Literature Through the Ages

[Dark Muse]

I have been toying with this idea for a while in my head, as well I thought it might prove quite extensive but I thought it could also be rather interesting and I love broadening my reading horizons.

I would like to try and create a comprehensive list of books spanning through time.

I would love your recommendations for literature covering these periods of time:

17th century

16th century

15th century

14th century

13th century

12th century

11th century

Early Middle Ages

Ancient World


*My reasons for starting with the 17th century, if anyone was wondering is due to the fact that I feel I am well established in the 18th-20th century.

[Calidore]

An easy recommendation is the early Arthurian works.

12th century: History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth and the series of romances by French poet Chretien de Troyes

13th century: The gigantic French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycle by various authors

15th century: Le Morte de Arthur by Thomas Malory

I haven't read Geoffrey, but I've read all the others, and they're terrific. Reading them in order also lets you follow the evolution of the legend.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

You need mortalterror.

[mortalterror]

Here's a start:
17th century
1694 Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
1694 The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho
1685 Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku
1684 Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery by John Wilmot
1682 Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway
1678 The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette
1678 Maximes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
1678 All For Love by John Dryden
1678 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
1677 The Rover by Aphra Behn
1677 The Campaign Against Qandahar by Saib Tabrizi
1677 Phaedra by Jean Racine
1676 The Man of Mode by George Etherege
1675 The Country Wife by William Wycherley
1674 Paradise Lost by John Milton
1674 The Latrine by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
1668 Letters of a Portuguese Nun by Anonymous
1668 Simplicius Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
1664 Tartuffe by Moliere
1654 Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel
1653 The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton
1650 To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
1636 Le Cid by Pierre Corneille
1635 Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca
1633 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford
1633 The Temple by George Herbert
1633 Works of John Donne
1630 The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina
1626 The Swindler by Francisco de Quevedo
1625 Essays by Francis Bacon
1621 Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
1620 Stories to Awaken the World by Feng Menglong
1619 Fuente Ovejuna by Lope De Vega
1619 Idea by Michael Drayton
1619 The Maid's Tragedy by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont
1616 Les Tragiques by Agrippa D'Aubigne
1615 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
1613 The Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea by Luis de Gongora
1612 The White Devil by John Webster
1610 Jin Ping Mei by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng
1608 The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton
1606 Volpone by Ben Jonson
1600 Erotokritos by Vitsentzos Kornaros
1600 Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1600 The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Ralegh
16th century
1598 Consolation for Mr. du Perier by Francois de Malherbe
1598 Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson
1596 The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
1594 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
1592 The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd
1592 A Litany in Time of Plague by Thomas Nashe
1589 The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
1587 When You Are Truly Old by Pierre de Ronsard
1586 Astrophel and Stella by Philip Sydney
1581 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso
1578 Euphues by John Lyly
1573 Farewell with a Mischief by George Gascoigne
1572 The Lusiads by Luis vaz de Camoes
1569 The Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga
1564 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
1558 The Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre
1557 They Flee From Me by Thomas Wyatt
1555 The Regrets by Joachim du Bellay
1554 Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous
1541 Bovo-Bukh by Elia Levita
1532 Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
1528 The Book of the Courtier by Baltissar Castiglione
1526 Hell by Clement Marot
1522 The Great Lutheran Fool by Thomas Murner
1521 Colin Clout by John Skelton
1518 Songs of Kabir
1518 The Mandrake by Niccolo Machiavelli
1516 Utopia by Sir Thomas More
1509 In Praise of Folly by Erasmus
1505 Lament for the Makaris by William Dunbar
1501 Judita by Marko Marulic
1501 Book of Margery Kempe
15th century
1499 La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas
1495 Orlando In Love by Matteo Maria Boiardo
1494 The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant
