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Ancient literature that comprises religious & scientific documents/books, tales, poetry & plays, royal edicts/declarations, and other forms of writing were primarily recorded on stone, stone tablets, papyri, palm leaves, metal and other media. Before the spread of writing, oral literature did not always survive well, though some texts and fragments have persisted. One can conclude that an unknown number of written works too have likely not survived the ravages of time and are therefore lost.

Early Bronze Age

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The literature of the Early Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East: The Old Kingdom of Egypt and The Akkadian Empire

Cursive hieratic handwriting in black ink with inks of various colors used to paint pictures of men and anthropomorphic deities traveling through the afterlife in vignette scenes covering the central portion of the document as well as the top right
This vignette scene from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer (Nineteenth dynasty) shows his heart being weighed against the feather of truth. If his heart is lighter than the feather, he is allowed into the afterlife; if not, his heart is swallowed by Ammit.

Writing in ancient Egypt—both hieroglyphic and hieratic—first appeared in the late 4th millennium BC during the late phase of predynastic Egypt. By the Old Kingdom (26th century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included funerary texts, epistles and letters, hymns and poems, and commemorative autobiographical texts recounting the careers of prominent administrative officials.

Surviving hymns and songs from the Old Kingdom include the morning greeting hymns to the gods in their respective temples.[1] Funerary poems were thought to preserve a monarch's soul in death. The Pyramid Texts are the earliest surviving religious literature incorporating poetic verse.[2] The Pyramid Texts are chiefly concerned with the function of preserving and nurturing the soul of the sovereign in the afterlife.[2] A variety of textual traditions evolved from the original Pyramid Texts: the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom,[3] the so-called Book of the Dead, Litany of Ra, and Amduat written on papyri from the New Kingdom until the end of ancient Egyptian civilization.[4]

Events

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New Works

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21st to 16th century BC

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The literature of the Middle Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East:The Middle Kingdom of Egypt,The Third Dynasty of Ur, The Isin-Larsa Period, and the First Babylonian Empire

Ancient Egypt

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An anthropomorphic bird with a human head in ancient Egyptian style, colored in green, yellow, white, red, brown, and black
The ba in bird form, one component of the Egyptian soul that is discussed in the Middle Kingdom discourse Dispute between a man and his Ba

It was not until the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created[6], as a result of the rise of an intellectual class of scribes, who had new cultural sensibilities about individuality, unprecedented levels of literacy, and mainstream access to written materials.[7] The "instructions" or "teaching" genre, as well as the genre of "reflective discourses", can be grouped in the larger corpus of wisdom literature found in the ancient Near East.[8] The genre is didactic in nature and is thought to have formed part of the Middle Kingdom scribal education syllabus.[9] The genre of "prophetic texts", also known as "laments", "discourses", "dialogues", and "apocalyptic literature",[10] connect themes include a pessimistic outlook, descriptions of social and religious change, and great disorder throughout the land, taking the form of a syntactic "then-now" verse formula.[11] Tomb biographies also became more detailed, and included information about the deceased person's family.[12]

The educational text Book of Kemit, dated to the Eleventh dynasty, contains a list of epistolary greetings and a narrative with an ending in letter form and suitable terminology for use in commemorative biographies.[13] Other letters of the early Middle Kingdom have also been found to use epistolary formulas similar to the Book of Kemit.[14] The Heqanakht papyri, written by a gentleman farmer, date to the Eleventh dynasty and represent some of the lengthiest private letters known to have been written in ancient Egypt.[15] During the late Middle Kingdom, greater standardization of the epistolary formula can be seen, for example in a series of model letters taken from dispatches sent to the Semna fortress of Nubia during the reign of Amenemhat III (r. 1860–1814 BC).[16]

A cycle of Middle-Kingdom songs dedicated to Senusret III (r. 1878–1839 BC) have been discovered at El-Lahun.[17] The Harper's Song, the lyrics found on a tombstone of the Middle Kingdom and on Papyrus Harris 500 from the New Kingdom, was to be performed for dinner guests at formal banquets.[18]


See also: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature and Chronology of the Ancient Near East

The majority of Sumerian literature that we have has been recovered from clay tablets. These compositions were likely transmitted orally as well as a scribal one - many of these compositions would have been known by many of the illiterate majority of the Sumerian civilization. Although most of the literary works that refer to an identifiable historical event or king refer to events from the 23rd to 19th century BC, almost all of the tablets we have are from the 18th century BC or later, which makes dating any particular composition difficult.[19]

According to the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature[21] the literature of Ancient Sumer can be divided by type: Literary catalogs, Narrative and Mythological Compositions, Historical Compositions, Epic Poems and Myths, Letters, Hymns, Heterogeneous compositions including Dialogues and Debates, and Proverbs.

