A lost literary work (referred throughout this article just as a lost work) is a document,

literary work Literary work is a generic term for works of literature, i.e. texts such as fiction and non-fiction books, essays, screenplays''.'' In the philosophy of art and the field of aesthetics there is some debate about what that means, precisely. What a ...

, or piece of multimedia, produced of which no surviving copies are known to exist, meaning it can be known only through reference, or literary fragments. This term most commonly applies to works from the

classical world Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...

, although it is increasingly used in relation to modern works. A work may be lost to history through the destruction of an original

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

and all later copies. Works—or, commonly, small fragments of works—have survived by being found by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

during investigations, or accidentally by laypersons such as, for example, the finding

Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the Chenoboskion Manuscripts and the Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyrus c ...

scrolls. Works also survived when they were reused as

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

materials, quoted or included in other works, or as

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...

s, where an original document is imperfectly erased so the substrate on which it was written can be reused. The discovery, in 1822, of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's ''

De re publica ''De re publica'' (''On the Republic''; see below) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive ...

'' was one of the first major recoveries of a lost ancient text from a palimpsest. Another famous example is the discovery of the

Archimedes Palimpsest The Archimedes Palimpsest is a parchment codex palimpsest, originally a Byzantine Greek copy of a compilation of Archimedes and other authors. It contains two works of Archimedes that were thought to have been lost (the '' Ostomachion'' and the ...

, which was used to make a prayer book almost 300 years after the original work was written. A work may be recovered in a library, as a lost or mislabeled

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

, or as a part of another book or codex. Well known but not recovered works are described by compilations that did survive, such as the ''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' () is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work' ...

'' of

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

or the ''

De architectura (''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Ancient Rome, Roman architect and military engineer Vitruvius, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesa ...

'' of

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

. Sometimes authors will destroy their own works. On other occasions, authors instruct others to destroy their work after their deaths. Such instructions are not always followed:

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' was saved by

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, and

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

's novels by

Max Brod Max Brod (; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a Bohemian-born Israeli author, composer, and journalist. He is notable for promoting the work of writer Franz Kafka and composer Leoš Janáček. Although he was a prolific writer in his ow ...

. Handwritten copies of

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

existed in limited numbers before the era of printing. The destruction of

ancient libraries Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

, whether by intent, chance or neglect, resulted in the loss of numerous works. Works to which no subsequent reference is preserved remain unknown. Deliberate destruction of works may be termed ''literary crime'' or ''literary vandalism'' (see

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politic ...

). Through statistical analysis, it is estimated that the number of lost

Incunable An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the ...

(works printed in Europe before 1501) editions is at least 20,000.

Antiquity (to 500 CE)

Specific titles

Enheduanna Enheduanna ( , also transliteration, transliterated as , , or variants; ) was the (high) priestess of the moon god Sin (mythology), Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad ( BCE). She was likely ...

(24th–23rd century BC) ** ''Hymn of Praise of Enheduanna'', only survives in fragments. *

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

(8th or 7th century BC) ** ''

Margites The ''Margites'' () is a comic mock-epic ascribed to Homer that is largely lost. From references to the work that survived, it is known that its central character is an exceedingly stupid man named Margites (from ancient Greek , ''margos'', "ravi ...

'' ** 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 ...

'' mentions the blind singer Demodocus performing a poem recounting the otherwise unknown "Quarrel of

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

and

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

", which might have been an actual work that did not survive. * The

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 ...

ic ''

Catalogue of Women The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...

'' (sometime between 750 and 650 BC) * The work of the Cyclic poets (excluding

, dated between the 8th century and 5th century BC), specifically: ** six epics of the

Epic Cycle The Epic Cycle () was a collection of Ancient Greek epic poems, composed in dactylic hexameter and related to the story of the Trojan War, including the '' Cypria'', the ''Aethiopis'', the so-called '' Little Iliad'', the '' Iliupersis'', the ' ...

: ''

Cypria The ''Cypria'' (; ; ) is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view. It was part of ...

'', ''

Aethiopis The ''Aithiopis'' (; ), also spelled ''Aethiopis'', is a lost Epic poetry, epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse. The story of the ''Aethiopis'' lands chrono ...

'', the ''

Little Iliad The ''Little Iliad'' ( Greek: , ''Ilias mikra''; ) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse. The story of the ''Little Iliad ...

'', the ''

Iliupersis The ''Iliupersis'' (Greek: , ''Ilíou pérsis'', ), also known as ''The Sack of Troy'', is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epi ...

'' ("Sack of Troy"), ''

Nostoi The ''Nostoi'' ( ''Nóstoi'', '' nostos'' ), also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'', is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature. A part of the Epic Cycle, also known as Trojan cycle, it narrated the stories of the Achaean ...

'' ("Returns"), and '' Telegony''. ** four epics of the

Theban Cycle __NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle () is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb Classical Library, no. 497, Cambr ...

: ''

Oedipodea The ''Oedipodea'' () is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (), a barely-known poet who probably lived in Sparta ...

'', ''

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...

'', ''

Epigoni In Greek mythology, the Epigoni or Epigonoi (; from , meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes, the Seven against Thebes, who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the ''Thebaid'', in which Polynices an ...

'', and ''

Alcmeonis The ''Alcmeonis'' (, ''Alkmeonis'', or , ''Alkmaiōnis'') is a lost early Greek epic which is considered to have formed part of the Theban cycle. There are only seven references to the ''Alcmeonis'' in ancient literature, and all of them make i ...

''. ** other early Greek epics: ''

Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; ) was a ten-year war fought in ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Twelve Olympians, Olympians (the younger generati ...

'', '' Heracleia'', ''

Capture of Oechalia ''The Capture of Oechalia'' (traditionally ''The Sack of Oechalia'', ) is a fragmentary Greek epic that was variously attributed in Antiquity to either Homer or Creophylus of Samos; a tradition was reported that Homer gave the tale to Creophylus ...

'', '' Naupactia'', ''

Phocais The ''Phocais'' () was an ancient Greek epic attributed to Homer. In the '' Life of Homer'', a biography of Homer falsely attributed to Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (n ...

'', '' Minyas'' *

Thespis Thespis (; ; fl. 6th century BC) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet. He was born in the ancient city of Icarius (present-day Dionysos, Greece). According to certain Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, he was t ...

() (possibly erroneous attributions or forgeries made during the Common Era) ** ''Contest of

Pelias Pelias ( ; Ancient Greek: Πελίας) was king of Iolcus in Greek mythology. He was the one who sent Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece. Family Pelias was the son of Tyro and Poseidon. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia, ...

and

Phorbas In Greek mythology, Phorbas (; Ancient Greek: Φόρβας ''Phórbās'', gen. Φόρβαντος ''Phórbantos'' means 'giving pasture'), or Phorbaceus , may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Phorbas, son of Lapithes and Orsinome, and a brother of Peripha ...

'' ** ''Hiereis'' (or ''Priests'') ** ''Hemitheoi'' (or ''Demigods'') ** ''Pentheus'' *

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

() ** ''On the Solstice'' (possible lost work) ** ''On the Equinox'' (possible lost work) *

Anaximander Anaximander ( ; ''Anaximandros''; ) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus,"Anaximander" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vol. ...

() ** ''On Nature'' (or ''Perì Phúseôs'') ** ''Rotation of the Earth'' (or ''Gês Períodos'') ** ''On Fixed Stars'' (or ''Perì Tôn Aplanôn'') ** ''The Celestial Sphere'' (or ''Sphaîra)'') * The ''

Hellespontine Sibyl The Hellespontine Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Dardania. The Sibyl is sometimes referred to as the Trojan Sibyl. The word Sibyl comes (via Latin) from the Ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess o ...

'' (c. 6th century BC) **

Sibylline Books The ''Sibylline Books'' () were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameter verses, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous cri ...

Pherecydes of Syros Pherecydes of Syros (; ; fl. 6th century BCE) was an Ancient Greek mythographer and proto-philosopher from the island of Syros. Little is known about his life and death. Some ancient testimonies counted Pherecydes among the Seven Sages of Greece ...

(6th century BCE) ** ''Heptamychia'' *

Ctesias Ctesias ( ; ; ), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Acha ...

(fifth century BC) ** ''Persica'', a history of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in 23 books ** '' Indica'', an account of India *

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

(525–455 BC) ** ''Alcmene'' ** ''The Argo'' ** ''Atalanta'' ** ''The Bacchae'' ** ''Callisto'' ** ''The Children of Heracles'' ** ''Circe'' ** ''The Danaids'' ** ''The Egyptians'' ** ''Epigoni'' ** ''Iphigenia'' ** ''Ixion'' ** ''The Lion'' ** ''Memnon'' ** ''

Myrmidons In Greek mythology, the Myrmidons (or Myrmidones; , singular: , ) were an ancient Thessaly, Thessalian tribe. In Homer's ''Iliad'', the Myrmidons are the soldiers commanded by Achilles. Their :wikt:eponym, eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon (hero) ...

'', survives in fragments. ** ''

Nereids In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; ; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanids, Oceanid Doris (Oceanid), Doris, sisters to their bro ...

'', survives in fragments. ** ''Niobe'' ** ''The Nurses of Dionysus'' ** ''Penelope'' ** ''Pentheus'' ** ''Philoctetes'' ** ''

Phrygians The Phrygians (Greek: Φρύγες, ''Phruges'' or ''Phryges'') were an ancient Indo-European speaking people who inhabited central-western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) in antiquity. Ancient Greek authors used "Phrygian" as an umbrella term t ...

'' (or ''Hector’s Ransom''), survives in fragments. ** ''The Priestesses'' ** ''Prometheus The Fire-Bearer'' ** ''Prometheus The Fire-Kindler'' ** ''Prometheus Unbound'' ** ''Semele'' ** ''Sisyphus The Runaway'' ** ''Sisyphus The Stone-Roller'' ** ''The Sphinx'' ** ''Telephus'' ** ''The Thracian Women'' ** ''The Weighing of Souls'' ** ''Women of Salamis'' ** ''The Youths'' *

Anaxagoras Anaxagoras (; , ''Anaxagóras'', 'lord of the assembly'; ) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged ...

(c. 500 – 428 BC) ** ''Book of Philosophy''. Only fragments of the first part have survived. *

Xenocles Xenocles () was an ancient Greek tragedian. He won a victory at the Dionysia in 415 BC with the plays ''Oedipus'', ''Lycaon'', and ''Bacchae'' with the satyr play ''Athamas''. Other plays by Xenocles include ''Licymnius'', parodied by Aristopha ...

(c. 5th century BC) ** ''Athamas'' ** ''Bacchae'' ** ''Licymnius'' ** ''Lycaon'' ** ''Myes'' ** ''Oedipus'' *

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

(c. 497 – 406 BC) ** ''Akhilleôs Erasti'' (or ''Male Lover of Achilles''). ** ''Aigeus'' ** '' Aithiopes'' ** ''Alexandros'' ** '' Amphiaurus'' ** '' Amycos Satyrykos'' ** ''Antenoridae'' ** ''Cassandra'' ** ''Cerberus'' ** ''Clytemnestra'' ** ''Daedalus'' ** ''Danae'' ** ''Dionysiaca'' ** ''

'', only small fragments survive. ** ''Eris'' ** ''Helenes Apaitesis'' (or ''Helen’s Demand''). ** ''Helenes Gamos'' (or ''Helen’s Marriage''). ** ''Herakles Epi Tainaro'' (or ''Heracles At Taenarum''). ** ''

Ichneutae The ''Ichneutae'' (, ''Ichneutai'', "trackers"), also known as the ''Searchers'', ''Trackers'' or ''Tracking Satyrs'', is a fragmentary satyr play by the fifth-century BC Athenian dramatist Sophocles. Three undistinguished quotations in ancient a ...

'', only a fragmentary 400 lines survive making it the second best surviving

Satyr play The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is st ...

behind

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

's ''Cyclops''. ** ''Inachos'', only small fragments survive. ** ''Ion'' ** ''Iphigenia'' ** ''Ixion'' ** ''Minos'' ** ''Niobe'' ** '' Odysseus Acanthoplex'', only fragments survive. ** ''Odysseus Mainomenos'' (or ''Odysseus Gone Mad'') ** ''Pandora'' ** ''Peleus'' ** ''Phaedra'' ** ''Philoctetes In Troy'' ** ''Phoenix'' ** ''Priam'' ** ''Sisyphus'' ** ''Tantalus'' ** ''

Tereus In Greek mythology, Tereus (; Ancient Greek: Τηρεύς) was a Thracian king,Thucydides: ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' 2:29 the son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis. He was the brother of Dryas. Tereus was the husband of the Athenian pr ...

'', only fragmentary knowledge survives. ** ''Theseus'' ** ''

Triptolemos Triptolemus (), also known as Buzyges (), was a hero of Eleusis (Boeotia), Eleusis in Greek mythology, central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and is worshipped as the inventor and patron of agriculture. Triptolemus is credited with being the fir ...

'', only small fragments survive. *

Ion of Chios Ion of Chios (; ; c. 490/480 – c. 420 BC) was a Greek writer, dramatist, lyric poet and philosopher. He was a contemporary of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Of his many plays and poems only a few titles and fragments have survived. He also ...

