek: **

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

: ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

'' and ''

Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...

'' **

Archilochus Archilochus (; ''Arkhílokhos''; 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Iambus (genre) , iambic poet of the Archaic Greece, Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest ...

Alcman Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...

** Semonides of Amorgos **

Solon Solon (; ; BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. ...

Mimnermus Mimnermus ( ''Mímnermos'') was a Greek elegiac poet from either Colophon or Smyrna in Ionia, who flourished about 632–629 BC (i.e. in the 37th Olympiad, according to Suda). He was strongly influenced by Homer, yet he wrote short poems suitabl ...

Stesichorus Stesichorus (; , ''Stēsichoros''; c. 630 – 555 BC) was a Greek Greek lyric, lyric poet native of Metauros (Gioia Tauro today). He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres, and for some ancient traditions about his life, such as hi ...

Paleo-Hebrew alphabet The Paleo-Hebrew script (), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, including pre-Biblical and Biblical Hebrew, from southern Canaan, also known as the biblical kingdoms ...

: ** Ketef Hinnom amulets, the oldest found Biblical text (

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word , which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a perso ...

s with the

Priestly Blessing The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction (; translit. ''birkat kohanim''), also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands (Hebrew ''nesiat kapayim''), rising to the platform (Hebrew ''aliyah ledukhan''), ''dukhenen'' (Yiddish fro ...

, which are recorded in the

Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers (from Biblical Greek, Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi'', , ''Bəmīḏbar'', ; ) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final f ...

) * Chinese: ** '' Classic of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'') (authentic portions) * Akkadian: ** '' Dynastic Chronicle'' ** ''

Eclectic Chronicle The Eclectic Chronicle, referred to in earlier literature as the ''New Babylonian Chronicle'', is an ancient Mesopotamian account of the highlights of Babylonian history during the post- Kassite era prior to the 689 BC fall of the city of Babylon. ...

'' ** ''

Marduk Prophecy Marduk (; cuneiform: ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshi ...

6th century BC

* Sanskrit: **

Sushruta Suśruta (, ) is the listed author of the '' Suśruta Saṃhiāa'' (''Suśruta's Compendium''), considered to be one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine. It is also considered a foundational text of Ayurveda. The treat ...

: ''

Sushruta Samhita The ''Sushruta Samhita'' (, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and one of the most important such treatises on this subject to survive from the ancient world. The ''Compendium of Sushruta, Suśruta'' is one of the foundational texts of ...

'' (''Book on Surgery and Medicine'') **

Kapila Kapila () (7th-6th-century BCE), also referred to as Cakradhanus, is a Vedic sage in Hindu tradition, regarded the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy., Quote:"Kapila (fl. 550 BC), Vedic sage and founder of the system of Samkhya, ...

: Samkhya-sutra, ''Kapilanyayabhasa'', ''Kapila Gita'', ''Dṛṣṭantara Yoga'' ** Kanada: '' Vaiśeṣika Sūtra'' (''Book on Atomism'') ** '' Kashyapa Samhhita'' (''Book on Medicine'') ** ''

Pratishakhyas Pratishakhya ( '), also known as Parsada ('), are Vedic-era manuals devoted to the precise and consistent pronunciation of words. These works were critical to the preservation of the Vedic texts, as well as the accurate ritual recitations and an ...

'' * Greek: **

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

Ibycus Ibycus (; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet, a citizen of Rhegium in Magna Graecia, probably active at Samos during the reign of the tyrant Polycrates and numbered by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria in the canon (fiction), ca ...

Alcaeus of Mytilene Alcaeus of Mytilene (; , ''Alkaios ho Mutilēnaios''; – BC) was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of H ...

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a Slavery in ancient Greece, slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 Before the Common Era, BCE. Of varied and unclear origins, the stor ...

* Akkadian: ** '' The Autobiography of Adad-guppi'' ** '' Abnu šikinšu'' ** ''

Nabonidus Chronicle The Nabonidus Chronicle is an ancient Babylonian text, part of a larger series of Babylonian Chronicles inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets. It deals primarily with the reign of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, co ...