Hymns

Heterogenous Literature


New Works

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16th to 11th century BC

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The Literature of the Late Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East, and of the Early Vedic Period in India

Ancient Egypt

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New Kingdom of Egypt Middle Egyptian, the spoken language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical language during the New Kingdom (16th century BC to 11th century BC), when the vernacular language known as Late Egyptian first appeared in writing. Some genres of Middle Kingdom literature, such as "teachings" and fictional tales, remained popular in the New Kingdom. Scribes of the New Kingdom canonized and copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian, which remained the language used for oral readings of sacred hieroglyphic texts. New stories were also written, such as the the Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre, The Taking of Joppa, Tale of the doomed prince, Tale of Two Brothers, and the Report of Wenamun.[23]

Epistles were also written during all three dynasties of the New Kingdom.[24] While letters to the dead had been written since the Old Kingdom, the writing of petition letters in epistolary form to deities began in the Ramesside Period, becoming very popular during the Persian and Ptolemaic periods.[25] The epistolary Satirical Letter of Papyrus Anastasi I written during the Nineteenth dynasty was a pedagogical and didactic text[26] that employs sarcasm and irony.[27] to enhance the teaching.

Poems were also written to celebrate kingship. For example, at the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC) of the Eighteenth dynasty erected a stela commemorating his military victories in which the gods bless Thutmose in poetic verse and ensure for him victories over his enemies.[28] Modern historians consider that some biographical—or autobiographical—texts are important historical documents.[29] For example, the biographical stelas of military generals in tomb chapels built under Thutmose III provide much of the information known about the wars in Syria and Palestine.[30] However, the annals of Thutmose III, carved into the walls of several monuments built during his reign, such as those at Karnak, also preserve information about these campaigns.[31] The annals of Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC), recounting the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites include, for the first time in Egyptian literature, a narrative epic poem, distinguished from all earlier poetry, which served to celebrate and instruct.[32] [33] Besides the glorification of kings,[34] poems were written to honor various deities, and even the Nile.[35] The vast majority of autobiographical texts are dedicated to scribal bureaucrats, but during the New Kingdom some were dedicated to military officers and soldiers.

Assyria

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Hittite

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Ugaritic

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See also: Ugaritic texts
The Baal Cycle, the most famous of the Ugaritic texts,[36] displayed in the Louvre

On excavation of the city of Ugarit at Ras Shamra, Syria, several deposits of cuneiform clay tablets were found; all dating from the last phase of Ugarit, around 1200 BCE. Approximately 1,500 texts and fragments have been found to date, all of which have been dated to the 13th and 12th centuries BCE. The most famous of the Ugarit texts are the approximately fifty epic poems.[37] The most important literary document recovered from Ugarit is arguably the Baal Cycle, describing the basis for the religion and cult of the Canaanite Baal; the two other particularly well known texts are the Legend of Keret and the Tale of Aqhat.[38]

The tablets have been used by scholars of the Hebrew Bible to clarify Biblical Hebrew texts and have revealed ways in which the cultures of ancient Israel and Judah found parallels in the neighboring cultures.[39] The tablets reveal parallels with Israelite practices described in the Bible; for example, Levirate marriage, giving the eldest son a larger share of the inheritance, and redemption of the first-born son were practices common to the people of Ugarit as well.[40]

India

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11th to 8th century BC

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  • c.1200-1000 BC: The Rig Veda reaches it's final form some time around these centuries, based on archaeological estimates and the beginnings of the Iron age in India[43]. The earliest poems of Mandala II-Mandala VII may date as far back as five or six generations before the final poems in Mandala X
  • 1043 BCE - the earliest genuine portions of the Book of Documents, the five Zhou Pronouncements

New Works

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8th to 5th century BC

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The Eighth to Fifth Centuries BC in correspond to: the archaic and beginnings of the classical period in Greece, the Spring and Autumn period in China, the pre-buddhist vedic religion and foundations of buddhism and jainism in India, and the monarchic, exilic, and early persian period in Ancient Judea.