(c. 490 BC – c. 420 BC) ** ''Agamemnon'' ** ''Alcmene'' ** ''Argives'' ** ''Eurytidai'' (or ''Sons of Erytus'') ** ''Laertes'' ** ''Omphale'' ** ''Phoenix and Caeneus'' ** ''Phoenix Deuteros'' ** ''Phrouroi'' (or ''Sentinels'') ** ''Teucer'' *

Protagoras Protagoras ( ; ; )Guthrie, p. 262–263. was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and rhetorical theorist. He is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue '' Protagoras'', Plato credits him with inventing the role of the professional ...

(c. 490 BC – c. 420 BC) ** "On the Gods" (essay) ** ''On the Art of Disputation'' ** ''On the Original State of Things'' ** ''On Truth'' *

Gorgias Gorgias ( ; ; – ) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years ...

(483–375 BC) ** ''On Non-Existence'' (or ''On Nature''). Only two sketches of it exist. ** ''Epitaphios''. What exists is thought to be only a small fragment of a significantly longer piece. * Pherecydes of Leros (c. 480 BC) ** A history of

Leros Leros (), also called Lero (from the Italian language), is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by a nine-hour ferry ride or by a 45-min ...

** ''On Iphigeneia'', an essay ** ''On the Festivals of Dionysus'' *

(c. 480 – c. 406 BC) ** ''

Alcmaeon in Corinth ''Alcmaeon in Corinth'' (, ''Alkmaiōn ho dia Korinthou''; also known as ''Alcmaeon at Corinth'', ''Alcmaeon'') is a play by Greek dramatist Euripides. It was first produced posthumously at the Dionysia in Athens, most likely in 405 BCE, in a tr ...

'' (405 BC), only fragments survive. ** '' Alcmaeon in Psophis'' (438 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''Alexandros'' (415 BC) ** '' Andromeda'' (412 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''Antiope'' (410 BC) ** '' Archelaus'' (410 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''

Bellerophon Bellerophon or Bellerophontes (; ; lit. "slayer of Belleros") or Hipponous (; lit. "horse-knower"), was a divine Corinthian hero of Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon and Eurynome, and the foster son of Glaukos. He was "the greatest her ...

'' (430 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''Captive Melanippe'' (412 BC) ** ''Cresphontes'' (425 BC) ** ''Cretan Women'' (438 BC) ** ''Cretans'' (435 BC) ** ''

Dictys Dictys (, ''Díktus'') was a name attributed to four men in Greek mythology. * Dictys, a fisherman and brother of King Polydectes of Seriphos, both being the sons of Magnes (mythology), Magnes and a Naiad, or of Peristhenes and Androthoe,Scholia ...

'' (431 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''Erectheus'' (422 BC) ** ''

Hypsipyle In Greek mythology, Hypsipyle () was a queen of Lemnos, and the daughter of King Thoas of Lemnos, and the granddaughter of Dionysus and Ariadne. When the women of Lemnos killed all the males on the island, Hypsipyle saved her father Thoas. She r ...

'' (410 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''Palamedes'' (415 BC) ** ''

Peliades ''Peliades'' () is the earliest known tragedy by Euripides; he entered it into the Dionysia of 455 BC but did not win. In Greek mythology, the Peliades were the daughters of Pelias. History The ''Peliades'' recounts the story of the daughters o ...

'' (455 BC) ** ''

Phaethon Phaethon (; , ), also spelled Phaëthon, is the son of the Oceanids, Oceanid Clymene (mother of Phaethon), Clymene and the solar deity, sun god Helios in Greek mythology. According to most authors, Phaethon is the son of Helios who, out of a de ...

'' (420 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''

Philoctetes Philoctetes ( ''Philoktētēs''; , ), or Philocthetes, according to Greek mythology, was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea (Magnesia), Meliboea in Thessaly, and Demonassa or Methone (Greek myth), Methone. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer ...

'' (431 BC), only fragments survive. ** ''

Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He reveals Zeus's abduction of Aegina (mythology), Aegina to the river god As ...

'' (415 BC) ** ''Sthenboea'' (429 BC) ** ''Telephus'' (438 BC) ** ''

Theristai ''Theristai'' (, also known as ''Reapers'' or ''Harvesters''), is a lost satyr play by Attic playwright Euripides. It was initially performed at the Dionysia in Athens in 431 BCE along with the tragedies ''Medea'', ''Philoctetes'' and ''Dictys' ...

'' (or ''Reapers'') (431 BC) ** ''Wise Melanippe'' (420 BC) *

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

(c. 470–399 BC) ** Verse versions of

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 ...

. *

Pherecydes of Athens Pherecydes of Athens () (fl. c. 465 BC) was a Greek mythographer who wrote an ancient work in ten books, now lost, variously titled "Historiai" (''Ἱστορίαι'') or "Genealogicai" (''Γενελογίαι''). He is one of the authors (= '' FG ...

(c. 465 BC) ** Genealogies of the gods and heroes, originally in ten books; numerous fragments have been preserved. *

Prodicus Prodicus of Ceos (; , ''Pródikos ho Keios''; c. 465 BC – c. 395 BC) was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Plato treats h ...

( – c. 395 BC) ** ''On Nature'' ** ''On the Nature of Man'' ** "On Propriety of Language" ** ''On the Choice of Heracles'' *

Agathon Agathon (; ; ) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's '' Symposium,'' which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in 4 ...

(c. 448 – c. 400 BC) ** ''Aerope'' ** ''Alcmaeon'' ** '' Anthos'' (or ''The Flower'') ** ''Mysoi'' (or ''Mysians'') ** ''Telephos'' (or ''Telephus'') ** ''Thyestes'' *

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

(c. 446 BC – c. 386 BC) ** Banqueters (427 BC) ** Babylonians (426 BC) ** The Clouds (first version 423 BC) ** Amphiaraus (414 BC) ** Plutus (first version 408 BC) ** Cocalus (387 BC) ** Aiolosicon (387 BC) *

Speusippus Speusippus (; ; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Platonic Academy, Academy, near age 60, and remai ...

(c. 408 – 339/8 BC) ** ''On Pythagorean Numbers'' *

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

(384–322 BC) ** second book of ''

Poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

'', dealing with comedy ** ''On the Pythagoreans'' ** '' Protrepticus'' (fragments survived) * Eudemus (c. 370 BCE – c. 300 BCE) ** ''History of Arithmetics'', on the early history of

Greek mathematics Ancient Greek mathematics refers to the history of mathematical ideas and texts in Ancient Greece during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity, mostly from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. Greek mathematicians lived in cities ...

(only one short quote survives) ** ''History of Astronomy'', on the early history of

Greek astronomy Ancient Greek astronomy is the astronomy written in the Greek language during classical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek, Hellenistic period, Hellenistic, Roman Empire, Greco-Roman, and Late an ...

(several quotes survive) ** ''History of Geometry'', on the early history of Greek

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

(several quotes survive) *

Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter (; , ''Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr'', "Ptolemy the Savior"; 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian, and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the Ptolemaic Kingdom centered on Egypt. Pto ...

(c. 364 – 282 BC) ** ''History of Alexander'' *

Callisthenes Callisthenes of Olynthus ( /kəˈlɪsθəˌniːz/; Greek: Καλλισθένης; 360 – 327 BCE) was a Greek historian in Macedon with connections to both Aristotle and Alexander the Great. He accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiati ...

(c. 360 – 327 BCE) ** An account of

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

's expedition ** A history of Greece from the

Peace of Antalcidas The King's Peace (387 BC) was a peace treaty guaranteed by the Persian King Artaxerxes II that ended the Corinthian War in ancient Greece. The treaty is also known as the Peace of Antalcidas, after Antalcidas, the Spartan diplomat who traveled to ...

(387) to the

Third Sacred War The Third Sacred War ( 356– 346 BC) was fought between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon, and the Phocians. The war was caused by a large fine imposed in 35 ...

(357) ** A history of the Phocian war *

Cleitarchus Cleitarchus or Clitarchus () was one of the historians of Alexander the Great. Son of the historian Dinon of Colophon, he spent a considerable time at the court of Ptolemy Lagus. He was active in the mid to late 4th century BCE. Quintilian ('' ...

(mid to late 4th century BCE) ** ''

History of Alexander The ''History of Alexander'', also known as ''Perì Aléxandron historíai'', is a lost work by the late-fourth century BC Hellenistic historian Cleitarchus, covering the life and death of Alexander the Great. It survives today in around thirt ...

'' *

Pytheas Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéās ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greeks, Greek List of Graeco-Roman geographers, geographer, explo ...

of Massalia (c. 350 BC, fl. c. 320–306 BC) ** τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ (''ta peri tou Okeanou'') "On the Ocean" *

Aristarchus of Samos Aristarchus of Samos (; , ; ) was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first known heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth revolving around the Sun once a year and rotati ...

(c. 310 – c. 230 BCE) ** Astronomy book outlining his

heliocentrism Heliocentrism (also known as the heliocentric model) is a superseded astronomical model in which the Earth and planets orbit around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed t ...

(

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun) *

Manetho Manetho (; ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος, ''fl''. 290–260 BCE) was an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who lived in the early third century BCE, at the very beginning of the Hellenistic period. Little is certain about his ...

(early third century BC) ** '' Ægyptiaca'' (''History of Egypt'') in three books. Few, indirect, fragments survive. *

Berossus Berossus () or Berosus (; ; possibly derived from ) was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic-era Babylonia, Babylonian writer, priest of Bel (mythology) , Bel Marduk, and Babylonian astronomy, astronomer who wrote i ...

(beginning of the 3rd century BC) ** '' Babyloniaca'' (''History of Babylonia'') *

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

(fl. 300 BC) ** ''Conics'', a work on

conic section A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, tho ...

s later extended by

Apollonius of Perga Apollonius of Perga ( ; ) was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the invention o ...

into his famous work on the subject. ** ''

Porism A porism is a mathematical proposition or corollary. It has been used to refer to a direct consequence of a proof, analogous to how a corollary refers to a direct consequence of a theorem. In modern usage, it is a relationship that holds for an in ...

s'', the exact meaning of the title is controversial (probably "

corollaries In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...

"). ** ''Pseudaria'', or ''Book of Fallacies'', an elementary text about

fallacies A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning in the construction of an argument that may appear to be well-reasoned if unnoticed. The term was introduced in the Western intellectual tradition by the Aristotelian '' De Sophis ...

reasoning Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

. ** ''Surface Loci'' concerned either loci (sets of

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

) on

surfaces A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. Surface or surfaces may also refer to: Mathematics *Surface (mathematics), a generalization of a plane which needs not be flat * Sur ...

or loci which were themselves surfaces. *

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...

(c. 287 – c. 212 BC) ** ''On Sphere-Making'' ** ''On Polyhedra'' *

Ctesibius Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (; BCE) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. Very little is known of Ctesibius' life, but his inventions were well known in his lifetime. He was likely the first head of th ...

(285–222 BC) ** ''On pneumatics'', a work describing force pumps ** ''Memorabilia'', a compilation of his research works *

Livius Andronicus Lucius Livius Andronicus (; ; ) was a Greco-Roman dramatist and epic poet of the Old Latin period during the Roman Republic. He began as an educator in the service of a noble family, producing Latin translations of Greek works, including Homer ...

(284–204 BC) ** ''Achilles'' ** ''Aegisthus'' ** ''Aiax Mastigophorus'' (or ''Ajax with the Whip'') ** ''Andromeda'' ** ''Antiopa'' ** ''Danae'' ** ''Equus Troianus'' ** ''Gladiolus'', only fragments survive ** ''Hermiona'' ** ''Ludius'' ** ''Odusia'', a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

translation of Homer’s Odyssey, only fragments survive ** ''Tereus'' ** ''Virgo'' *

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ; – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...

(c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC) ** Περὶ τῆς ἀναμετρήσεως τῆς γῆς (''On the Measurement of the Earth''; lost, summarized by

Cleomedes Cleomedes () was a Greek astronomer who is known chiefly for his book ''On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies'' (Κυκλικὴ θεωρία μετεώρων), also known as ''The Heavens'' (). Placing his work chronologically His bi ...

) ** ''Geographica'' (lost, criticized by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

) ** ''Arsinoe'' (a memoir of queen Arsinoe; lost; quoted by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

in the ''

Deipnosophistae The ''Deipnosophistae'' (, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. , where ''sophists'' may be translated more loosely as ) is a work written in Ancient Greek by Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of Greek literature, literary, Ancient history, h ...

'') *

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (, ; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor (), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, Roman Senate, senator, and Roman historiography, historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He wa ...

(234–149 BC) ** ''Origines'', a 7-book history of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and the Italian states. ** ''Carmen de moribus'', a book of prayers or

incantations An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial rit ...

for the dead in verse. ** ''Praecepta ad Filium'', a collection of maxims. ** A collection of his speeches. * Nicagoras, Athenian sophist (2nd century BC) ** ''Lives of Famous People'' ** ''On Cleopatra in Troas'' ** ''Embassy Speech to Philip the Roman Emperor'' * Minucianus, son of Nicagoras the Athenian sophist (2nd century BC) ** ''Art of Rhetoric'' ** ''Progymnasmata'' *

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

(2nd century BC) ** ''Aetolica'', a prose history of

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

. ** ''Heteroeumena'', a mythological epic. ** ''Georgica'' and ''Melissourgica'', of which considerable fragments are preserved. *

Agatharchides Agatharchides or Agatharchus ( or , ''Agatharchos'') of Cnidus was a Greek historian and geographer (flourished 2nd century BC). Life Agatharchides is believed to have been born at Cnidus, hence his appellation. As Stanley M. Burstein notes, the ...

