Submitted by breathingrock
on Tue, 04/05/2016 - 16:08
Before I die, I want to read every surviving text from the earliest we have, to, oh, about 500 years ago. After that I'm probably going to have to get selective.
Here's the list of what I've compiled from wikipedia (which I'll add to with more research):
- Early Bronze Age: 3rd millennium BC (approximate dates shown)
- 2600 Sumerian texts from Abu Salabikh, including the Instructions of Shuruppak and the Kesh temple hymn
- 2400 Egyptian Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn
- 2400 Sumerian Code of Urukagina[2]
- 2400 Egyptian Palermo stone
- 2350 Egyptian The Maxims of Ptahhotep
- 2270 Sumerian Enheduanna's Hymns
- 2250-2000 Sumerian Earliest stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh[3][4]
- 2100 Sumerian Curse of Agade
- 2100 Sumerian Debate between Bird and Fish
- 2050 Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu
- 2000 Egyptian Coffin Texts
- 2000 Sumerian Lament for Ur
- 2000 Sumerian Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
- Middle Bronze Age: ca. 2000 to 1600 BC (approximate dates shown)
- 1950 Akkadian Laws of Eshnunna
- 1900 Akkadian Legend of Etana[5]
- 1900 Sumerian Code of Lipit-Ishtar
- 1900 Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
- 1850 Akkadian Kultepe texts
- 1800 Egyptian Story of Sinuhe (in Hieratic)
- 1800 Sumerian Eridu Genesis
- 1800 Akkadian Enûma Eliš
- 1800 Akkadian Atra-Hasis epic
- 1780 Akkadian Code of Hammurabi stele
- 1780 Akkadian Mari letters, including the Epic of Zimri-Lim
- 1750 Hittite Anitta text
- 1700 Egyptian Westcar Papyrus
- 1650 Egyptian Ipuwer Papyrus
- Late Bronze Age: ca. 1600 to 1200 BC (approximate dates shown)
- 1700-1100 Vedic Sanskrit: approximate date of the composition of the Rigveda. Many of these were not set to writing until later.[6]
- 1600 Hittite Code of the Nesilim
- 1500 Akkadian Poor Man of Nippur[7]
- 1500 Hittite military oath
- 1550 Egyptian Book of the Dead
- 1500 Akkadian Dynasty of Dunnum[8]
- 1400 Akkadian Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal
- 1400 Akkadian Autobiography of Kurigalzu
- 1400 Akkadian Amarna letters
- 1330 Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten
- 1240 Egyptian Papyrus of Ani, Book of the Dead
- 1200-900 Akkadian version and younger stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh[3]
- 1200 Akkadian Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
- 1200 Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers[9]
- Iron Age texts predating Classical Antiquity: 12th to 8th centuries BC
- 1200-1100 BC approximate date of books RV 1 and RV 10 in the Rigveda
- 1200-800 BC approximate date of the Vedic Sanskrit Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, Samaveda
- 1100-800 BC date of the redaction of the extant text of the Rigveda
- 1050 BC Egyptian Story of Wenamun
- 1050 BC Akkadian Sakikkū (SA.GIG) “Diagnostic Omens” by Esagil-kin-apli.[10]
- 1050 BC The Babylonian Theodicy of Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib.[10]
- 1000-600 BC Chinese Classic of Poetry (Shījīng), Classic of Documents (Shūjīng) (authentic portions), Classic of Changes (I Ching)
- 950 BC date of the Jahwist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis
- 900 BC Akkadian Epic of Erra
- 850 BC date of the Elohist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis
- Classical Antiquity
-
8th century BC
- Greek Trojan War cycle, including the Iliad and the Odyssey
- 800-500 BC: Vedic Sanskrit Brahmanas
- Oldest non-Pentateuchal books of the Hebrew Bible (the Book of Nahum, Book of Hosea, Book of Amos, Book of Isaiah) see Carbon dating the Dead Sea Scrolls
-
7th century BC
-
6th century BC
- Hebrew Bible: Psalms[citation needed] (according to late dating) Book of Ezekiel, Book of Daniel (according to conservative or early dating)
- Chinese: Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ)
- Vedic Sanskrit:
- Greek:
-
5th century BC
- Vedic Sanskrit:
- Avestan: Yasht
- Chinese:
- Spring and Autumn Annals (Chūnqiū) (722–481 BC, chronicles of the state of Lu)
- Confucius: Analects (Lúnyǔ)
- Classic of Rites (Lǐjì)
- Commentaries of Zuo (Zuǒzhuàn)
- Greek:
- Pindar: Odes
- Herodotus: The Histories of Herodotus
- Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
- Aeschylus: The Suppliants, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Oresteia
- Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra and other plays
- Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, Heracleidae, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, The Suppliants, Electra, Heracles, Trojan Women, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes, Bacchae, Iphigeneia at Aulis, Cyclops, Rhesus
- Aristophanes: The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace, The Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae, The Frogs, Ecclesiazousae, Plutus
- Hebrew: date of the extant text of the Torah
-
4th century BC
- Sanskrit
- Hebrew: Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature
- Hebrew Torah, also called the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses[11][12][13][14][15] with a final redaction between 900-450 BC.[16][17] Some give an alternate date of 1320-1280.[18]
- Chinese:
- Laozi (or Lao Tzu): Tao Te Ching
- Zhuangzi: Zhuangzi (book)
- Mencius: Mencius
- Greek:
-
3rd century BC
- Avestan: Avesta
- Etruscan: Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb)
- Sanskrit:
- Epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana (3th century BC to 4th century AD)
- Khaḍgaviṣāna Sūkta (Buddhist)
- Aṣṭaka Varga (Buddhist)
- Pārāyana Varga (Buddhist)
- Tamil:
- 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD: Sangam poems