1492 Poems by Lorenzo de Medici
1490 Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell and Marti Joan de Galba
1485 Haft Awrang by Jami
1485 Everyman by Anonymous
1485 Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory
1483 Morgante by Luigi Pulci
1482 Khamsa by Ali-Shir Nava'i
1480 Manto by Poliziano
1476 Stanzas on His Father's Death by Jorge Manrique
1461 Ballad of the Dead Ladies by Francois Villon
1440 Poems by Charles Duke of Orleans
1428 Book 13 of the Aeneid by Maffeo Vegio
1424 La Belle Dame sans Merci by Alain Chartier
1420 The Siege of Thebes by John Lydgate
1405 Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan
Medieval Literature (Europe)
1400 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
1390 Confessio Amantis by John Gower
1390 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous
1387 Piers Plowman by William Langland
1375 The Bruce by John Barbour
1374 The Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarch
1353 The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
1321 Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
1300 Grettis Saga by Anonymous
1300 A Lady Asks Me by Guido Cavalcanti
1290 Havelok the Dane by Anonymous
1280 Njal's Saga by Anonymous
1276 The Gentle Heart by Guido Guinizelli
1275 Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun
1270 Elder Edda by Anonymous
1260 Laxdaela Saga by Anonymous
1250 Thorstein the Staff-Struck by Anonymous
1240 Egil's Saga by Anonymous
1225 Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach
1220 Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
1210 Nibelungenlied by Anonymous
1210 On this gay and slender tune by Arnaut Daniel
1210 Tristan and Isolt by Gottfried von Strassburg
1207 Song of the Cid by Abbot Peter
1200 Under the Linden Tree by Walther von der Vogelweide
1200 Aucassin and Nicolette by Anonymous
1190 Mabinogion by Anonymous
1190 Tale of Igor's Campaign by Anonymous
1190 Henry the Leper by Hartmann von Aue
1184 The Joyful Springtime Pleases Me by Bertran de Born
1180 When I See the Lark by Bernart de Ventadorn
1175 The Werewolf by Marie de France
1170 Yvain the Knight of the Lion by Chretien de Troyes
1163 The Confession by The Archpoet
1160 Tain Bo Cuailnge by Anonymous
1144 Letters of Abelard and Heloise
1141 Ode to Zion by Judah Halevi
1100 Under the Sun I Ride Along by William IX Duke of Aquitaine
1098 Song of Roland by Anonymous
1050 Digenes Akritas by Anonymous
991 The Battle of Maldon by Anonymous
937 The Battle of Brunanburh by Anonymous
850 Beowulf by Anonymous
850 The Phoenix by Anonymous
841 The Battle of Fontenoy by Angilbert
840 Elene by Cynewulf
830 Lay of Hildebrand by Anonymous
800 Finnsburg Fragment by Anonymous
680 Dream of the Rood by Caedmon
675 Y Gododdin by Aneirin
524 Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Classical literature (Western)
400AD Nonnus- Dionysiacca
354-430AD St. Augustine- Confessions
250AD Heliodorus- Ethiopica
213-273AD Longinus- On the Sublime
150-235AD Cassius Dio- Roman History
150AD Longus- Daphnis and Chloe
143-176AD Pausanias- Description of Greece
129-199AD Galen- Medical Writing
125-180AD Apuleius- The Golden ***
125-180AD Lucian- True Story
125-180AD Aulus Gellius- Attic Nights
121-180AD Marcus Aurelius- Meditations
95-165AD Appian- Roman History
90-168AD Ptolemy- The Great Treatise
86-160AD Arrian- The Anabasis of Alexander
69-130AD Suetonius- Lives of 12 Caesars
61-112AD Pliny the Younger- Letters
56-117AD Tacitus- Annals
55-138AD Juvenal- Satires
55-135AD Epictetus- Discourses
46-120AD Plutarch- Lives
45-96AD Statius- Thebaid
40-104AD Martial- Epigrams
39-65AD Lucan- Pharsalia
37-100AD Josephus- The Jewish War
35-100AD Quintillian- Institutes of Oratory
34-62AD Persius- Satires
27-66AD Petronius- Satyricon
23-79AD Pliny the Elder- Natural History
4BC-65AD Seneca- Thyestes
43BC-17AD Ovid- Metamorphoses
50-15BC Sextus Propertius- Elegies
55-19BC Tibullus- Elegies
59BC-17AD Livy- History of Rome
60-7BC Dionysus of Halicarnassus- On Imitation
64BC-24AD Strabo- Geography
65-8BC Horace- Odes
70-19BC Virgil- The Aeneid
84-54BC Catullus- Poem 107
86-35BC Sallust- The Catiline Conspiracy
100-44BC Caesar- The Gallic War
106-43BC Cicero- Dream of Scipio
195-159BC Terence- The Brothers
200-118BC Polybius- The Histories
204-270BC Plotinus- Enneads
254-184BC Plautus- The Pot of Gold
300-246BC Apollonius Rhodius- Argonautika
310-250BC Theocritus- Idylls
310-240BC Callimachus- Aetia
323-283BC Euclid- Elements
342-291BC Menander- The Miser
361-291BC Dinarchus- Speeches
371-287BC Theophrastus- On Character
384-322BC Demosthenes- On the Crown
384-322BC Aristotle- Nichomachean Ethics
389-314BC Aeschines- Speeches
390-322BC Hypereides- Speeches
396-323BC Lycurgus- Speeches
420-348BC Isaeus- Speeches
424-348BC Plato- Republic
430-354BC Xenophon- Anabasis
436-338BC Isocrates- Panathenaicus
445-380BC Lysias- Speeches
446-386BC Aristophanes- Lysistrata
460-395BC Thucydides- History of the Peloponnesian War
480-406BC Euripides- Medea
484-425BC Herodotus- Histories
497-405BC Sophocles- Oedipus Rex
522-443BC Pindar- Victory Odes
525-456BC Aeschylus- Oresteia
582-485BC Anacreon- Love's Night Walk
620-564BC Aesop- The Fox and the Grapes
630-570BC Sappho- Hymn to Aphrodite
680-645BC Archilochus- Be Bold
700-500BC Homeric Hymns
750BC Hesiod- Theogony
750BC Homer- The Iliad