(2nd century BC) **''Ta kata ten Asian'' (''Affairs in Asia'') in 10 books ** ''Ta kata ten Europen'' (''Affairs in Europe'') in 49 books ** ''Peri ten Erythras thalasses'' (''On the Erythraean Sea'') in 5 books *

Apollodorus of Athens Apollodorus of Athens (, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC), son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchu ...

(c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) ** ''Chronicle'' (''Χρονικά''), a Greek history in verse ** ''On the Gods'' (''Περὶ θεῶν''), known through quotes to have included

etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the names and

epithets An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

of the

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

** A twelve-book essay about Homer's

Catalogue of Ships The Catalogue of Ships (, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the names of the leaders of each conting ...

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

(138–78 BC) ** ''Memoirs'', referenced by

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

(116–27 BC) ** ''Saturarum Menippearum libri CL or Menippean Satires in 150 books'' ** ''Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI'' ** ''Logistoricon libri LXXVI'' ** ''Hebdomades vel de imaginibus'' ** ''Disciplinarum libri IX'' *

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

(106 BC – 43 BC) ** ''

Hortensius Quintus Hortensius Hortalus (114–50 BC) was a Roman Republic, Roman lawyer, an orator and a statesman. Politically he belonged to the Optimates. He was consul in 69 BC alongside Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus. His nickname was ''Dionysia ( ...

'' a dialogue also known as "On Philosophy". ** '' Consolatio'', written to soothe his own sadness at the death of his daughter Tullia *

Quintus Tullius Cicero Quintus Tullius Cicero ( , ; 102 BC – 43 BC) was a Roman statesman and military leader, as well as the younger brother of Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was born into a family of the equestrian order, as the son of a wealthy landowner in Arpinum, so ...

(102 – 43 BC) ** Four tragedies in the Greek style: ''Troas'', ''Erigones'', ''Electra'', and one other. *

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

(1st century BC) ** ''Bibliotheca historia'' (''Historical Library''). Of 40 books, only books 1–5 and 10–20 are

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

. *

Alexander Polyhistor Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor (; flourished in the first half of the 1st century BC; also called Alexander of Miletus) was a Greek scholar who was enslaved by the Romans during the Mithridatic War and taken to Rome as a tutor. After his r ...

(first half of 1st century BC) ** ''

Successions of Philosophers Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

'' *

Gaius Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

(100 BC – 44 BC) ** ''Anticatonis Libri II'' (only fragments survived) ** ''Carmina et prolusiones'' (only fragments survived) ** ''De analogia libri II ad M. Tullium Ciceronem'' ** ''De astris liber'' ** ''Dicta collectanea'' ("collected sayings", also known by the Greek title ''άποφθέγματα'') ** Letters (only fragments survived) *** ''Epistulae ad Ciceronem'' ('Letters to Cicero') *** ''Epistulae ad familiares'' ('Letters to Relatives') ** ''Iter'' ('journey')) (only one fragment survived) ** ''Laudes Herculis'' ** ''Libri auspiciorum'' ("books of auspices", also known as ''Auguralia'') ** ''Oedipus'' ** other works: *** contributions to the ''libri pontificales'' as ''pontifex maximus'' *** possibly some early love poems *

Gaius Asinius Pollio Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporaneous history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Po ...

(75 BC – AD 4) ** ''Historiae'' (''Histories'') ** ''Epitome'' by Gaius Asinius Pollio of Tralles *

Gaius Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( 13 April 68 BC – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. ...

(c. 70 – 8 BC) ** ''Prometheus''; descriptive fragments from some other authors survive. Construct of book is surmised by researchers. *

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art. Family Corvinus was the son of a consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger,Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', p. ...

(64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) ** Memoirs of the civil wars after the death of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

, used by Suetonius and Plutarch **

Bucolic The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target aud ...

poems in Greek *

( 64 or 63 BC – c. 24 AD) ** ''History'' *

(63 BC – AD 14) ** ''Rescript to Brutus Respecting Cato'' ** ''Exhortations to Philosophy'' ** ''History of His Own Life'' ** ''Sicily'' (a work in verse) ** ''Epigrams'' *

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

(59 BC – AD 17) ** 107 of the 142 books of ''

Ab Urbe Condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

,'' a history of Rome are lost *

Verrius Flaccus Marcus Verrius Flaccus (c. 55 BCAD 20) was a Roman grammarian and teacher who flourished under Augustus and Tiberius. Life He was a freedman, and his manumitter has been identified with Verrius Flaccus, an authority on pontifical law; but for ...

(c. 55 BC – AD 20) ** ''De Orthographia: De Obscuris Catonis'', an elucidation of obscurities in the writings of

** ''Saturnus'', dealing with questions of Roman ritual ** ''Rerum memoria dignarum libri'', an encyclopaedic work much used by

** ''Res Etruscae'', probably on

augury Augury was a Greco- Roman religious practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" () means "looking at birds". ...

Helvius Cinna Gaius Helvius Cinna (died 20 March 44 BC) was an influential neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic, a little older than the generation of Catullus and Calvus. He was lynched at the funeral of Julius Caesar after being mistaken for an unrelated ...

(died 20 March 44 BC) **''Zmyrna'', a mythological epic poem about the incestuous love of Smyrna (or

Myrrha Myrrha (; ), also known as Smyrna (), is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having intercourse with her father, and gave birth to Adonis in tree form. Although the tale of Adonis has Semitic r ...

) for her father

Cinyras In Greek mythology, Cinyras (; – ''Kinyras'') was a famous hero and king of Cyprus. Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources he is associated with the cult of Aphrodit ...

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

43 BC – 17/18 AD) ** ''Medea'', of which only two fragments survive. *

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

(42 BC – AD 37) ** Autobiography ("brief and sketchy", per

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

) *

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

(10 BC – AD 54) ** '' De arte aleae'' (''The art of playing dice'', a book on

dice games Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device. The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice: Collectible dice games Patterned after the su ...

) ** an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

dictionary ** '' Tyrrhenika'', twenty volumes on Etruscan history ** a history of

's reign ** ''Carchedonica'', eight volumes on Carthaginian history ** a defense of Cicero against the charges of Asinius Gallus *

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

(c. 4 BC – AD 65) ** Book on signs, 5000 were compiled ** ''Against Superstitions,''

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

preserved some passages. ** Book on medicine. Either a planned or lost literary work *

Memnon of Heraclea Memnon of Heraclea (; , ''gen''.: Μέμνονος; fl. c. 1st century) was a Greek historical writer, probably a native of Heraclea Pontica. He described the history of that city in a large work, known only through the ''Excerpta of '' ''Photius'' ...

(c. 1st century AD) ** ''History of

Heraclea Pontica Heraclea Pontica (; ; , ), known in Byzantine and later times as Pontoheraclea (), was an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. The site is now the location of the modern city Karadeniz Ereğli, in ...

'' *

Pamphilus of Alexandria Pamphilus of Alexandria (; fl. 1st century AD) was a Greek grammarian, of the school of Aristarchus of Samothrace. He was the author of a comprehensive lexicon, in 95 books, of foreign or obscure words, the idea of which was credited to another gra ...

(1st century AD) ** Comprehensive lexicon in 95 books of foreign or obscure words. *

Agrippina the Younger Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from AD 49 to 54, the fourth wife and niece of emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero. Agrippina was one of the most prominent ...

(AD 15 – AD 59) ** ''Casus suorum'' (''Misfortunes of her Family'', a memoir) *

(AD 23/24 – 79) ** ''History of the German Wars'', some quotations survive in

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

's ''

Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

'' and ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

'' ** ''Studiosus'', a detailed work on

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

** ''Dubii sermonis'', in eight books ** ''History of his Times'', in thirty-one books, also quoted by Tacitus. ** ''De jaculatione equestri'', a military handbook on missiles thrown from horseback. *

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

(c. 35 – c. 100 AD) ** ''De Causis Corruptae Eloquentiae'' (''On the Causes of Corrupted Eloquence'') *

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

(39 AD – 65 AD) ** ''Catachthonion'' ** ''Iliacon'' from the Trojan cycle ** ''Epigrammata'' ** '' Adlocutio ad Pollam'' ** ''Silvae'' ** ''Saturnalia'' ** ''Medea'' ** ''Salticae Fabulae'' ** ''Laudes Neronis'', a praise of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

** ''Orpheus'' ** ''Prosa oratio in Octavium Sagittam'' ** ''Epistulae ex Campania'' ** ''De Incendio Urbis'' *

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontier ...

(c. 40 – 103 AD) ** ''De re militari'', a military manual *

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

(AD 53 – 117) ** ''

Dacica ''Dacica'' ("Dacian atters), or ''De bello dacico'' ("On the Dacian War"), is a lost Latin work by Roman Emperor Trajan, written in the spirit of Julius Caesar's commentaries like ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico, De Bello Gallico'', and descri ...

'' (or ''De bello dacico'') *

Philo of Byblos Philo of Byblos (, ''Phílōn Býblios''; ; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexicon, lexical and historical works in Greek language, Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history ...

(c. 64 – 141) ** ''Phoenician History'', a Greek translation of the original Phoenician book attributed to

Sanchuniathon Sanchuniathon (; Ancient Greek: ; probably from , " Sakkun has given"), variant ''šknytn'' also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a Phoenician author. His three works, originally written in the Phoenician language, survive only in partial ...

. Considerable fragments have been preserved, chiefly by Eusebius in the ''Praeparatio evangelica'' (i.9; iv.16). *

(c. AD 69 – after AD 122) ** ''De Viris Illustribus'' (''On Famous Men'' – in the field of literature), to which belongs: ''De Illustribus Grammaticis'' (''Lives Of The Grammarians''), ''De Claris Rhetoribus'' (''Lives Of The Rhetoricians''), and ''Lives Of The Poets''. Some fragments exist. ** ''Lives of Famous Whores'' ** ''Royal Biographies'' ** ''Roma'' (''On Rome''), in four parts: ''Roman Manners & Customs'', ''The Roman Year'', ''The Roman Festivals'', and ''Roman Dress''. ** ''Greek Games'' ** ''On Public Offices'' ** ''On Cicero’s Republic'' ** ''The Physical Defects of Mankind'' ** ''Methods of Reckoning Time'' ** ''An Essay on Nature'' ** ''Greek Terms of Abuse'' ** ''Grammatical Problems'' ** ''Critical Signs Used in Books'' *

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

(145 – 211) ** ''Autobiography'' * Callinicus (3rd century AD) **''Against the Philosophical Sects'' **''On the Renewal of Rome'' **''Prosphonetikon to Gallienus,'' a salute addressed to the emperor **''To Cleopatra, On the History of Alexandria'', most likely dedicated to

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia (Greek: Ζηνοβία, Palmyrene Aramaic: , ; 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner, and she married the ruler of the ...

, who claimed descent from

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

**''To Lupus, On Bad Taste on Rhetoric'' * Zoticus (3rd century AD) ** ''Story of Atlantis,'' a poem mentioned by Porphyry *

Longinus Longinus (Greek: Λογγίνος) is the name of the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, who in apostolic and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apoc ...

(c. 213 – 273 AD) **''On The End: by Longinus in answer to Plotinus and Gentilianus Amelius'' (preface survives, quoted by Porphyry) **''On Impulse'' **''On Principles'' **''Lover of Antiquity'' **''On the Natural Life'' **''Difficulties in Homer'' **''Whether Homer is a Philosopher'' **''Homeric Problems and Solutions'' **''Things Contrary to History which the Grammarians Explain as Historical'' **''On Words in Homer with Multiple Senses'' **''Attic Diction'' **''Lexicon of

Antimachus Antimachus of Colophon (city), Colophon (), or of Claros, was a Greece, Greek poet and grammarian, who flourished about 400 BC. Life Scarcely anything is known of his life. The Suda claims that he was a pupil of the poets Panyassis and Stesimb ...

and

Heracleon Heracleon was a Gnostic who flourished about AD 175, probably in the south of Italy. He is the author of the earliest known commentary on a book that would eventually be included in the Christian New Testament with his commentary on the Gosp ...

'' *

(c. 240 – c. 274) **

Epitome An epitome (; , from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "to the degree of." A ...

of the history of Alexandria and the Orient (according to the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'') * Gaius Asinius Quadratus (fl. AD 248) **''The Millennium'', a thousand-year history of Rome; thirty fragments remain *

Sulpicius Alexander Sulpicius Alexander (fl. late fourth century) was a Roman historian of Germanic tribes. His work is lost, but his ''Historia'' in at least four books is quoted by Gregory of Tours. It was perhaps a continuation of the ''Res gestae'' by Ammianus M ...

(late fourth century AD) ** ''Historia'' (History)

Unnamed works

* Lost plays of

. He is believed to have written some 90 plays, of which six survive. A seventh play is attributed to him. Fragments of his play ''Achilleis'' were said to have been discovered in the wrappings of a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

in the 1990s. * Lost plays of

. None of these survive. * Lost poems of

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 ...

. Of a reported ten

scrolls A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...

, there exist only quotes and numerous fragments. * Lost

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

poems of

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 ...