People

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Events

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New Works

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5th century BCE

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People

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Events

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New Works

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Births

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Deaths

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4th century BCE

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Events

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  • 399 BCE: Socrates is found guilty of impiety and executed in Athens.
  • 387 BCE: Plato founds the [[Platonic Academy|Academy], in Athens.


New Works

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Confucius:


Mencius

Births

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Deaths

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c.318 BCE: Demades, an athenian orator and rival of Demosthenes

3rd century BCE

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Ancient Rome

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Ancient Greece

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Stories from the 1st millennium BC written in Demotic include the story of the Famine Stela (set in the Old Kingdom, although written during the Ptolemaic dynasty) and short story cycles of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods that transform well-known historical figures such as Khaemweset (Nineteenth Dynasty) and Inaros (First Persian Period) into fictional, legendary heroes.[44] Autobiographical texts of the Late Period place a greater stress upon seeking help from deities than acting righteously to succeed in life.[45] Whereas earlier autobiographical texts exclusively dealt with celebrating successful lives, Late Period autobiographical texts include laments for premature death, similar to the epitaphs of ancient Greece.[46]

Egyptian prophetic literature also underwent a revival during the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and Roman period of Egypt with works such as the Demotic Chronicle, Oracle of the Lamb, Oracle of the Potter, and two prophetic texts that focus on Nectanebo II (r. 360–343 BC) as a protagonist.[47] Along with "teaching" texts, these reflective discourses (key word mdt) are grouped with the wisdom literature category of the ancient Near East.[8]

Works

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Births and Deaths

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Poetry

China

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2nd century BCE

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Births

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Deaths

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New Works

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1st century BCE

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Births

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Deaths

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New Works

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1st century CE

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China

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Roman Empire

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2nd century

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New Works

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3rd century

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Roman Empire

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Persia

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4th century

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Roman Empire

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Theon of Alexandria, Hypatia

Diophantus of Alexandria,

China

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5th century

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6th century

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7th century

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8th century

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Events

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New Works

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9th century

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DUMP

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This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of literature during the 6th through 9th Centuries.

The list is chronological, and does not include epigraphy or poetry. For poetry, see: 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th century in poetry. For early epigraphy, see List of languages by first written accounts.

During this period, a number of classical languages inherited from earlier epochs remain in active use (Chinese, Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Persian, Hebrew). The same period also sees the rise of newly written vernaculars, partly replacing earlier literary languages (e.g. Old Hindi, Old French, Arabic, Germanic, Celtic, Turkic, etc.).

The bulk of literature in Classical Sanskrit dates to the Early Medieval period, but in most cases cannot be dated to a specific century.

The vocalized Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible developed during the 7th to 10th centuries.

The Old English Beowulf is dated to anywhere between the 8th and early 11th centuries.


Indian Languages

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See also: Sanskrit literature

Vedas

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Epics

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Theravada/Pali Works

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Jain works

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Tamil Works

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Mahayana Sutras

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Hindu Sutras

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Shastras

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Puranas

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Drama

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Other

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  • Sinhalese:


Sangam poems



    • Nirukta (technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of Sanskrit words)
    • Pratishakhyas