[mortalterror]

My lists aren't complete by any means, and I leave some things off others wouldn't, if I think that they suck. Plus, I haven't fleshed out my renaissance era lists yet or incorporated my Eastern Cannon into the Classical and Medieval periods.
Eastern Cannon
Various (2400-700BC) Egyptian Book of the Dead
Anonymous (1800BC) Story of Sinuhe
Anonymous (1800BC) Epic of Gilgamesh
Anonymous (1600BC) Enuma Elis
Various (1000-700BC) Book of Odes
Kabti-ilani-Marduk (764BC) Epic of Erra
Vyasa (400BC) Mahabharata
Valmiki (350BC) Ramayana
Qu Yuan (340-278BC) and Song Yu (290-223BC) Chu Ci
Vishnu Sharma (300BC) Panchatantra
Sudraka (150BC) The Little Clay Cart
Various (347-759) Manyoshu
Tao Qian (365-427) Poems
Kalidasa (370-450) Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, Meghaduta
Bhartrhari (450) Satakatraya
Xu Ling (507-583) New Songs From the Jade Terrace
Various (550) Mu'allaqat
Bharavi (550) Kiratarjuniya
Muhammad (570-632) Quran
Dandin (600) The Adventures of the Ten Princes
Wang Wei (699-759) Poems
Bhavabhuti (700) Málati and Mádhava
Amaru (700) Amarusataka
Li Bai (701-762) Tianmu Mountain Ascended in a Dream
Du Fu (712-770) The Song of the Wagons
Han-shan (730-850) Cold Mountain Poems
Han Yu (768-824) Essays
Bai Juyi (772-846) Song of Unending Sorrow, Song of the Lute Player
Yuan Zhen (779-831) Biography of Ying Ying
Various (800-920) Kokinshu
Various (800-1200) Antar, A Bedoueen Romance
Rudaki (858-941) Lament in Old Age
Various (900-1300) One Thousand and One Nights
Al-Mutanabbi (915-965) Poems
Li Houzhu (937-978) Poems
Ferdowsi (940-1020) Shahnameh
Sei Shonagon (966-1017) The Pillow Book
Al-Ma'arri (973-1058) The Spark of Flint
Murasaki Shikibu (973-1025) Tale of Genji
Nasir Khusraw (1004-1088) Poems
Su Shi (1037-1101) Poems
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) Rubaiyat
Vidyakara (1050-1130) Treasury of Verses
Moses Ibn Ezra (1055-1138) Diwan
Judah Halevi (1075-1141) Poems
Li Qingzhao (1084-1151) Poems
Mahadeviyakka (1100) Poems
Khaqani (1121-1190) Gift of the Two Iraqs
Anvari (1126-1189) Tears of Khorasan
Nezami (1141-1209) Khamsa
Attar (1145-1221) Conference of the Birds
Kamban (1150) Ramavataram
Sa'di (1184-1283) Gulistan, Bostan
Jayadeva (1200) Gita Govinda
Rumi (1207-1273) Masnavi
Fakhruddin Iraqi (1213-1289) Divine Flashes
Guan Hanqing (1225-1302) Injustice to Dou E
Bai Renfu (1226-1306) Rain on the Paulownia Tree
Wang Shifu (1250-1307) Romance of the Western Chamber
Ma Zhiyuan (1250-1321) Autumn in Han Palace
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) Second Divan
Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350) Essays in Idleness
Shi Nai'an (1296-1372) Water Margin
Ubayd Zakani (1300-1370) Ethics of the Aristocrats
Kakuichi (1300-1371) The Tale of the Heike
Gao Zecheng (1305-1368) Romance of the Lute
Hafez (1329-1380) Divan
Luo Guanzhong (1330-1400) Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Jami (1414-1492) Haft Awrang
Kabir (1440-1518) Songs
Ali-Shir Nava'i (1441-1501) Poetry
Fuzuli (1483-1556) Diwan
Wu Cheng'en (1500-1582) Journey To the West
Baki (1526-1600) Elegy for His Excellency Suleyman Khan
Tulsidas (1532-1623) The Ramcharitmanasa
Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) The Peony Pavilion
Feng Menglong (1574-1645) Stories to Awaken the World
Sa'ib (1601-1677) The Campaign Against Qandahar
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (1610) Jin Ping Mei
Pu Songling (1640-1715) Strange Tales From a Chinese Studio