. Of six books of choral lyrics that were known (ca. 50–60

hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

), only fragmentary quotations in other Greek authors were known until the discovery of a fragment in 1855, containing approximately 100 verses. In the 1960s, many more fragments were discovered and published from a dig at

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus ( ; , ; ; ), also known by its modern name Al-Bahnasa (), is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an important archaeological site. Since the late 19th century, t ...

. * Lost poems of

Anacreon Anacreon ( BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early ...

. Of the five books of

lyrical Lyrical may refer to: *Lyrics, or words in songs * Lyrical dance, a style of dancing *Emotional, expressing strong feelings *Lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically ...

pieces mentioned in the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'' and by

, only mere fragments collected from the citations of later writers now exist. * Lost works of

. There are a few extant fragments of his works. * Lost works of

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

in many genres, including a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, ''Hermagoras'', as well as poetry,

dialogues Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is ch ...

, hymns, and technical

treatises A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

on politics,

dendrology Dendrology (, ''dendron'', "tree"; and , ''-logia'', ''science of'' or ''study of'') or xylology (, ''ksulon'', "wood") is the science and study of woody plants (trees, shrubs, and lianas), specifically, their taxonomic classifications. There ...

, agriculture, medicine,

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, astronomy, music, and arithmetic. * Lost plays of

Aristarchus of Tegea Aristarchus or Aristarch of Tegea (, ''Aristarkhos ho Tegeates'') was a Ancient Greece, Greek tragic poet and a contemporary of Sophocles and Euripides. He lived to be a centenarian, composed seventy plays, and won two tragic victories. Only the ti ...

. Of 70 pieces, only the titles of three of his plays, with a single line of the text, have survived. * Lost plays of

. He wrote 40 plays, 11 of which survive. * Lost works of

. It is believed that we have about one third of his original works. * Lost work of

Aristoxenus Aristoxenus of Tarentum (; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musi ...

. He is said to have written 453 works, dealing with philosophy,

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

and music. His only extant work is ''Elements of Harmony''. * Lost works of the historian

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

. * Lost works of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

. Of about 800 works, in verse and prose; only six hymns, 64 epigrams and some fragments survive; a considerable fragment of the epic '' Hecale'', was discovered in the Rainer papyri. * Lost works of

Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; , ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Stoicism, Stoic Philosophy, philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Cleanthes ...

. Of over 700 written works, none survive, except a few fragments embedded in the works of later authors. * Lost works of

. Of his books, six on rhetoric have survived, and parts of seven on philosophy. Books 1–3 of his work ''

'' have survived mostly intact, as well as a substantial part of book 6. A dialogue on philosophy called ''

'', which was highly influential on

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, is lost. Part of ''

De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

'' is lost. * Lost works of

including books on medicine, magical charms, and

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

(according to the historian

Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

). * Lost works of Clitomachus. According to

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

, he wrote some 400 books, of which none are extant today, although a few titles are known. * Lost plays of

Cratinus Cratinus (; 519 BC – 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. Life Cratinus won prizes for his plays on 27 known occasions, eight times at the City Dionysia, first probably in the mid-to-late 450s BCE (IG II2 2325. 50), and t ...

. Only fragments of his works have been preserved. * Lost works of

Democritus Democritus (, ; , ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, Thrace, Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an ...

. He wrote extensively on

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

and ethics, of which little remains. * Lost works of

Diogenes of Sinope Diogenes the Cynic, also known as Diogenes of Sinope (c. 413/403–c. 324/321 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism. Renowned for his ascetic lifestyle, biting wit, and radical critiques of social conventi ...

. He is reported to have written several books, none of which has survived to the present date. Whether or not these books were actually his writings or attributions are in dispute. * Lost works of

Diphilus Diphilus (Greek: Δίφιλος), of Sinope, was a poet of the new Attic comedy and a contemporary of Menander (342–291 BC). He is frequently listed together with Menander and Philemon, considered the three greatest poets of New Comedy. He was ...

. He is said to have written 100 comedies, the titles of 50 of which are preserved. * Lost works of

Ennius Quintus Ennius (; ) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce (ancient ''Calabria'', today Salento), a town ...

. Only fragments of his works survive. * Lost works of

Enoch Enoch ( ; ''Henṓkh'') is a biblical figure and Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared (biblical figure), Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible. The text of t ...

. According to the

Second Book of Enoch The Second Book of Enoch (abbreviated as 2 Enoch and also known as Slavonic Enoch, Slavic Enoch, or the Secrets of Enoch) is a pseudepigraphic text in the apocalyptic genre. It describes the ascent of the patriarch Enoch, ancestor of Noah, throu ...

, the prophet wrote 360 manuscripts. * Lost works of

Empedocles Empedocles (; ; , 444–443 BC) was a Ancient Greece, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is known best for originating the Cosmogony, cosmogonic theory of the four cla ...

. Little of what he wrote survives today. * Lost plays of

Epicharmus of Kos Epicharmus of Kos or Epicharmus Comicus or Epicharmus Comicus Syracusanus (), thought to have lived between c. 550 and c. 460 BC, was a Greek dramatist and philosopher who is often credited with being one of the first comedic writers ...

. He wrote between 35 and 52 comedies, many of which have been lost or exist only in fragments. * Lost plays of

. He is believed to have written over 90 plays, 18 of which have survived. Fragments, some substantial, of most other plays also survive. * Lost plays of

Eupolis Eupolis (; 446 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Biography Very little is known about Eupolis' life. His father was named Sosipolis. There are few sources on when he first ...

. Of the 17 plays attributed to him, only fragments remain. * Lost works of

Heraclitus Heraclitus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, ...

. His writings only survive in fragments quoted by other authors. * Lost works of

Hippasus Hippasus of Metapontum (; , ''Híppasos''; c. 530 – c. 450 BC) was a Greek philosopher and early follower of Pythagoras. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irra ...

. Few of his original works now survive. * Lost works of

Hippias Hippias of Elis (; ; late 5th century BC) was a Greek sophist, and a contemporary of Socrates. With an assurance characteristic of the later sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects, and lectured on poetry, grammar, his ...

. He is credited with an excellent work on Homer, collections of Greek and foreign literature, and archaeological treatises, but nothing remains except the barest notes. * Lost orations of

Hyperides Hypereides or Hyperides (, ''Hypereidēs''; c. 390 – 322 BC; English pronunciation with the stress variably on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable) was an Athenian logographer (speech writer). He was one of the ten Attic orators incl ...

. Some 79 speeches were transmitted in his name in antiquity. A codex of his speeches was seen at Buda in 1525 in the library of King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, but was destroyed by the Turks in 1526. In 2002, Natalie Tchernetska of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

discovered and identified fragments of two speeches of Hyperides that have been considered lost, ''Against Timandros'' and ''Against Diondas''. Six other orations survive in whole or part. * Lost poems of

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 ...

. According to the ''

'', he wrote seven books of lyrics. * Lost plays of

. Variously stated to have written 12 to 40 tragedies during his lifetime with only the titles and fragments of 11 of these plays survive. * Lost works of

Juba II Juba II of Mauretania (Latin: ''Gaius Iulius Iuba''; or ;Roller, Duane W. (2003) ''The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene'' "Routledge (UK)". pp. 1–3. . c. 48 BC – AD 23) was the son of Juba I and client king of Numidia (30–25 BC) and ...

. He wrote a number of books in Greek and Latin on history, natural history, geography, grammar, painting and theatre. Only fragments of his work survive. * Lost works of

Leucippus Leucippus (; , ''Leúkippos''; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He is traditionally credited as the founder of atomism, which he developed with his student Democritus. Leucippus divided the world into two entities: atoms, indivisible ...

. No writings exist which we can attribute to him. * Lost works of

Lucius Varius Rufus Lucius Varius Rufus (; 14 BC) was a Roman poet of the early Augustus, Augustan age. He was a friend of Virgil, after whose death he and Plotius Tucca prepared the ''Aeneid'' for publication, and of Horace, for whom he and Virgil obtained an intr ...

. The author of the poem ''De morte'' and the tragedy ''Thyestes'' praised by his contemporaries as being on a par with the best Greek poets. Only fragments survive. * Lost works of

Melissus of Samos Melissus of Samos (; ; ) was the third and last member of the ancient school of Eleatic philosophy, whose other members included Zeno and Parmenides. Little is known about his life, except that he was the commander of the Samian fleet in the Sam ...

. Only fragments preserved in other writers' works exist. * Lost plays of

Menander Menander (; ; c. 342/341 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek scriptwriter and the best-known representative of Athenian Ancient Greek comedy, New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the Cit ...

. He wrote over a hundred comedies of which one survives. Fragments of a number of his plays survive. * Lost poems of Phanocles. He wrote some poems about homosexual relationships among heroes of the mythical tradition of which only one survives, along with a few short fragments. * Lost works of Philemon. Of his 97 works, 57 are known to us only as titles and fragments. * Lost poetry of

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 ...

. Of his varied books of poetry, only his victory odes survive in complete form. The rest are known only by quotations in other works or papyrus scraps unearthed in Egypt. * Lost plays of

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

. He wrote approximately 130 plays, of which 21 survive. * Lost poems and orations of

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and e ...

. * Rhetorical works of

Julius Pollux Julius Pollux (, ''Ioulios Polydeukes''; fl. 2nd century) was a Greeks, Greek scholar and rhetorician from Naucratis, Ancient Egypt.Andrew Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World: From A to Z'', p.265, Routledge, 2003 Emperor Commodus appointed him a pr ...

. * There exist
a list
of more than 60 lost works in many genres by the philosopher Porphyry, including ''Against the Christians'' (of which only fragments survive). * Lost works of

Posidonius Posidonius (; , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher native to Apamea (Syria), Apame ...

. All of his works are now lost. Some fragments exist, as well as titles and subjects of many of his books. * Lost works of

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...

. A number of his commentaries on

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

are lost. * Lost works of Pyrrhus. He wrote ''Memoirs'' and several books on the art of war, all now lost. According to Plutarch, Hannibal was influenced by them and they received praise from Cicero. * Lost works of

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

. No texts by him survived. * Lost works of Pythangelus. Cited as a tragic poet in Aristophanes play ''The Frogs'' though little is known about his existence and none of his work survives. * Lost plays of Rhinthon. Of 38 plays, only a few titles and lines have been preserved. * Lost poems of

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 ...

. Only a few full poems and fragments of others survive. It has been hypothesized that poems 61 and 62 of

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

were inspired by lost works of Sappho. * Lost poems of

Simonides of Ceos Simonides of Ceos (; ; c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of critical study. ...

. Of his poetry we possess two or three short

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

, several

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia. ...

and about 90 fragments of lyric poetry. * Lost plays of

. Of 123 plays, seven survive, with fragments of others. * Lost poems of

Sulpicia Sulpicia is believed to be the author, in the first century BCE, of six short poems (some 40 lines in all) written in Latin which were published as part of the corpus of Albius Tibullus's poetry (poems 3.13-18). She is one of the few female poets ...

, who wrote erotic poems of conjugal bliss and was herself the subject of two poems by

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...

, who wrote (10.35) that "All girls who desire to please one man should read Sulpicia. All husbands who desire to please one wife should read Sulpicia." * Lost poems of

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 ...

. Of several long works, significant fragments survive. * Lost works of

Theodectes Theodectes (; c. 380c. 340 BC) was a Greek rhetorician and tragic poet, of Phaselis in Lycia. Life He lived in the period which followed the Peloponnesian War. Along with the continual decay of political and religious life, tragedy sank more and ...

. Of his 50 tragedies, we have the names of about 13 and a few unimportant fragments. His treatise on the art of rhetoric and his speeches are lost. * Lost works of

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

. Of his 227 books, only a handful survive, including ''On Plants'' and ''On Stones'', but ''On Mining'' is lost. Fragments of others survive. * Lost plays of

. None of his works survive. * Lost works of Timon. None of his works survive except where he is quoted by others, mainly

Sextus Empiricus Sextus Empiricus (, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician with Roman citizenship. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and because of the argument ...

. * Lost works of Tiro. A biography of

in at least four books is referenced by

Asconius Pedianus Quintus Asconius Pedianus (9 BC – AD 76) was a Roman rhetorician from Patavium. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but his familiarity with the politics and geography of contemporary Rome suggests that he may hav ...

in his commentaries on Cicero's speeches. * Lost plays of

. Referenced various times in the works of

as an inferior poet and had won first place in the Dionysia in 415 BC though none of his works survive. * Lost works of

Xenophanes Xenophanes of Colophon ( ; ; – c. 478 BC) was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and critic of Homer. He was born in Ionia and travelled throughout the Greek-speaking world in early classical antiquity. As a poet, Xenophanes was known f ...

. Fragments of his poetry survive only as quotations by later Greek writers. * Lost works of

Zeno of Elea Zeno of Elea (; ; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea, in Southern Italy (Magna Graecia). He was a student of Parmenides and one of the Eleatics. Zeno defended his instructor's belief in monism, the idea that only one single en ...

. None of his works survive intact. * Lost works of

Zeno of Citium Zeno of Citium (; , ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic philosopher from Kition, Citium (, ), Cyprus. He was the founder of the Stoicism, Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. B ...

. None of his writings have survived except as fragmentary quotations preserved by later writers.