'' ** '' Verse Account of Nabonidus'' **

Cyrus Cylinder The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several pieces, on which is written an Achaemenid royal inscription in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of the Persian king Cyrus the Great. Kuhrt (2007), p. 70, 72 It dates fr ...

5th century BC

* Sanskrit: **

Pāṇini (; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE. The historical facts of his life ar ...

:''

Aṣṭādhyāyī The (; ) is a grammar text that describes a form of the Sanskrit language. Authored by the ancient Sanskrit scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 6th c. bce, 6-5th c.BCE and 4th c.BCE, it describes the language as current in his time, specifica ...

'' ** Kenopanishad ** ''

Apastamba Dharmasutra ''Āpastamba Dharmasūtra'' (Sanskrit: आपस्तम्ब धर्मसूत्र) is a Sanskrit text and one of the oldest Dharma-post vedic smriti related texts of Hinduism that have survived into the modern age from the 1st millenniu ...

'', '' Apastambha Smriti'' * Avestan: ''

Yasht A Yasht (, ) is a hymn of praise composed in the Young Avestan language and dedicated to specific Zoroastrian divinities. The term commonly applies to the collection of 21 Yashts, although it may also refer to other texts within the wider Avest ...

'' * Chinese: ** ''

Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. ''The Annals'' is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 242-year period from 722 to 481&nbs ...

'' (''Chūnqiū'') (722–481 BC, chronicles of the state of Lu) **

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

: ''

Analects The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...

'' (''Lúnyǔ'') ** ''

Classic of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The '' ...

'' (''Lǐjì'') ** '' Commentaries of Zuo'' (''Zuǒ Zhuàn'') **

Mozi Mozi, personal name Mo Di, was a Chinese philosopher, logician, and founder of the Mohist school of thought, making him one of the most important figures of the Warring States period (221 BCE). Alongside Confucianism, Mohism became the ...

: ''

'' **

Sun Tzu Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...

: ''

The Art of War ''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is compos ...

'' (''Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ'') ** Guoyu: ''

Discourses of the States The ''Guoyu'', usually translated as ''Discourses of the States'', is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC). It comprises a total ...

'' ** Yanzi Chunqiu: ''Annals of Master Yan'' **

Wenzi The ''Wenzi'' () is a Daoist classic allegedly written by a disciple of Laozi. The text was widely read and highly revered in the centuries following its creation, and even canonized as ''Tongxuan zhenjing'' () in the year 742 CE. However, soon aft ...

: ''Book of Master Wen'' * Greek: **

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

: odes ** Herodotus: ''The Histories of Herodotus'' ** Thucydides: ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' ** Aeschylus: ''The Suppliants (Aeschylus), The Suppliants'', ''The Persians'', ''Seven Against Thebes'', ''Oresteia'' ** Sophocles: ''Oedipus Rex'', ''Oedipus at Colonus'', ''Antigone (Sophocles), Antigone'', ''Electra (Sophocles), Electra'' and other plays ** Euripides: ''Alcestis (play), Alcestis'', ''Medea (play), Medea'', ''Heracleidae (play), Heracleidae'', ''Hippolytus (play), Hippolytus'', ''Andromache (play), Andromache'', ''Hecuba (play), Hecuba'', ''The Suppliants (Euripides), The Suppliants'', ''Electra (Euripides), Electra'', ''Heracles (Euripides), Heracles'', ''Trojan Women'', ''Iphigeneia in Tauris'', ''Ion (play), Ion'', ''Helen (play), Helen'', ''Phoenician Women'', ''Orestes (play), Orestes'', ''The Bacchae, Bacchae'', ''Iphigeneia at Aulis'', ''Cyclops (play), Cyclops'', ''Rhesus (play), Rhesus'' ** Aristophanes: ''The Acharnians'', ''The Knights'', ''The Clouds'', ''The Wasps'', ''Peace (play), Peace'', ''The Birds (play), The Birds'', ''Lysistrata'', ''Thesmophoriazusae'', ''The Frogs'', ''Assemblywomen, Ecclesiazousae'', ''Plutus (play), Plutus'' * Hebrew: date of the extant text of the Torah