- Tolkāppiyam (grammar book)
- Hebrew: Ecclesiastes
- Greek:
- Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica
- Callimachus (310/305-240 B.C.), lyric poet
- Manetho: Aegyptiaca
- Theocritus, lyric poet
- Latin:
- Lucius Livius Andronicus (c. 280/260 BC — c. 200 BC), translator, founder of Roman drama
- Gnaeus Naevius (ca. 264 — 201 BC), dramatist, epic poet
- Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 — 184 BC), dramatist, composer of comedies: Poenulus, Miles Gloriosus, and other plays
- Quintus Fabius Pictor (3rd century BC), historian
- Lucius Cincius Alimentus (3rd century BC), military historian and antiquarian
-
2nd century BC
- Avestan: Vendidad
- Chinese: Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian (Shǐjì)
- Aramaic: Book of Daniel
- Hebrew: Sirach
- Greek
- Latin:
- Terence (195/185 BC — 159 BC), comic dramatist: The Brothers, The Girl from Andros, Eunuchus, The Self-Tormentor
- Quintus Ennius (239 BC — c. 169 BC), poet
- Marcus Pacuvius (ca. 220 BC — 130 BC), tragic dramatist, poet
- Statius Caecilius (220 BC — 168/166 BC), comic dramatist
- Marcius Porcius Cato (234 BC — 149 BC), generalist, topical writer
- Gaius Acilius (2nd century BC), historian
- Lucius Accius (170 BC — c. 86 BC), tragic dramatist, philologist
- Gaius Lucilius (c. 160's BC — 103/2 BC), satirist
- Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd century BC), public officer, epigramatist
- Aulus Furius Antias (2nd century BC), poet
- Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (130 BC — 87 BC), public officer, tragic dramatist
- Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis (2nd century BC), comic dramatist, satirist
- Lucius Cassius Hemina (2nd century BC), historian
- Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (2nd century BC), historian
- Manius Manilius (2nd century BC), public officer, jurist
- Lucius Coelius Antipater (2nd century BC), jurist, historian
- Publius Sempronius Asellio (158 BC — after 91 BC), military officer, historian
- Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (2nd century BC), jurist
- Lucius Afranius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), comic dramatist
- Titus Albucius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), orator
- Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BC — after 78 BC), jurist
- Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd & 1st centuries BC), public officer, poet
- Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus (154 BC — 74 BC), philologist
- Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), historian
- Valerius Antias (2nd & 1st centuries BC), historian
- Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (121 BC — 67 BC), soldier, historian
- Quintus Cornificius (2nd & 1st centuries BC), rhetorician
-
1st century BC
- Pali: Tipitaka
- Latin:
- Cicero: Catiline Orations, Pro Caelio, Dream of Scipio
- Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars
- Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid
- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
- Livy: Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome)
- Chinese: Ban Gu: Book of Han (Hànshū)
- Greek:
- Latin: see Classical Latin
- Sanskrit: Aśvaghoṣa: Buddhacharita (Acts of the Buddha)
- Pahlavi:
- Yadegar-e Zariran (Memorial of Zarēr)
- Visperad
- Drakht-i Asurig (The Babylonian Tree)
- Greek:
- Latin: see Classical Latin
- Apuleius: The Golden Ass
- Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis
- Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars
- Avestan: Khordeh Avesta (Zoroastrian prayer book)
- Pahlavi: Mani: Shabuhragan (Manichaean holy book)
- Chinese: Chen Shou: Records of Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Zhì)
- Greek: Plotinus: Enneads
- Latin: see Late Latin
- Hebrew: Mishnah
- 3rd century 2nd century See also: Pahlavi literature, centuries in poetry: 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st century AD
-
- Late Antiquity
- 4th century
- Latin: see Late Latin
- Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, On Christian Doctrine
- Apicius (De re coquinaria, "On the Subject of Cooking")
- Pervigilium Veneris ("Vigil of Venus")
- Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian
- Hebrew: Gemara
- Latin: see Late Latin
- 5th century
- Chinese:
- Bao Zhao: Fu on the Ruined City (蕪城賦, Wú chéng fù)
- Fan Ye: Book of the Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhànshū)
- Sanskrit: Kālidāsa (speculated): Abhijñānaśākuntalam (अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्, "The Recognition of Shakuntala"), Meghadūta (मेघदूत, "Cloud Messenger"), Vikramōrvaśīyam (विक्रमोर्वशीयम्, "Urvashi Won by Valour", play)
- Pahlavi:
- Matigan-i Hazar Datistan (The Thousand Laws of the Magistan)
- Frahang-i Oim-evak (Pahlavi-Avestan dictionary)
- Latin: see Late Latin
- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus: De Re Militari
- Augustine of Hippo: The City of God
- Paulus Orosius: Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
- Jerome: Vulgate
- Prudentius: Psychomachia
- Consentius's grammar
- Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: De Coelesti Hierarchia (Περὶ τῆς Οὐρανίας Ἱεραρχίας, "On the Celestial Hierarchy"), Mystical Theology
- Socrates of Constantinople: Historia Ecclesiastica
- Chinese:
- 6th Century
- Latin: Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae ("The Consolation of Philosophy", 524 AD), widely considered to be the last work of classical philosophy[19][20]
- 4th century
Bold indicates texts I haven't read yet, or don't remember reading. Italicized indicates that I've read most of it, but not the entire thing.
TODO: A list of the books I recommend if you're interested in reading any of the above.