Amerindian texts and codices

* The original

Aztec codices Aztec codices ( , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico. Most of their content is pictorial in nature and they come from ...

were burned by

Tlacaelel Tlacaelel I (1397 – 1487) ( , "Man of Strong Emotions," from "tlācatl," person and "ēllelli," strong emotion) was the principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance and hence the Mexica (Aztec) empire. He was the son of Emperor Huitzil ...

after

Itzcoatl Itzcoatl ( , "Obsidian Serpent", ) (c. 1380–1440) was the fourth king of Tenochtitlan, and the founder of the Aztec Empire, ruling from 1427 to 1440. Under Itzcoatl the Mexica of Tenochtitlan threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and esta ...

took power. * Most

Maya codices Maya codices (: ''codex'') are folding books written by the Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya script, Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican Amate, bark paper. The folding books are the products of professional scribes ...

were burned by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

priests in the sixteenth century. * Many

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

Quipu ''Quipu'' ( ), also spelled ''khipu'', are record keeping devices fashioned from knotted cords. They were historically used by various cultures in the central Andes of South America, most prominently by the Inca Empire. A ''quipu'' usually cons ...

s (an ancient device used for record keeping and communication) were burned by Spanish priests in 1583 on the orders of the Third Council of Lima. Only 751 quipus are known to have survived to the present.

Ancient Chinese texts

* ''

Classic of Music The ''Classic of Music'' () was a Confucian classic text lost by the time of the Han dynasty. It is sometimes referred to as the "Sixth Classic" (for example, by Sima Qian) and is thought to have been important in the traditional interpretations ...

'' attributed to

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 ...

. * Medical treatise of the renowned physician Hua Tuo (

traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 華佗;

simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

: 华陀;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Huà Tuó) from late

Eastern Han The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

. The treatise was traditionally referred to as ''Qing Nang Shu'' (

青囊書;

: 青囊书;

: Qīng Náng Shū), literally ''Book in the Cyan Bag''. When Hua Tuo was sentenced to death after incurring the wrath of

Cao Cao Cao Cao (; ; ; 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation f ...

, who controlled the Imperial Court, the physician tried to entrust the text to his gaoler. However, the gaoler was afraid of potentially implicating himself and in disappointment, Hua Tuo had the text burned
Records of the Three Kingdoms Chapter 29, Book of Wei – Technology 《三国志卷二十九·魏书·方技传》
* Book of Bai Ze (

白泽图;

: Bái Zé Tú). A guide to the forms and habits of all 11,520 types of supernatural creatures in the world, and how to overcome their hauntings and attacks, as dictated by the mythical creature, Bai Ze, to the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...

in the 26th century BCE. * Works of the 5th century BCE philosopher

Yang Zhu Yang Zhu (; ; 440–c.360 BC), also known as Yangzi (Master Yang), was a Chinese philosopher during the Warring States period. An early ethical egoist alternative to Mohist and Confucian thought, Yang Zhu's surviving ideas appear primarily in t ...

burned on the orders of the emperor

Shi Huangdi Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary dynasty in Chine ...

, the founder of the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

Ancient Japanese texts

* ''

Tennōki , alternatively known as ''Sumera Mikoto no Fumi'', is a historical text purported to have been written in 620 by Shōtoku Taishi and Soga no Umako. It is recorded in the '' Nihon Shoki'', but no extant copies are known to exist. According to t ...

'' * '' Kokki''

Ancient Indian texts

* ''Jaya'' and ''Bharata'', early versions of the Hindu epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'' * '' Bārhaspatya-sūtras'', the foundational text of the

Cārvāka Charvaka (; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. It's an example of the atheistic schools in the Ancient Indian philosophies. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and condit ...

school of philosophy. The text probably dates from the final centuries BC, with only fragmentary quotations of it surviving. * ''

Valayapathi ''Valaiyapadhi'' (; ), also spelled ''Valayapathi'', is one of the five great Tamil epics, but one that is almost entirely lost. It is a story of a father who has two wives, abandons one who gives birth to their son, and the son grows up and ...

'',

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

epic poem, only fragments survive. * ''

Kundalakesi ''Kundalakesi'' ( Kuṇṭalakēci, ''lit.'' "woman with curly hair"), also called ''Kuntalakeciviruttam'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic written by Nathakuthanaar, likely sometime in the 10th-century.Aiyangar 2004, p. 360 The epic is a story about ...

'', Tamil epic poem, only fragments survive. * ''

Brihatkatha ''Bṛhatkathā'' (बृहत्कथा) (Sanskrit, "the Great Narrative") is an ancient Indian epic, said to have been written by Guṇāḍhya (गुणाढ्य) in a poorly-understood language known as Paiśācī. The work no long ...

'', a collection of stories in

Paishachi Paishachi or Paisaci () is a largely unattested literary language of the middle kingdoms of India mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similariti ...

composed by Gunadhya between the 1st c. BC and the 3rd c. AD. Parts of it were adapted into

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and some vernaculars (see main article).

Ancient Egyptian texts

*The Book of Thoth, a legendary manuscript alluded to in Egyptian literature believed to contain the secrets to comprehend the power of the gods and speech of animals. *Additionally, thousands of other pieces are attributed to the deity

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

. Seleuces noted that the number of his writings was 20,000 while

held it was 36,525.

Avestan texts

* ''

Avesta The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...

'', the holy book of

Zoroaster Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism ...

. After Alexander's conquest, avesta was fragmented and it has been said only a third of it survived orally. * ''Avesta'' recollected in 21 volumes, in Sasanian era, only a quarter of which survive.

Gnostic texts

*''The Seventh Universe of the Prophet Hieralias'', an unknown manuscript showing up by name inside the

Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

piece '' On the Origin of the World''.

Pahlavi / Middle-Persian texts

* '' Khwātay-Nāmag'' (Book of Lords) : A chronological history of Iranian kings from the mythical era to the end of Sasanian period. This book was an important reference for post-Sasanian and Islamic historians such as

Ibn al-Muqaffa' Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh Rūzbih ibn Dādūya (), born Rōzbih pūr-i Dādōē (), more commonly known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (; ), was a Persian translator, philosopher, author and thinker who wrote in the Arabic language. He bore the name Rōz ...

as well as

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

in his epic work ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

''. * ''Ewen-Nāmag'': Multi-volume book on Iranian ceremonies, entertainment, warfare, politics, precepts, principles and examples in the Sasanian era. * ''Zij-i Shahryār'': An important work of astronomy. * ''Karirak ud Damanak'': A version translated into Pahlavi of the Indian work of fiction '' Pancatantra''. * ''Hazār Afsān'' or ''Thousand Tales'': A Pahlavi compilation of Iranian and Indian tales. This work was translated to Arabic in the Islamic era and became known as ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

''. * ''Mazdak-Nāmag'': Biography of Mazdak, the

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

reformer and the primate of

Mazdakism Mazdakism ( Persian: مزدکیه) was an Iranian religion, which was an offshoot of Zoroastrianism. The religion was founded in the early Sasanian Empire by Zaradust-e Khuragen, a Zoroastrian mobad who was a contemporary of Mani (d. 274) ...

movement. * ''Kārvand'': A book of rhetoric. * ''Jāvidan Khrad'' (Immortal wisdom): Quotations of the mythical Iranian king and sage Hushang. * ''Scientific Works of Gondishapur Academy'': Works of Greek, Indian, and Persian scholars of the

Academy of Gondishapur The Academy of Gondishapur or Academy of Jondishapur (, Farhangestân-e Gondišâpur), also known as the Gondishapur University, was one of the three Sasanian centers of education (Ctesiphon, Ras al-Ayn, Gundeshapur) and academy of learning ...

on medicine, astrology, and philosophy. A remarkable part of their heritage was translated into

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

during the

Graeco-Arabic translation movement The Graeco-Arabic translation movement was a large, well-funded, and sustained effort responsible for translating a significant volume of secular Greek texts into Arabic. The translation movement took place in Baghdad from the mid-eighth century ...

. The Middle-Persian literature had a remarkable diversity based on historical accounts. Only a poor part of mostly religious texts survived by Zoroastrian minorities in Persia and India.

Manichaean texts

* '' Ardahang (Arzhang)'': The holy pictured book of

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

. * '' Shabuhragan'': The holy book of Mani dedicated to Shapur the Great; only fragments survive.

Lost Biblical texts

* ''

Hexapla ''Hexapla'' (), also called ''Origenis Hexaplorum'', is a Textual criticism, critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Ancient Greek, Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex wor ...

'': a compilation of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

Lost texts referenced in the Old Testament

* The book referred to at Exodus 17:14. ''Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

...'' * The ''Book of the Covenant'' referred to at Exodus 24:7 * The ''

Book of the Wars of the Lord The Book of the Wars of the LORD () is one of several non-canonical books referenced in the Bible which have now been completely lost. It is mentioned in Numbers 21:13–14, which reads: David Rosenberg suggests in ''The Book of David'' that ...

'' (

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

21:14) * '' Book of Jasher'' * ''Manner of the Kingdom'' * ''

Acts of Solomon :''The similarly named Biblical book is located at Song of Solomon.'' The ook of theActs of Solomon () is a lost text referred to in , which reads: :''And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written ...

'' * ''

Chronicles of the Kings of Israel The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel is a book that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of ancient Kingdom of Israel than that presented in the Hebrew Bible, and may have been the source from which parts of the biblical acc ...

'' * ''

Chronicles of the Kings of Judah The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah is a Lost work that gives a more detailed account of the reigns of the kings of the ancient Kingdom of Judah that appears in the Hebrew Bible. It is not believed to be Books of Chronicles since it is implied ...

'' * '' Book of the Kings of Israel'' * ''

Annals of King David The ''Annals of King David'' (, alternatively translated as the ''Chronicles of King David'') is a lost work mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It may have been written by the Biblical prophet Nathan, who was one of King David's contemporaries. Q ...

'' * ''

Book of Samuel the Seer The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

'' * '' Book of Nathan the Prophet'' * '' Book of Gad the Seer'' * '' History of Nathan the Prophet'' * '' Prophecy of Ahijah'' * '' Visions of Iddo the Seer'' * ''

Book of Shemaiah the Prophet The Book of Shemaiah the Prophet is one of the non-canonical books referenced in the Bible, now lost. It was probably written by the biblical prophet Shemaiah, who lived at the time of Rehoboam. This text is sometimes called ''Shemaiah the Prophet ...

'' * '' Iddo Genealogies'' * ''

Story of the Prophet Iddo The Story of the Prophet Iddo (also called the Midrash of the Prophet Iddo and Visions of Iddo the Seer, ) is a lost work mentioned in the Bible, attributed to the biblical prophet Iddo who lived at the time of King Rehoboam. Biblical referenc ...

'' * ''

Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel was separated into the two books of I Kings and II Kings in the Old Testament. The book is described at . The passage reads: "And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book ...

'' * '' Book of Jehu'' * ''

Story of the Book of Kings The Story of the Book of Kings, also called the Midrash on the Book of Kings, is a lost work mentioned in the Bible. The book is found nowhere in the Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical ca ...

'' * '' Acts of Uzziah'' * '' Acts of the Kings of Israel'' * '' Sayings of the Seers'' * '' Laments for Josiah'' * '' Chronicles of King Ahasuerus'' * '' Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia''

Lost works referenced in Deutero-canonical texts

*The five volume account of the

Maccabean revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

compiled by

Jason of Cyrene Jason of Cyrene () was a Hellenistic Jew who lived around the middle of the second century BCE (fl. ~160–110 BCE?). He is the author of a five-volume history of the Maccabean Revolt and its preceding events (~178–160 BCE), which subse ...

, abridged by the writer of

2 Maccabees 2 Maccabees, also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt against him. It ...

Lost works referenced in the New Testament

* ''

Epistle to Corinth The Epistle to Corinth was a letter written by the 'brethren' () of the early Christian Church in Ephesus to the church in Corinth in Achaia, referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, commending the Corinthian church to welcome the preacher Apollos: ...

'' * ''

Epistle from Laodicea to the Colossians The non-canonical books referenced in the Bible include known, unknown, or otherwise lost non-Biblical cultures' works referenced in the Bible. The Bible, in Judaism, consists of the Hebrew Bible; Christianity refers to the Hebrew Bible as the Ol ...

Lost works pertaining to Jesus

(These works are generally 2nd century and later; some would be considered reflective of proto-orthodox Christianity, and others would be heterodox.) * '' Gospel of Eve'' * '' Gospel of Mani'' * '' Gospel of Matthias'' * '' Gospel of Perfection'' * '' Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms'' * ''

Gospel of the Hebrews The Gospel of the Hebrews (), or Gospel according to the Hebrews, is a lost Jewish–Christian gospel. The text of the gospel is lost, with only fragments of it surviving as brief quotations by the early Church Fathers and in apocryphal writi ...

'' * '' Gospel of the Seventy'' * ''

Gospel of the Twelve The ''Gospel of the Twelve'' (), possibly also referred to as the ''Gospel of the Apostles'', is a lost gospel mentioned by Origen in '' Homilies on Luke'' as part of a list of heretical works. Schneemelcher's standard edition of the ''New Te ...

'' * '' Memoria Apostolorum'' * ''

Secret Gospel of Mark The Secret Gospel of Mark or the Mystic Gospel of Mark (), also the Longer Gospel of Mark, is a wikt:putative, putative longer and secret or mystic version of the Gospel of Mark. The gospel is mentioned exclusively in the Mar Saba letter, a docum ...