4th century BC

* Sanskrit: ** Katha Upanishad ** Prashnopanishad ** Mundaka Upanishad ** Mandukya Upanishad, Māṇḍūkya Upanishad ** Bhadrabahu: ''Kalpa Sūtra'' ** Chanakya: ''Arthashastra'', ''Chanakya, Chanakya Neeti'' ** Shalihotra, Salihotra: ''Shalihotra, Shalihotra Samhita'' (treatise on veterinary medicine) ** Vyasa: ''Mahabharata'', Puranas, ''Brahma Sutras'' ** Jaimini: ''Mimamsa Sutras'', ''Jaimini Sutras'', ''Ashvamedhika Parva'' ** Valmiki: ''Ramayana'' ** Bhāsa: ''Svapnavasavadattam'', Pancharātra, Pancarātra, Bhāsa, Pratijna Yaugandharayaanam, Bhāsa, Pratimanātaka, Bhāsa, Abhishekanātaka, Bhāsa, Bālacharita, Karnabharam, Karnabhāram, Bhāsa, Dūtaghaṭotkaca, Charudatta Aphale, Chārudatta, Madhyamavyayoga and Urubhanga. * Hebrew: Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature * Chinese: ** Laozi (or Lao Tzu): ''Tao Te Ching'' ** Zhuang Zhou, Zhuangzi: ''Zhuangzi (book), Zhuangzi'' ** Mencius: ''Mencius (book), Mencius'' (Mèngzǐ) ** ''Shanhai Jing'': ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' ** ''Li Sao'': ''Encountering Sorrow'' ** ''Jiu Ge, Nine Songs'' (Jiǔ Gē) ** ''Heavenly Questions'' (Tiān Wèn) ** ''Nine Pieces'' (Jiǔ Zhāng) ** ''Yuan You'' (Far-off Journey) ** Shang Yang: ''Book of Lord Shang'' (''Shāng jūn shū'') ** ''Shizi (book), Shizi'': ''Book of Master Shi'' ** ''Guiguzi'': ''Sage of Ghost Valley'' ** ''Huangdi Sijing'': ''Yellow Emperor's Four Classics'' ** ''Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven'' (''Mù Tiānzǐ Zhuàn'') ** ''Wuzi'': ''Wu Qi's Art of War'' ** ''Sun Bin's Art of War'' (Sūn Bìn Bīngfǎ) ** ''The Methods of the Sima'' (Sīmǎ Fǎ) ** Li Kui (legalist), Li Kui: ''Book of Law'' * Persian: **DNa inscription * Greek: ** Xenophon: ''Anabasis (Xenophon), Anabasis'', ''Cyropaedia (Xenophon), Cyropaedia, Oeconomicus, Memorabilia (Xenophon), Memorabilia, Hellenica'' ** Aristotle: ''Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, Organon, Physics (Aristotle), Physics, History of Animals, Historia Animalium, Parts of Animals, De Partibus Animalium, Movement of Animals, De Motu Animalium, On the Universe, De Mundo, On the Heavens, De Caelo, Poetics (Aristotle), Poetics, Politics (Aristotle), Politics, Magna Moralia, Eudemian Ethics'' ** Plato: ''Euthyphro'', ''Plato's Apology, Apology'', ''Crito'', ''Theaetetus (dialogue), Theaetetus'', ''Parmenides (dialogue), Parmenides'', ''Symposium (Plato), Symposium'', ''Phaedrus (Plato), Phaedrus'', ''Protagoras (dialogue), Protagoras'', ''Gorgias (dialogue), Gorgias'', ''Meno'', ''Plato's Republic, Republic'', ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus, Critias (dialogue), Critias, Laws (dialogue), Laws, Menexenus (dialogue), Menexenus, Phaedo, Lysis (dialogue), Lysis, First Alcibiades, Alcibiades I, Second Alcibiades, Alcibiades II, Hippias Minor, Hippias minor, Epinomis, Minos (dialogue), Minos, Hipparchus (dialogue), Hipparchus'', ''Ion (dialogue), Ion'' ** Euclid: ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' ** Menander: ''Dyskolos'' ** Theophrastus: ''Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus), Enquiry into Plants'' * Egyptian: ** Famine Stela

