Timeline – Classical Literature
| 3rd Millennium BCE | Hymns, codes, instructions and laments (Sumerian) |
| 3rd Millennium BCE | Pyramid and coffin texts (Egyptian) |
| 20th Century BCE | Original version of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” (Sumerian) |
| 20th Century BCE | “The Story of Sinuhe” (Egyptian) |
| 18th Century BCE | “Enuma Elis”, “Atra-Hasis” and “Eridu Genesis” (Babylonian/Akkadian) |
| 16th Century BCE | “Egyptian Book of the Dead” (Egypt) |
| 16th – 11th Century BCE | “Rigveda” (Indian/Sanskrit) |
11th Century BCE | “The Tale of Two Brothers” and “The Story of Wenamun” (Egypt) |
| 11th – 9th Century BCE | “Yajurveda”, “Samaveda” and “Atharvaveda” (Sanskrit/Indian) |
| 11th – 6th Century BCE | “Avesta” of Zoroastrianism (Avestan/Persian) |
| 9th Century BCE | “I Ching” manual of divination (China) |
| 9th – 7th Century BCE | “Brahmanas” and the early “Upanishads” (Sanskrit/Indian) |
| 9th – 6th Century BCE | Older parts of the “Old Testament” of the “Bible”, including the “Torah”(Hebrew) |
| 8th Century BCE | Epic poems “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” of Homer and other Trojan War epic poems (Greek) |
| 8th Century BCE | Didactic poetry of Hesiod, including “Theogony” (Greek) |
| 8th Century BCE | “Mahabharata” of Vyasa (Sanskrit/Indian) |
| 7th – 6th Century BCE | Lyric poems of Sappho (Greek) |
| 6th Century BCE | “Fables” of Aesop (Greek) |
| 6th – 5th Century BCE | “Four Books” of Confucius (Chinese) |
| 5th Century BCE | Lyric poems and odes of Pindar (Greek) |
| 5th Century BCE | Tragic plays of Aeschylus, including “The Oresteia” and “The Persians”(Greek) |
| 5th Century BCE | Tragic plays of Sophocles, including “Antigone” and “Oedipus the King”(Greek) |
| 5th Century BCE | Tragic plays of Euripides, including “Medea”, “The Trojan Women” and “The Bacchae” (Greek) |
| 5th – 4th Century BCE | Comic plays of Aristophanes including “The Wasps”, “Lysistrata” and “The Frogs” (Greek) |
| 4th Century BCE | “Ramayana” of Valmiki (Sanskrit/Indian) |
| 4th – 3rd Century BCE | Comic plays of Menander (Greek) |
| 3rd Century BCE | Epic poetry of Apollonius of Rhodes including The Argonautica (Greek) |
| 2nd Century BCE | Comic plays of Plautus and Terence(Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century BCE | Lyric and elegiac poetry of Catullus (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century BCE | Epic and didactic poetry of Vergil, including “The Aeneid” (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century BCE | Lyric poetry and satires of Horace (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century BCE – 1st Century CE | Didactic, elegiac and epic poetry of Ovid, including “Metamorphoses”(Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century CE | Tragic plays and satires of Seneca the Younger (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st Century CE | Epic poetry of Lucan (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st – 2nd Century CE | Satires of Juvenal (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st – 2nd Century CE | Letters of Pliny the Younger (Latin/Roman) |
| 1st – 2nd Century CE | New Testament of the Christian “Bible” (Greek) |
| 7th Century CE | “Caedmon’s Hymn” (Old English/Anglo-Saxon) |
| 7th Century CE | Traditional date for Islamic “Qur’an” (Arabic) |
| 8th Century CE | Epic poem “Beowulf” (Anglo-Saxon) |
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