2nd century

* Hegesippus's ''Hypomnemata'' (''Memoirs'') in five books, and a history of the Christian church. * The '' Gospel of the Lord'' compiled by

Marcion of Sinope Marcion of Sinope (; ; ) was a theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ, who was distinct from the "vengeful" God ( Demiurge) who had created the world. He considered himself a follower of Paul the Apost ...

to support his interpretation of Christianity. Marcion's writings were suppressed but a portion of them have been recreated from the works that were used to denounce them. * Papias's ''Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord'' in five books, mentioned by

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

3rd century

*Edict of

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...

, 250 AD * Various works of

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

. Some fifteen works in Latin or Greek are lost, some as recently as the 9th century (''De Paradiso'', ''De superstitione saeculi'', ''De carne et anima'' were all extant in the now damaged

Codex Agobardinus The Codex Agobardinus is a 9th-century parchment codex containing a collection of the works of the Christian author Tertullian. It is named after its first owner, the archbishop Agobard, who gave it to Lyon Cathedral, where it remained until the ...

in 814 AD).

4th century

* ''Praeparatio Ecclesiastica'', and ''Demonstratio Ecclesiastica'' by

*''History of Constantine the Great'' (known from a précis by

Photius Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Mate ...

) by Praxagoras of Athens

5th century

Sozomen Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos (; ; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home Sozoman was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christia ...

's history of the Christian church, from the

Ascension of Jesus The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate ) is the Christianity, Christian and Islamic belief that Jesus entering heaven alive, ascended to Heaven. Christian doctrine, as reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional stateme ...

to the defeat of

Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (; Ancient Greek, Greek: Λικίνιος; c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign, he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan that ...

in 323, in twelve books. * Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus, a historical work of twelve volumes of which only brief fragments survive, a few passages being quoted in chapters eight and nine of the second book of

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

's ''Decem libri historiarum'' (''Ten Books of Histories'')

Middle Ages (500–1500)

6th century

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

's ''Gothic History'', which survives only in a much shorter abridgement, the ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

'' of

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

7th century

* The '' Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū'' is lost as a standalone work, although an unknown portion of it was preserved as part of the later .

8th century

* '' The Life of God's Messenger'' by

Ibn Ishaq Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...

, although

Ibn Hisham Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham ibn Ayyub al-Himyari (; died 7 May 833), known simply as Ibn Hisham, was a 9th-century Abbasid historian and scholar. He grew up in Basra, in modern-day Iraq and later moved to Egypt. Life Ibn Hisham has ...

published a further revised version of the book, under the same title.

Anglo-Saxon works

* ''

The Battle of Maldon "The Battle of Maldon" is the name given to an Old English Old English literature, poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which an Anglo-Saxon army failed to repulse a Viking raid. Only 325 lines of the poem are ...

'', a heroic poem of which only 325 lines in the middle survive. * ''

Waldere "Waldere" or "Waldhere" is the conventional title given to two Old English fragments, of around 32 and 31 lines, from a lost epic poem, discovered in 1860 by E. C. Werlauff, Librarian, in the Danish Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is still ...

'', an epic which is now lost apart from two short fragments. * The

Finnesburg Fragment The "Finnesburg Fragment" (also "Finnsburh Fragment") is a portion of an Old English heroic poem in alliterative verse about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The su ...

, comprising 50 lines from an otherwise lost poem. *

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

's translation of John's Gospel, c. 735. * ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'': since a fire in 1731 parts of the manuscript have been lost, most notably a large section of the fight between Beowulf and the dragon towards the end of the poem. (c. 1000)

12th century

* Three works by

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...

: ** ''Vita sancti Karadoci'' ("Life of St Caradoc") ** ''De fidei fructu fideique defectu'' ** ''Cambriae mappa'' * A romance on the subject of

King Mark Mark of Cornwall (, , , ) was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. As Mark or Marc (''Marc'h''), he is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the husband of Ise ...

and

Iseult Iseult ( ), alternatively Isolde ( ) and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult the Blonde, or Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Trista ...

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

. * The

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th romances ''André de France">Romance (heroic literature)">romances ''André de France'' and ''Gui d'Excideuil">André_de_France.html" ;"title="Romance (heroic literature)">romances ''André de France">Romance (heroic literature)">romances ''André de France'' and ''Gui d'Excideuil'' * ''Hryggjarstykki'', a Norse saga about almost contemporary Norwegian kings written around 1140. * ''Skjöldunga saga'', a Norse saga on the List of legendary kings of Denmark, legendary Danish dynasty of the

Skjöldung The Scyldings ( OE Scyldingas) or Skjǫldungs ( ON Skjǫldungar), both meaning "descendants of Scyld/Skjǫldr", were, according to legends, a clan or dynasty of Danish kings, that in its time conquered and ruled Denmark and Sweden together with ...

s, composed c. 1180–1200 * '' Gauks saga Trandilssonar'', a lost saga of the Icelanders. * Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević is a work first written in 1166 but the only surviving chronicle is from 1431 by

Constantine of Kostenets Constantine of Kostenets (; – after 1431), also known as Constantine the Philosopher ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Константин Филозоф, Konstantin Filozof, separator=" / "), was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and chronicler, who spent mo ...

who includes a genealogy of the

Nemanjić dynasty The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent Serbian dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal and imperial house produced List of Serbian monarchs, twelv ...

up until Despot

Stefan Lazarević Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall (), was a Serbian ruler as prince (1389–1402) and Despot (court title), despot (1402–1427). He was also a diplomat, legislat ...

. *

William of Tyre William of Tyre (; 29 September 1186) was a Middle Ages, medieval prelate and chronicler. As Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre, archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I of Tyr ...

's ''Gesta orientalium principum'', a history of the Islamic world

13th century

* The Quaternuli by

David of Dinant David of Dinant ( 1160 – c. 1217) was a pantheistic philosopher. He may have been a member of, or at least been influenced by, a pantheistic sect known as the Amalricians. David was condemned by the Catholic Church in 1210 for his writing of t ...

. Which were condemned by a provincial council headed by Peter of Corbeil in 1210, who ordered for them to be burned for expressing

pantheist Pantheism can refer to a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arisesAnn Thomson; Bodies ...

beliefs. David may have also published another work, entitled ''De Tomis, seu Divisionibus''; this may be another title for the ''Quaternuli''. * The literary tradition of the

Nizari Ismailis Nizari Isma'ilism () are the largest segment of the Ismailis, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasise independent reasoning or ''ijtihad''; pluralism—the acceptance of racial, ethnic, cu ...

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a sect of Shia Islam 1090–1275 CE. Assassin, or variants, may also refer to: Fictional characters * Assassin, in the Japanese adult ...

"), partially destroyed during the reign of

Hassan III of Alamut Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥasan III () (1187–1221), son of Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad II, was the 25th Nizari Isma'ili Imām. He ruled from 1210 to 1221. His life He was born to the 24th Imam and a Sunni mother. Jalal al-Din Hassan claimed to have ...

, and eventually lost completely during the

Mongol campaign against the Nizaris The Mongol campaign against the Nizaris of the Alamut period (the Nizari Ismaili state) began in 1253 after the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire and a series of Nizari–Mongol conflicts. The campaign was ordered by the Great Khan Möngk ...

, in particular during the burning of the Library of

Alamut Castle Alamut (, meaning "eagle's nest") is a ruined mountain fortress located in the Alamut region in the South Caspian Sea, Caspian, near the village of Gazor Khan in Qazvin Province in Iran, approximately 200 km (130 mi) from present-day Teh ...

** ''Sargudhasht-i Bābā Sayyidinā'' (),

Hasan-i Sabbah Hasan al-Sabbah also known as Hasan I of Alamut, was an Iranian religious and military leader, founder of the Nizari Ismai'li sect widely known as the ''Hashshashin'' or the Order of Assassins, as well as the Nizari Ismaili state, ruling from ...

's biography. Juvayni "saved" it before burning the library, and used it as a source in his ''

Tarikh-i Jahangushay ''Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy'' ( "The History of The World Conqueror") or ''Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy-i Juwaynī'' () is a detailed historical account written by the Persian people, Persian Ata-Malik Juvayni describing the Mongol, Hulegu Khan, and I ...

'', but he claimed that he burned it after reading it.

14th century

* '' Inventio Fortunata''. A 14th-century description of the geography of the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. * ''Itinerarium''. A geography book by Jacobus Cnoyen of

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

, cited by

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish people, Flemish geographer, cosmographer and Cartography, cartographer. He is most renowned for creating the Mercator 1569 world map, 1569 world map based on a new Mercator pr ...

* ''Res gestae Arturi britanni'' (''The Deeds of Arthur of Britain''). A book cited by Jacobus Cnoyen * ''Of the Wreched Engendrynge of Mankynde'', ''Origenes upon the Maudeleyne'', and ''The book of the Leoun''. Three works by

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

. * The

Coventry Mystery Plays The Coventry Mystery Plays, or Coventry Corpus Christi Pageants, are a cycle of medieval mystery plays from Coventry, West Midlands, England, and are perhaps best known as the source of the " Coventry Carol". Two plays from the original cycle ...

, a cycle of which only two plays survive. * Carostavnik or Rodoslov. Old Serbian biography enters a new—

historiographic Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

or even chronographic—phase with the appearance of the so-called ''Vita'', better yet "Lives of Serbian Kings and Archbishops" by Danilo II, Serbian Archbishop, formerly Abbot of the

Hilandar The Hilandar Monastery (, , , ) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian Orthodox monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by two Serbs from the Grand Principality of Serbia, Stefan Neman ...

Monastery, and his successors, most of whom remained anonymous. * Vrhobreznica Chronicle originates in 1371 but the work is not transcribed until two and half centuries later by a writer named Gavrilo, a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

, who collected earlier annals in his redaction composed in 1650 at the Vrhobreznica monastery. Part of a manuscript archived as "Prague Museum #29" (together with Vrhobreznica Genealogy). * Koporin Chronicle – a 1371 chronicle transcribed in 1453 by Damjan, a deacon, who also wrote the annals on the order of Archbishop of Zeta, Josif, at the Koporin monastery. * Studenica Chronicle – a 14th century chronicle from 1350–1400. Oldest survived copy in a 16th-century manuscript, together with a younger annals. *

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

Chronicle covers events from 14th century until the end of 16th century, though the manuscript collection is from the end of the 16th century.

15th century

* ''

Yongle Encyclopedia The ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' () or ''Yongle Dadian'' () is a Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia commissioned by the Yongle Emperor (1402–1424) of the Ming dynasty in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls in 11,095 vol ...

'' (). It was one of the world's earliest, and the then-largest, encyclopaedia commissioned by the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

of China's

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

in 1403, completed about 1408. About 400 volumes (less than 4%) of a 16th-century manuscript set survive today. *

François Villon François Villon (; Modern French: ; ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these e ...

's poem "The Romance of the Devil's Fart."

Modern age (1500–present)

16th century

* ''Nigramansir. A Moral Interlude and a Pithy.'' by John Skelton. Printed 1504. A copy seen in 1759 in

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

has since vanished. * ''

Ur-Hamlet The ''Ur-Hamlet'' (the German prefix ''wikt:ur-, Ur-'' means "original") is a play by an unknown author, thought to be either Thomas Kyd or William Shakespeare. No copy of the play, dated by scholars to the second half of 1587, survives today. Th ...

''. An earlier version of the

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''. Some scholars believe it to be a lost work written by

Thomas Kyd Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Although well known in his own time, ...

, while others attribute it to Shakespeare, identifying the Ur-Hamlet with the first quarto text. * ''

Love's Labour's Won ''Love's Labour's Won'' is a lost play attributed by contemporaries to William Shakespeare, written before 1598 and published by 1603, though no copies are known to have survived. Scholars dispute whether it is a true lost work, possibly a sequ ...

'', play by

. * ''The Ocean’s Love to Cynthia''. A poem by Sir

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...

of which only fragments are known. *

Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; or 1525 – 10 June 1580), sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns ( ), is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of William Shakes ...

's philosophical work ''The Parnasum of Luís Vaz'' is lost. * '' The Isle of Dogs'' (1597), a play by

Thomas Nashe Thomas Nashe (also Nash; baptised 30 November 1567 – c. 1601) was an English Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel '' The Unfortunate Traveller'', his pamphlets including '' Pierce P ...

and

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

. * ''

'', a play by Thomas Dekker, mentioned in

Philip Henslowe Philip Henslowe ( – 6 January 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London. ...

's diary, 1597. * '' Hot Anger Soon Cold'' a play by Henry Chettle, Henry Porter and

; mentioned in Henslowe's diary, August 1598. * '' The Stepmother's Tragedy'', a play by Henry Chettle and Thomas Dekker; mentioned in Henslowe's diary, August 1599. * ''Black Bateman of the North, Part II'', a play by Henry Chettle and Robert Wilson; mentioned in Henslowe's diary in April 1598. * Only four

survived the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

; most were destroyed by

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s, the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

or the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

17th century

* ''

The History of Cardenio ''The History of Cardenio'', often referred to as simply ''Cardenio'', is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. The play is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a St ...

'', play by

and John Fletcher (1613) * '' Keep the Widow Waking'', play by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

and

John Webster John Webster (c. 1578 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...