3rd century BC

* Avestan: ''Avesta'' * Chinese: ** ''Lüshi Chunqiu'': ''Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals'' ** ''Yi Zhoushu'': ''Lost Book of Zhou'' ** ''Erya'': ''Ancient dictionary'' ** ''Hanfeizi'': ''Book of Master Han Fei'' ** ''Xunzi (book), Xunzi'': ''Book of Master Xun'' ** ''Wei Liaozi'': ''Book of Master Wei Liao'' ** ''Gongsun Longzi'': ''Book of Master Gongsun Long'' ** ''Cangjiepian'': ''Cang Jie's Chapter'' ** ''Lament for Ying'' (''Āi Yǐng'') ** ''Bu Ju'': ''Divination'' ** ''Yu Fu'': ''Fisherman'' ** ''Nine Changes'' (Jiǔ Biàn) ** ''Zhao Hun'': ''Summons of the Soul'' ** ''Da Zhao'': ''The Great Summons'' ** ''Sorrow for Troth Betrayed'' (Xī Shì) * Etruscan language#Epigraphy, Etruscan: ''Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb)'' * Sanskrit: ** Pingala: ''Pingala, Chandaḥśāstra'' ** Moggaliputta-Tissa: ''Kathavatthu'' ** 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 Sinhala language, Sinhalese after the introduction of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Buddhism to Sri Lanka) * Tamil literature, Tamil: ** 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD: ''Sangam literature, Sangam poems'' ** ''Tolkāppiyam'' (grammar book) ** Korakkar (3rd century BC) Siddhar, Physician, Philosopher ** Bogar (3rd century BC) Siddhar, Physician, Yogi ** ''Agattiyam'' * Hebrew: Ecclesiastes * Greek: ** Apollonius of Rhodes: ''Argonautica'' ** Callimachus (310/305-240 BC), lyric poet ** Manetho: ''Aegyptiaca'' ** Theocritus, lyric poet * Old Latin, 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 (play), Miles Gloriosus'', and other plays ** Quintus Fabius Pictor (3rd century BC), historian ** Lucius Cincius Alimentus (3rd century BC), military historian and antiquarian * Egyptian: ** ''Demotic Chronicle'' ** ''Oracle of the Potter'' * Akkadian: ** ''Crimes and Sacrileges of Nabu-šuma-iškun'' ** ''Religious Chronicle''

2nd century BC

* Sanskrit: ** Patanjali (founder of yoga school of philosophy): ''Mahābhāṣya'' (treatise on grammar and linguistics), ''Patanjalatantra'' (medical text), ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 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'' (''Shǐ Jì'') ** ''Huainanzi'': ''Book of the Huai'nan Masters'' ** Sima Xiangru ** ''Six Secret Teachings'' (''Liù Tāo'') ** ''Book of Gods and Strange Things'' (''Shényì Jīng'') ** ''Seven Remonstrances'' (''Qī Jiàn'') ** ''Summons for a Recluse'' (''Zhāo Yǐnshì'') ** ''Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast'' (''Āi Shí Mìng'') ** Jia Yi: ''Ten Crimes of Qin'' (''Guò Qín Lùn'') * Aramaic: Book of Daniel * Hebrew: Sirach * Greek: ** Polybius: ''The Histories (Polybius), The Histories'' ** Book of Wisdom ** Septuagint * Latin: ** Terence (195/185 BC — 159 BC), comic dramatist: ''Adelphoe, The Brothers'', ''Andria (comedy), The Girl from Andros'', ''Eunuchus'', ''Heauton Timorumenos, The Self-Tormentor'' ** Quintus Ennius (239 BC — ), poet ** Marcus Pacuvius ( — 130 BC), tragic dramatist, poet ** Statius Caecilius (220 BC — 168/166 BC), comic dramatist ** Cato the Elder, 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 (consul 133 BC), 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 (consul 129 BC), Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (2nd century BC), jurist ** Lucius Afranius (poet), 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 literature, Pali: Tipitaka