See also

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References

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  1. ^ Erman 2005, p. 10.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference forman quirke 48 51 simpson 4 5 269 erman 1 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 65–109.
  4. ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 109–165.
  5. ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6; see also Foster 2001, p. xv.
  6. ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz 2003, p. 102; see also Simpson 1972, pp. 3–6 and Erman 2005, pp. xxiv–xxv.
  7. ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 64–66.
  8. ^ a b Parkinson 2002, p. 110.
  9. ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 159–200, 241–268.
  10. ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 6–7; Parkinson 2002, pp. 110, 193; for "apocalyptic" designation, see Gozzoli 2006, p. 283.
  11. ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 7–8;Parkinson 2002, pp. 110–111.
  12. ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6.
  13. ^ Wente 1990, p. 15.
  14. ^ Wente 1990, p. 55.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference wente 1990 54 55 58 63 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Wente 1990, p. 68.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference simpson 279 erman 134 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Simpson 1972, p. 297; Erman 2005, pp. 132–133.
  19. ^ Jeremy Black; Graham Cunningham; Eleanor Robson; Gábor Zólyomi (2006). The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199296330.
  20. ^ Black et. al pp315-316
  21. ^ Cunningham, Graham (2005-03-14). "ETCSL:ETCSLliterature". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Retrieved 2021-11-28. {{cite web}}: Empty citation (help)
  22. ^ Dalley, Stephanie, ed. (2000). "Etana (pp. 189ff.)". Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199538360.
  23. ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 77–158; Erman 2005, pp. 150–175.
  24. ^ Wente 1990, p. 89.
  25. ^ Wente 1990, p. 210.
  26. ^ Wente 1990, p. 98.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference wente 1990 98 99 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Simpson 1972, p. 285.
  29. ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 1–8.
  30. ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 12–13.
  31. ^ Seters 1997, p. 147.
  32. ^ Lichtheim 2006, p. 6.
  33. ^ Lichtheim 2006, p. 11.
  34. ^ Erman 2005, pp. 254–274.
  35. ^ Erman 2005, pp. 137–146, 281–305.
  36. ^ Aaron Demsky, 1977. "A Proto-Canaanite Abecedary dating from the period of the Judges and its implications for the history of the Alphabet", Tel Aviv 4:47ff.
  37. ^ Huehnergard, John (2012). An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59856-820-2.
  38. ^ Schniedewind, William; Hunt, Joel H. (2007). A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture and Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 16, 117. ISBN 978-1-139-46698-1: "Three major literary texts—the Baal Cycle, the Keret Legend, and the Tale of Aqhat—have been discovered in Ugarit. These materials form the major, and perhaps the most significant, portion of the Ugaritic alphabetic corpus... Most of the major literary texts from Ugaritic are in the form of narrative poems. Included here are selections from the three most famous poems: the Baal Cycle, the Keret Epic, and the Story of Aqhat."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  39. ^ Greenstein, Edward L. (November 2010). "Texts from Ugarit Solve Biblical Puzzles". Biblical Archaeology Review. 36 (6): 48–53, 70. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  40. ^ Schniedewind & Hunt 2007, pp. 28–30.
  41. ^ Noonan, John T. (1987). Bribes. University of California Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-520-06154-5. The Poor Man of Nippur dates from about 1500 BC.
  42. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen (1978). The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion. Yale University Press. pp. 167–168, 231. “Perhaps it was brought east with the Amorites of the First Dynasty of Babylon.”
  43. ^ Jamison, Stephanie W.; Brereton, Joel P. (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Unisted States of America: Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780195179187. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  44. ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 247–249; for another source on the Famine Stela, see Lichtheim 1980, pp. 94–95.
  45. ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 5.
  46. ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 6.
  47. ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 283–304; see also Parkinson 2002, p. 233, who alludes to this genre being revived in periods after the Middle Kingdom and cites Depauw (1997: 97–9), Frankfurter (1998: 241–8), and Bresciani (1999).
  48. ^ The Consolation of Philosophy (Oxford World's Classics), Introduction (2000)
  49. ^ Dante placed Boethius the “last of the Romans and first of the Scholastics” among the doctors in his Paradise (see The Divine Comedy).
  50. ^ Blair, Peter Hunter (1970). The World of Bede (1990 reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39819-3.
  51. ^ c. 872 According to the anonymous author of Tāriḵ-e Sistān (History of Sistan), the first Persian qaṣida is written by Moḥammad b. Waṣif in praise of Yaʿqub. iranicaonline.org
  52. ^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/pages/chronology-1 iranicaonline.org
  53. ^ Sri Lankan Journal of Librarianship and Information Management Vol.4, Nos.,3&4 (July – Dec.2011) pp. 1 -58
  54. ^ "International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 11, Issue 7, July 2021 682" (PDF). International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. 11. 2021.
  55. ^ Zvelebil, Kamil (1973). The Smile of Murugan on Tamil literature of South India. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004035911.
  • Loewe, Michael (1993). Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. The Society for the Study of Early China. ISBN 1557290431.
  • Contreni, John J. (1991). "The Carolingian renaissance: education and literary culture". In McKitterick, Rosamond (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History: II. c. 700 - c. 900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36292-X.
  • Mango, Cyril (2002). "The Revival of Learning". In Mango, Cyril (ed.). The Oxford History of Byzantium. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814098-3.


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