(1624) *

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...

composed at least eighteen

operas Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a li ...

, but only three (''L'Orfeo'', ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'', and ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'') and the famous

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

, "Lamento", from his second opera ''L'Arianna'' have survived. * Lost

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). His born name may have been Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, and he first studied haikai poetry under a ...

. *

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...

's first play, ''Amasie'' (1660) is lost. In addition, his biography of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, ''Vie de Louis XIV'', was destroyed in the fire at Valincour's house. *

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

wrote nearly two acts of a tragedy called ''Adam Unparadiz'd,'' which was then lost. * Lost works of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

: ** A translation of ''

De Rerum Natura (; ''On the Nature of Things'') is a first-century BC Didacticism, didactic poem by the Roman Republic, Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius () with the goal of explaining Epicureanism, Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, writte ...

'' by

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ; – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is t ...

. ** ''Le Docteur amoureux'' (play, 1658) ** ''Gros-René, petit enfant'' (play, 1659) ** ''Le Docteur Pédant'' (play, 1660) ** ''Les Trois Docteurs'' (play, ca. 1660) ** ''Gorgibus dans le sac'' (play, 1661) ** ''Le Fagotier'' (play, 1661) ** ''Le Fin Lourdaut'' (play attributed, 1668) * Lost works of

Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius ( fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histo ...

include; ** ''Ughdair Ereann''. Fragments survive * Works by Buhurizade Mustafa Itri, a major Ottoman musician, composer, singer and poet, who is known to have composed more than a thousand works, only forty of which survive to the present. * ''Olympica'',

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

's youthful account of dreams and their interpretations, was last excerpted by

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

in 1675. ''L'Art de l'escrime'' by Descartes, a book about fencing, was also lost. * ''De non existentia Dei'' by Kazimierz Łyszczyński, an atheist philosophical treatise, destroyed after the trial and execution of Łyszczyński (1689). Fragments survived in court records.

18th century

* All poems and literary works by

Carlo Gimach Carlo Gimach (2 March 1651 – 31 December 1730) was a Maltese architect, engineer and poet who was active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Throughout his career, he worked in Malta, Portugal and Rome, and he is mostly known for design ...

, except for the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

''Applauso Genetliaco'', are believed to be lost. *

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, ...

's journal was burned by her daughter on the grounds that it contained too much scandal and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

. *

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

burned the manuscript of his ''History of the Liberty of the Swiss''. *

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

had most of his manuscripts destroyed shortly before his death. In his last years he had been working on two major treatises, one on the theory and history of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and one on the sciences and arts. The posthumously published ''

Essays on Philosophical Subjects ''Essays on Philosophical Subjects'', by the Scottish economist Adam Smith, is a history of astronomy until Smith's own era, plus some thoughts on ancient physics and metaphysics. This work was published posthumously (after death), in 1795, using ...

'' (1795) probably contain parts of what would have been the latter treatise. * ''The Green-Room Squabble or a Battle Royal between the Queen of Babylon and the Daughter of Darius'', a 1756 play by

Samuel Foote Samuel Foote (January 1720 – 21 October 1777) was a Cornish dramatist, actor and Actor-manager, theatre manager. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic oppor ...

, is lost. * Numerous works by J. S. Bach, notably at least two large-scale

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...

and many cantatas (see

List of Bach cantatas This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important Vocal music (Bach), vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both Church cantata ...

) are lost. *

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's Cello Concerto in F and Trumpet Concerto are lost. * Beethoven's 1793 'Ode to Joy', which was later incorporated into his ninth Symphony * Haydn's "Double Bass Concerto", of which only the first two measures survive; the rest were burned and destroyed. Supposedly a copy of it may exist somewhere, according to many different speculations. * Personal letters between

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and his wife

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...

; all but three destroyed by Mrs. Washington after his death in 1799. *

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

: his all-encompassing oeuvre comprises more than 3,000 compositions, half of which have been lost.

19th century

* '' The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth'' by

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, a compilation of the teachings of Jesus extracted from a copy of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

and bound in 1804; no copies are known to survive since the book was lost in 1858. *

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

's farewell address to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in 1805 has been lost, though the general outlines are known through contemporaneous comments. Most of Burr's letters and papers from prior to 1812 were subsequently lost in a shipwreck which resulted in Burr being one of the least understood of the "

Founding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colon ...

", especially given that his, in general, morally upstanding life is often overshadowed by his infamous duel with fellow Founding Father

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

, who was the less popular, and less liked, of the two. * The ''

Memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

'' of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, destroyed by his literary executors led by John Murray on 17 May 1824. The decision to destroy Byron's manuscript journals, which was opposed only by

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...

, was made in order to protect his reputation. The two volumes of memoirs were dismembered and burned in the fireplace at Murray's office. * ''The Scented Garden'' by Sir

Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...

, a manuscript of a new translation from Arabic of '' The Perfumed Garden'', was burned by his widow, Lady Isabel Burton ''née'' Arundel, along with other papers. * A large number of manuscripts and longer poems by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

were burned soon after his death by

Frederick Tatham Frederick Tatham (31 July 1805 – 29 July 1878) was an English artist who was a member of the ancients (art group), Shoreham Ancients, a group of followers of William Blake. The son of Charles Heathcote Tatham, an architect, Tatham and his br ...

. * Parts two and three of '' Dead Souls'' by

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

, burned by Gogol at the instigation of the priest Father Matthew Konstantinovskii. * At least four complete volumes and around seven pages of text are missing from

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's thirteen diaries, destroyed by his family for reasons frequently debated. * The son of the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

had all of de Sade's unpublished manuscripts burned after de Sade's death in 1814; this included the immense multi-volume work ''Les Journées de Florbelle''. * A large section of the manuscript for

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

's ''Lodore'' was lost in the mail to the publisher, and Shelley was forced to rewrite it. *

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...

burned all his early poetry on entering the priesthood. * In the '' Suspiria de Profundis'' of

Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; Thomas Penson Quincey; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821).Eaton, Horace Ainsworth, ''Thomas De Q ...

, 18 of 32 pieces have not survived. * Alexander Ivanovich Galich's completed manuscripts ''Universal Rights'' and ''Philosophy of Human History'' were destroyed in a fire, an event the grieved Galich did not long survive. *

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

's manuscript on the history of the 1849 Roman Republic was lost in the 1850 shipwreck in which Fuller herself, her husband and her child perished. In Fuller's own estimation, as well as of others who saw it, this work, based on her first-hand experience in Rome, might have been her most important work. * A schoolmate of

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

claimed that he lost a notebook of poems Rimbaud had written, dubbed the "Cahier Labarrière", which reportedly contained about 60 poems. If this were true, and if all were distinct from Rimbaud's known verse poems, these lost poems would equal the extant works in volume.

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

also mentioned a text called "'' La Chasse spirituelle''", claiming it to be Rimbaud's masterpiece. It was also never found; a

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

was published in 1949. * The first draft of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

's '' The French Revolution: A History'' was sent to

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

, whose maid mistakenly burned it, forcing Carlyle to rewrite it from scratch. *

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

's Book of Lehi from the

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

Golden Plates According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some acc ...

was either hidden, destroyed, or modified by Lucy Harris, the wife of transcriber Martin Harris. Whatever their fate, the pages were not returned to Joseph Smith and were declared "lost." Smith did not recreate the translation. * '' Isle of the Cross'',

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

's follow-up to the unsuccessful ''

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

'' was rejected by his publishers and has subsequently been lost. *

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

burned his first completed draft of ''

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is an 1886 Gothic horror novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between ...

'' after his wife criticized the work. Stevenson wrote and published a revised version. *

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

's Lost Speech, given on May 29, 1856, in

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...

. Traditionally regarded as lost because it was so engaging that reporters neglected to take notes, the speech is believed to have been an impassioned condemnation of

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. *

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

's theatre in Richburg, New York, burned to the ground. Among the manuscripts of Baum's original plays known to have been lost are ''The Mackrummins'', ''Matches'' (which was being performed the night of the fire), ''The Queen of Killarney'', ''Kilmourne, or O'Connor's Dream'', and the complete musical score for '' The Maid of Arran'', which survives only in commercial song sheets, which include six of the eight songs and no instrumental music. *

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

describes the loss of an unfinished play manuscript (a collaboration with Sokolovsky) in his ''My Life'', end of chapter 6 (sometime between 1896 and 1898). * ''

The Poor Man and the Lady ''The Poor Man and the Lady'' was the first novel written by Thomas Hardy. It was written in 1867 to 1868 and never published. After the manuscript had been rejected by at least five publishers, Hardy gave up his attempts to sell the novel in ...

''.

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

's first novel (1867) was never published. After rejection by several publishers, he destroyed the manuscript. *

George Gissing George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...

abandoned many novels and destroyed the incomplete manuscripts. He also completed at least three novels which went unpublished and have been lost. * During the many years of his career,

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

produced a vast number of pieces, of which a considerable part, especially in his earlier years, was published in obscure newspapers under a great variety of pen names, or not published at all. Joe Goodman, who had been Twain's editor when he worked at the

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, United States, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno, Nevada, Reno–Sparks, Nevada, Sparks Reno, NV Metropolitan ...

, "Territorial Enterprise", declared in 1900 that Twain wrote some of the best material of his life during his "Western years" in the late 1860s, but most of it was lost. In addition, many of Twain's speeches and lectures have been lost or were never written down. Researchers continue to seek this material, some of which was rediscovered as recently as 1995. * Although frequently referenced in the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

and traceable in several catalogues of libraries and booksellers, no copy of the 1852 book '' Meanderings of Memory'' by Nightlark could be tracked down. * The Reverend Francis Kilvert's diaries were edited and censored, possibly by his widow, after his death in 1879. In the 1930s, the surviving diaries were passed on to William Plomer, who transcribed them, before returning the originals to Kilvert's closest living relative, a niece, who destroyed most of the manuscripts. Plomer's own transcription was destroyed in the Blitz. He only learned of the originals' destruction when he planned to publish a complete edition in the 1950s. *

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

's ''Karelia Music'' was destroyed after its premiere in 1893. What survives today fully are the Karelia Overture and the

Karelia Suite ''Karelia Suite'', Op. 11 is a subset of pieces from the longer ''Karelia Music'' (named after the region of Karelia) written by Jean Sibelius in 1893 for the Viipuri Students' Association and premiered, with Sibelius conducting, at the Impe ...

. Most of the music was reconstructed in 1965 by Kalevi Kuosa, from the original parts that had survived. The parts that hadn't survived were those of the

violas The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

cellos The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, ...

, and

double basses The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions such as the octobass). It has ...

. Based on Kuosa's transcription, the Finnish composers Kalevi Aho and Jouni Kaipainen have individually reconstructed the complete music to Karelia Music. * The musical score to

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

’s 1871 opera

has been mostly lost with only 3 musical passages being known to survive. *

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

's ''Seven Tales of my Native Land'' was personally destroyed after being rejected by publishers. *

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

many of his early works have been lost. * Henri Duparc After 1890, his creative ability declined, and he destroyed his works, manuscripts, and correspondence. He died in 1933 at the age of 85.

20th century

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's play ''A Brilliant Career'' (which he burned) and the first half of his novel '' Stephen Hero''. His grandson

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

later burned Nora Barnacle's letters to James as well. * J. Meade Falkner left an almost complete fourth and last novel on a train and felt he was too old to start again. * A number of

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

's compositions have been lost, including his first opera, '' A Guest of Honor''. * John P. Marquand wrote an early novel called ''Yellow Ivory'' in collaboration with his friend W. A. Macdonald. * Various parts of Daniel Paul Schreber's ''"Memoirs of My Nervous Illness"'' (original German title ''"Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nervenkranken"'') (1903) were destroyed by his wife and a Doctor Flesching for protecting his reputation, which was mentioned by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

as highly important in his essay ''"The Schreber Case"'' (1911). *

wrote four novels for adults that were never published and disappeared: ''Our Married Life'' and ''Johnson'' (1912), ''The Mystery of Bonita'' (1914), and ''Molly Oodle'' (1915). Baum's son claimed that Baum's wife burned these, but this was after being cut out of her

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

. Evidence that Baum's publisher received these manuscripts survives. Also lost are Baum's 1904 short stories "Mr. Rumple's Chill" and "Bess of the Movies", as well as his early plays ''Kilmourne, or O'Connor's Dream'' (opened April 4, 1883) and ''The Queen of

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

'' (1883). * In 1907,

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

destroyed a play, ''The Bleeding Hand'', immediately after writing it. He was in a bad mood at the time and commented in a letter that the piece was unusually harsh, even for him. * "Text I" of ''

Seven Pillars of Wisdom ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") while serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empi ...

'', a 250,000-word manuscript by

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...

lost at

Reading railway station Reading railway station is a major transport hub in the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading in Berkshire, England, it is west of . It is sited on the northern edge of the town centre, near to the main retail and commercial areas and the River ...

in December 1919. * In 1922, a suitcase with almost all of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's work to date was stolen from a train compartment at the

Gare de Lyon The Gare de Lyon, officially Paris Gare de Lyon (), is one of the seven large mainline railway stations in Paris, France. It handles about 148.1 million passengers annually according to the estimates of the SNCF in 2018, with SNCF railways and ...

in Paris, from his current wife. It included a partial

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

novel. * The novels ''Tobold'' and ''Theodor'' by Robert Walser are lost, possibly destroyed by the author, as is a third, unnamed novel. (1910–1921) *

burned his unfinished 8th Symphony and several of his unfinished works in the 1920s. * The original version of ''Ultramarine'' by

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list.

was stolen from his publisher's car in 1932, and the author had to reconstruct it. *

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

's last lover,

Dora Diamant Dora Diamant (Dwojra Diament, also Dymant) ( – 1952) is best remembered as the lover of the writer Franz Kafka and the person who kept some of his last writings in her possession until they were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933. This rete ...