1st century BC

* Chinese: ** Shuo Yuan: ''Garden of Talks'' ** Zhan Guo Ce: ''Annals of the Warring States'' ** Taixuanjing: ''Canon of Supreme Mystery'' ** Fangyan (book), Fangyan: ''Regional Speech'' ** Liexian Zhuan: ''Biographies of Immortals'' ** Jijiupian: ''Quick Mastery of the Characters'' ** Three Strategies of Huang Shigong (''Huáng Shígōng Sānlüè'') ** Nine Regrets (''Jiǔ Huái'') ** Nine Laments (''Jiǔ Tàn'') * Pali (Sri Lanka): ''Pāli Canon, Pāli Tripiṭaka'' (written under the patronage of Valagamba of Anuradhapura, King Vattagamani of Anuradhapura in Aluvihare Rock Temple, Aluhihare, Matale) * Latin: ** Cicero: ''Catiline Orations'', ''Pro Caelio'', ''Dream of Scipio'' ** Julius Caesar: ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Gallic Wars'', ''Commentarii de Bello Civili, Civil War'' ** Virgil: ''Eclogues'', ''Georgics'' and ''Aeneid'' ** Lucretius: ''On the Nature of Things'' ** Livy: ''History of Rome (Livy), History of Rome'' (''Ab Urbe Condita'')

1st century AD

* Sanskrit: ** Śabara: Śābara-bhāṣyam ** Gunadhara:''Kasayapahuda'' ** Aśvaghoṣa:''Buddhacharita'' (Acts of the Buddha), ''Saundarananda, Sutralankara'' * Chinese: ** Ban Gu: ''Book of Han'' (''Hàn Shū'') ** Lun Heng: ''Discourses in the Balance'' ** ''Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue'' (''Wúyuè Chūnqiū'') ** ''Nine Longings'' (''Jiǔ Sī'') * 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 (book), Germania'' ** Ovid: ''Metamorphoses''; also ''Tristia'' and ''Epistulae ex Ponto'' written during Exile of Ovid, his exile ** Pliny the Elder: ''Natural History (Pliny), Natural History'' ** Petronius: ''Satyricon'' ** Seneca the Younger: ''Phaedra (Seneca), Phaedra'', Dialogues ** Statius: ''Thebaid (Latin poem), Thebaid''; also ''Silvae'' and unfinished ''Achilleid'' * Egyptian: ** ''Oracle of the Lamb''

2nd century

* Chinese: ** ''Shuowen Jiezi'': ''Ancient Dictionary'' ** ''Cantong Qi'': ''The Kinship of the Three'' ** ''Fengsu Tongyi'': ''Comprehensive Meaning of Customs and Mores'' ** ''Nineteen Old Poems'' (Gǔshī Shíjiǔ Shǒu) ** ''Taiping Jing'': ''Scriptures of the Great Peace'' ** ''Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute'' (Hú Jiā Shí Bā Pāi) ** Zhang Heng * 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 of Epictetus, Enchiridion'' ** Ptolemy: ''Almagest'' ** Athenaeus: ''Deipnosophistae, The Banquet of the Learned'' ** Pausanias (geographer), 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: ''Avesta#The Khordeh Avesta, Khordeh Avesta'' (Zoroastrian prayer book) * Pahlavi: Mani (prophet), Mani: ''Shabuhragan'' (Manichaeism, Manichaean holy book) * Chinese: ** Chen Shou: ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' (三國志, ''Sānguó Zhì'') ** Zhang Hua: 博物志, ''Bowuzhi'' ** ''Xiang'er'': 老子想爾注, Lǎozi Xiǎng'ěr Zhù ** ''Lieyi Zhuan'': 列異傳, ''Arrayed Marvels'' ** Lu Ji (Shiheng), Lu Ji: ''文賦'', ''Wen fu'' (''Essay on Literature'') ** ''Xijing Zaji'': 西京雜記, ''Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital'' ** Jian'an poetry (建安風骨, ''Jiàn'ān Fēnggǔ'') ** ''The Peacock Flies Southeast'' (孔雀東南飛, ''Kǒngquè Dōngnán Fēi'') ** Cao Zhi ** Ji Kang ** Ruan Ji ** Zuo Si ** Pan Yue (poet), Pan Yue * 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 (St. Augustine), Confessions'', ''On Christian Doctrine'' ** Faltonia Betitia Proba: ''Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi'' (A Virgilian Cento (poetry), 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: ''Vasubandhu, Verses on the Treasury of the Abhidharma'', Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇa (Explanation of the Five Aggregates), Vasubandhu, Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇa (Explanation of the Five Aggregates), Vyākhyāyukti (Proper Mode of Exposition), Vasubandhu, Vādavidhi (Rules for Debate), Vasubandhu, Dharmadharmatāvibhāgavṛtti (Commentary on Distinguishing Elements from Reality), Vasubandhu, Madhyāntavibhāgabhāṣya (Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes), Vasubandhu, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya (Commentary on the Ornament to the Great Vehicle Discourses) ** Dignāga: ''Pramāṇa-samuccaya'' (''Compendium of Valid Cognition''), ''Hetucakra'' (''The wheel of reason'') ** Haribhadra (Jain philosopher), Haribhadra: ''Anekāntajayapatākā'' (The ''Victory Banner of Anekantavada (Relativism)''), ''Haribhadra, Dhūrtākhyāna'' (''The Rogue's Stories''), ''Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya'' (''An Array of Views on Yoga''), ''Haribhadra, Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya'' (''Compendium of Six Philosophies'') * Chinese: ** ''Liezi'': ''Book of Master Lie'' ** ''Baopuzi'': ''Simplex One'' ** ''In Search of the Supernatural'' (''Sōu Shén Jì'') ** ''Ziyuan (book), Ziyuan'': ''Character Garden'' ** ''Shiyiji'': ''Forgotten Tales'' ** ''Shenxian Zhuan'': ''Biographies of the Deities and Immortals'' ** ''Lantingji Xu'': ''Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion'' ** ''Star Gauge'' (''Xuánjī Tú'') * Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian * Aramaic: Jerusalem Talmud * Pali (Sri Lanka): ''Mahāvaṃsa''

5th century

* Armenian: ** Movses Khorenatsi: ''History of Armenia (book), History of Armenia'' * Chinese: ** ''A New Account of the Tales of the World'' (世說新語, ''Shì Shuō Xīn Yǔ'') ** ''The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons'' (文心雕龍, ''Wén Xīn Diāo Lóng'') ** Bao Zhao: ''Fu (poetry), Fu on the Ruined City'' (蕪城賦, ''Wú Chéng Fù'') ** Fan Ye (historian), Fan Ye: ''Book of the Later Han'' (後漢書, ''Hòuhàn Shū'') ** ''You Ming Lu'' (幽明錄, ''Collection of Supernatural Tales'') ** ''Zhengao'' (真誥, ''Declarations of the Perfected'') ** Tao Yuanming ** Xie Lingyun ** Xie Tiao ** Shen Yue * Sanskrit: ** Kālidāsa (speculated): ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam'' (अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्, "The Recognition of Shakuntala"), ''Meghadūta'' (मेघदूत, "Cloud Messenger"), ''Vikramōrvaśīyam'' (विक्रमोर्वशीयम्, "Urvashi Won by Valour", play) ** Pujyapada: ''Pujyapada, Iṣṭopadeśa'' (''Divine Sermons''), Sarvārthasiddhi (Attainment of Higher Goals), Pujyapada, Jainendra Vyākaraṇa (Jainendra Grammar), Pujyapada, Samādhitantra (Method of Self Contemplation), Pujyapada, Daśabhaktyādisangraha (Collection of Ten Adorations) ''Pujyapada, ,Śabdāvatāranyāsa'' (''Arrangement of Words and their Forms'') ** Aryabhata: Aryabhatiya ** Nitisara, Kamandaka: ''Nitisara'' (''The Elements of Polity'') ** Bodhidharma: ''Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices, Two Entrances and Four Practices'', ''Bodhidharma, Treatise on Realizing the Nature'', ''Bodhidharma, Refuting Signs Treatise'' ** Bhartṛhari: ''Vākyapadīya'' (treatise on Sanskrit grammar and linguistic philosophy), Śatakatraya (the three hundred poems of moral values) ** Siddhasena: ''Nyāyāvatāra'', ''Siddhasena, Sanmati sutra'', ''Siddhasena, Kalyan Mandir stotra'' ** Lokavibhaga, 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