, ignored his wishes to have his works destroyed posthumously. Instead she kept some 20 notebooks and 35–36 letters. The

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in 1933 seized all papers in her home, including these notebooks and letters, in their search to find

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

propaganda. Only three of these letters have been discovered since. Furthermore, when

, Kafka's literary executor who similarly ignored his wishes, died in 1968, he left Kafka's papers to his secretary, who left them to her daughters. The papers then passed into the ownership of the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

in 2016. After a lengthy legal dispute between the library and the daughters, many of these papers have yet to be published. * Paramahansa Yogananda's ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' quotes extensively from his student's C. Richard Wright's travel diaries in 1935/6. Following Wright's death they became lost. * In 1938

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

wrote ''Socialism and War'', an "anti-war pamphlet" for which he could not find a publisher. Although many previously unknown letters and other documents relating to Orwell have been discovered in recent years, no trace of this pamphlet has yet come to light. With the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Orwell's views on

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

were to change radically, so he may well have destroyed the manuscript. * Lost papers and a possible unfinished novel by

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

, confiscated by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

, May 1939. * Manuscript of '' Efebos'', a novel by

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

, destroyed in bombing of Warsaw, 1939. * Five volumes of poetry and a drama, all in manuscript, by "

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the ev ...

"—actually the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

of French

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

Alexis Léger—were destroyed at his house outside Paris in the summer of 1940. Perse was a well-known and uncompromising anti-Nazi and his house was raided by German troops. The works had been written during his diplomat years, but "Perse" had decided not to publish any new writing until he had retired from diplomacy. The real Léger went into exile following the

Fall of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Net ...

. *

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

had a completed manuscript in his suitcase when was arrested by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

while attempting to flee France for neutral

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the summer of 1940. Benjamin committed suicide in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

village

Portbou Portbou () is a town in the Alt Empordà county, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of people (). Portbou is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off point f ...

, Spain on September 26, 1940, and the suitcase and its contents disappeared. * There are reports that

Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish writer, fine artist, Literary criticism, literary critic and Art education, art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great Polish (language), Po ...

worked on a novel called ''The Messiah'', but no trace of this manuscript survived his death (1942). * The diary of

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

victim

Margot Frank Margot Betti Frank (16 February 1926 – ) was the elder daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank and the elder sister of Anne Frank. Margot's deportation order from the Gestapo hastened the Frank family into hiding. According to the diary of her ...

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

's older sister, was never found (1944). Of The Diary of Anne Frank, the original volume or volumes covering the period between December 1942 and December 1943 was never found, and assumed to have been taken by the Nazis who raided the hiding place. This period is only known from the version Anne rewrote for preservation, which is known to have been in many ways different from her original. * The novel '' In Ballast to the White Sea'' by

, lost in a fire in 1945. * The novel ''Wanderers of Night'' and poems of

Daniil Andreev Daniil Leonidovich Andreyev ( rus, Дании́л Леони́дович Андре́ев, p=dənʲɪˈil lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ ɐnˈdrʲejɪf, a=Daniil Lyeonidovich Andryeyev.ru.vorb.oga; 2 November 1906, Berlin – 30 March 1959, Moscow) was ...

were destroyed in 1947 as "anti-Soviet literature" by the MGB. * Some pages of

William Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and ...

's original version of ''

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (first published as ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. The novel does not follow a clear linear plot, but is instead structured as a series of non-chronological "routines". Many of thes ...

'' were stolen. * Three early, unpublished novels by Philip K. Dick written in the 1950s are no longer extant: '' A Time for George Stavros'', '' Pilgrim on the Hill'', and '' Nicholas and the Higs''. * In 1958, while working on the last chapter, William H. Gass's novel '' Omensetter's Luck'' was stolen off of his desk, forcing him to begin from scratch. * The manuscript for

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

's unfinished second novel, provisionally titled ''Double Exposure'', or ''Double Take'', written 1962–63, disappeared some time before 1970. * Venedikt Yerofeyev's novel '' Dmitry Shostakovich'' was in a bag with two bottles of

fortified wine Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Command ...

that was stolen from him in a

commuter train Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

in 1972. * Several pages of the original screenplay for

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusu ...

's '' Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'' were reportedly thrown out of the window of a bus after one of his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teammates vomited on them. * The screenplay for the proposed

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he appeared in '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), '' ...

–Herb Berman film ''After the Gold Rush'' is reportedly lost. * ''Diaries'' of

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...

– burned at his request after his death on 2 December 1985. Other private papers were kept, contrary to his instructions. * The fourth novel of

Sasha Sokolov Sasha Sokolov (; born November 6, 1943, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a writer of Russian literature. He became known worldwide in the 1970s after his first novel, ''A School for Fools,'' was published in translation by Ardis Publishers (Ann Ar ...

have been lost when the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

house where it was written burned down in the second half the 1980s. *

Jacob M. Appel Jacob M. Appel (born February 21, 1973) is an American polymath, author, bioethicist, physician, lawyer, and social critic.Nagamatsu, Sequoia "A Few Words with the Ubiquitous Jacob M. Appel" ''Prince Mincer'' Journal http://primemincer.com/ con ...

's first novel manuscript, ''Paste and Cover'', was in the trunk of an automobile that was stolen in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, in 1998. The vehicle was recovered, but the manuscript was not.

21st century

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

's unfinished works were destroyed in 2017 after his death, fulfilling his last will; his computer

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

containing his unfinished works was deliberately crushed by a

steamroller A steamroller (or steam roller) is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for leveling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine. The leveling/flattening action is achieved through ...

Lost literary collections

* Chinese emperor

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

(3rd century BCE) had most previously existing books burned when he consolidated his power. See

Burning of books and burying of scholars The burning of books and burying of scholars was the purported Book burning, burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE ordered by Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. The events were alleged to have destroye ...

. * The

Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...

, the largest library in existence during antiquity, was destroyed at some point in time between the Roman and Muslim conquests of Alexandria. * Aztec emperor

(ruled 1427/8–1440) ordered the burning of all historical

in an effort to develop a state-sanctioned Aztec history and mythology. * During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, many monastic libraries were destroyed. Worcester Abbey had 600 books at the time of the dissolution. Only six of them have survived intact to the present day. At the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

of the

Augustinian Friars The Order of Saint Augustine (), abbreviated OSA, is a mendicant religious order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, a library of 646 volumes was destroyed, leaving only three surviving books. Some books were destroyed for their precious bindings, others were sold off by the cartload, including irreplaceable early English works. It is believed that many of the earliest

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

manuscripts were lost at this time. :: "A great nombre of them whych purchased those supertycyous mansyons, resrved of those lybrarye bokes, some to serve theyr jakes .e., as toilet paper">toilet_paper.html" ;"title=".e., as toilet paper">.e., as toilet paper some to scoure candelstyckes, and some to rubbe their bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and soapsellers ..." — John Bale, 1549 * Many works of Anglo-Saxon literature, mostly unique and unpublished, were burned when a fire broke out in the Cotton library at Ashburnham House on 23 October 1731. However, the only surviving manuscript of ''

'' survived the fire and was printed for the first time in 1815. * In 1193, the

Nalanda Nalanda (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) was a renowned Buddhism, Buddhist ''mahavihara'' (great monastery) in medieval Magadha (Mahajanapada), Magadha (modern-day Bihar), eastern India. Widely considered to be am ...

University was sacked by

Bakhtiyar Khilji Ikhtiyār al-Dīn Muḥammad Bin Bakhtiyār Khaljī, also known as Bakhtiyar Khalji, was a Turko-Afghan Military General of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor, who led the Muslim conquests of the eastern Indian regions of Bengal and parts of Bi ...

. The burning of the library continued for several months and "smoke from the burning manuscripts hung for days like a dark pall over the low hills." * The Siege of Baghdad (1258), sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols. * At least 27

were ceremonially destroyed by Diego de Landa (1524–1579), bishop of Yucatán (state), Yucatán, on 12 July 1562. * The library of the Hanlin Academy, containing irreplaceable ancient Chinese manuscripts, was mostly destroyed in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. * The Sikh Reference Library in Amritsar, a collection of rare books, newspapers, manuscripts, and other literary works related to Sikhism and India, was looted and incinerated by Indian troops during the 1984 Operation Blue Star. The missing literature has not been recovered to this day and is presumed to be lost. The library hosted a vast collection of an estimated 20,000 literary works just before the destruction, including 11,107 books, 2,500 manuscripts, newspaper archives, historical letters, documents/files, and others. * During the 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, sections of the National Archives in Sarajevo were set on fire. Large numbers of historical documents were lost, many of them dating from the 1878–1918 Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the interwar period, and the 1941–1945 rule of the Independent State of Croatia. About 15,000 files from the 1996–2003 Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina were also destroyed.

Rediscovered works

* ''The 120 Days of Sodom'', written by the

in the Bastille prison in 1785, was considered lost by its author (and was much lamented by him) after the Storming of the Bastille, storming and looting of 1789. It was rediscovered in the walls of his cell and published in 1904. * ''Lesbian Love'', by Eva Kotchever, had only 150 copies published "for private circulation only" in 1925. Historian Jonathan Ned Katz searched and found the only known copy, owned by Nina Alvarez, who had found the book in the lobby of her apartment building in 1998 in Albany, New York. Records show that another copy was held in the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, but it has not been located. * The Gospel of Judas, a fragmentary Coptic language, Coptic

rediscovered and translated, 2006. * Henri Poincaré's prize-winning submission for the 1889 celestial mechanics contest of king Oscar II was thought to be lost. While this version was being printed, Poincaré himself discovered a serious error. The existing version was recalled and then replaced by a heavily modified and corrected version, now regarded as the seminal description of chaos theory. The original erroneous submission was thought to be lost, but it was found in 2011. * W. A. Mozart and Antonio Salieri are known to have composed together a cantata for voice and piano called ''Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia'' which was celebrating the return to stage of the singer Nancy Storace, and which has been lost, although it had been printed by Artaria in 1785. The music had been considered lost until November 2015, when German musicologist and composer Timo Jouko Herrmann identified the score while searching for music by one of Salieri's ostensible pupils, Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, in the archives of the Czech Museum of Music in Prague.Muller, R., and Kahn, M.
"Czech musician performs long-lost Mozart score for first time"
Reuters, Feb. 16, 2016. * ''The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, A Tale of Kitty in Boots'' by Beatrix Potter, the handwritten manuscripts for this story were found in school notebooks, including a few illustrations. She intended to finish the book, but was interrupted by wars and marriage and farming. It was found nearly 100 years later and published for the first time in September 2016.

In popular culture

* Umberto Eco's ''The Name of the Rose'' features a murder mystery whose solution hinges on the contents of Aristotle's Poetics (Aristotle), lost second book of ''Poetics'' (dealing with comedy). * Dan Brown's ''The Da Vinci Code'' builds its central theme around a fictional account of the apocryphal and partially lost Gnostic Gospels. * Joe Haldeman's science fiction novel ''The Hemingway Hoax'' centers on a suitcase with writings by

which was stolen in 1922 at the

in Paris. * "The Shakespeare Code" is a Doctor Who (series 3), ''Doctor Who'' episode that explains the fate of ''

''. * ''The Mysteries of Harris Burdick'' is presented as a series of images ostensibly created by one Harris Burdick, who had intended to use them for his children's books before he mysteriously disappeared. Each image is accompanied by a title and a single line of text, which encourage readers to create their own stories. * H. P. Lovecraft wrote that all the original Arabic copies of ''Necronomicon, The Necronomicon'' (''Al Azif'') have been destroyed, as well as the Arabic to Greek translations. Only five Greek to Latin translations are held by libraries, though copies may exist in private collections.

References

External links

List of Lost Literature
article category section on The Lost Media Wiki * :hu:Dokumentumpusztulások Magyarországon, Document destruction in Hungary
We have lost 90 per cent of the original copies of Medieval literature

Longing for Great Lost Works

Lost Works of W.A. Mozart

Fragmentary Tragedies of Sophocles Project

Hi-tech imaging could reveal lost texts

{{Authority control Lost literature, Literature lists Literary works

Antiquity (to 500 CE)

Specific titles

Unnamed works

Amerindian texts and codices

Ancient Chinese texts

Ancient Japanese texts

Ancient Indian texts

Ancient Egyptian texts

Avestan texts

Gnostic texts

Pahlavi / Middle-Persian texts

Manichaean texts

Lost Biblical texts

Lost texts referenced in the Old Testament

Lost works referenced in Deutero-canonical texts

Lost works referenced in the New Testament

Lost works pertaining to Jesus

2nd century

3rd century

4th century

5th century

Middle Ages (500–1500)

6th century

7th century

8th century

Anglo-Saxon works

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

Modern age (1500–present)

16th century

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

Lost literary collections

Rediscovered works

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links