* Chinese: ** ''Wen Xuan'' (文選, ''Selections of Refined Literature'') ** ''Shui Jing Zhu'' (水經注, ''Commentary on the Water Classic'') ** ''New Songs from the Jade Terrace'' (玉台新詠, ''Yù Tái Xīn Yǒng'') ** ''Jingchu Suishiji'' (荊楚歲時記, ''Records of the Seasons of Jingchu'') ** ''Thousand Character Classic'' (千字文, ''Qiān Zì Wén'') ** ''The Ballad of Mulan'' (木蘭詩, ''Qiān Zì Wén'') * Latin: Boethius: (''The Consolation of Philosophy'') * Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud * Sanskrit: ** Varāhamihira: ''Pañcasiddhāntikā'' ([Treatise] on the Five [Astronomical] Siddhanta, Canons), Varāhamihira, Brihat-Samhita (Great Compilation) encyclopedic work ** Yativṛṣabha: Tiloya Panatti (Book on Cosmology and Mathematics) ** Virahanka ** Prabhākara: ''Triputipratyaksavada'' (Doctrine of Triple Perception) ** Dharmakirti: ''Dharmakirti, Saṃbandhaparikṣhāvrtti'' (Analysis of Relations), ''Dharmakirti, Pramāṇaviniścaya'' (Ascertainment of Valid Cognition), ''Dharmakirti, Nyāyabinduprakaraṇa'' (Drop of Logic), ''Dharmakirti, Hetubindunāmaprakaraṇa'' (Drop of Reason), ''Dharmakirti, Saṃtānāntarasiddhināmaprakaraṇa'' (Proof of Others' Mindstreams), ''Dharmakirti, Vādanyāyanāmaprakaraṇa'' (Reasoning for Debate) ** Prashastapada, Praśastapāda: ''Prashastapada, Padārtha-dharma-saṅgraha'' (Collection of Properties of Matter) ** Bhāviveka: ''Bhāviveka, Heart of the Middle'', ''Bhāviveka, Wisdom Lamp'' ** Udyotakara: ''Nyāyavārttika'' (Work on logic) ** Gaudapada: Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika * Sinhalese: ** Wansaththppakāsinī (Sinhalese translation of the Pali ''Mahāvaṃsa'') ** Sigiriya, Sigiriya Poems (poems written by visitors to the citadel of Sigiriya) * Pali (Sri Lanka): ''Cūḷavaṃsa'' * Irish: Early Irish literature ** Dallán Forgaill: ''Amra'' (life of Saint Columba)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancient Literature Ancient literature, History of literature, 01

Incomplete list of ancient texts

Bronze Age

Iron Age

Classical Antiquity

9th century BC

8th century BC

7th century BC

6th century BC

5th century BC

4th century BC

3rd century BC

2nd century BC

1st century BC

1st century AD

2nd century

3rd century

Late Antiquity

4th century

5th century

6th century

See also

References