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) Narrow Road to the Deep North
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) The Battles of Coxinga
Takeda Izumo (1691-1756) Chushingura
Wu Jingzi (1701-1754) The Scholars
Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) Dream of The Red Chamber
Yuan Mei (1716-1798) Poems
Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) Ghazals
Nguyen Gia Thieu (1741-1798) Sorrows of an Abandoned Queen
Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831) Haiku
Shen Fu (1763-1825) Six Records of a Floating Life
Nguyen Du (1766-1820) The Tale of Kieu
Ho Xuan Huong (1772-1822) Water-Bailing
Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) Ghazals
Bibi Hayati (1853) Poems
Qa'ani (1808-1854) Elegy for Imam Hussein
Liu E (1857-1909) The Travels of Lao Ts'an
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Gitanjali
Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) Kokoro
Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) Wings of Gabriel
Lu Xun (1881-1936) Ah Q - The Real Story
Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) The Prophet
Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) The Makioka Sisters
Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) The Hell Screen
Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) Snow Country
Sadegh Hedayat (1903-1951) The Blind Owl
R.K. Narayan (1906-2001) The Financial Expert
Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998) Fortress Besieged
Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) The Sea of Fertility
Adunis (1930-) Mihyar of Damascus: His Songs
V.S. Naipaul (1932-) A House For Mr. Biswas
Salman Rushdie (1947-) Midnight's Children
Haruki Murakami (1949-) The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
Orhan Pamuk (1952-) My Name is Red
Khaled Hosseini (1965-) The Kite Runner

[Dark Muse]

Here's a start:
17th century
1694 Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
1694 The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho
1685 Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku
1684 Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery by John Wilmot
1682 Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway
1678 The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette
1678 Maximes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
1678 All For Love by John Dryden
1678 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
1677 The Rover by Aphra Behn
1677 The Campaign Against Qandahar by Saib Tabrizi
1677 Phaedra by Jean Racine
1676 The Man of Mode by George Etherege
1675 The Country Wife by William Wycherley
1674 Paradise Lost by John Milton
1674 The Latrine by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
1668 Letters of a Portuguese Nun by Anonymous
1668 Simplicius Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
1664 Tartuffe by Moliere
1654 Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel
1653 The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton
1650 To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
1636 Le Cid by Pierre Corneille
1635 Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca
1633 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford
1633 The Temple by George Herbert
1633 Works of John Donne
1630 The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina
1626 The Swindler by Francisco de Quevedo
1625 Essays by Francis Bacon
1621 Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
1620 Stories to Awaken the World by Feng Menglong
1619 Fuente Ovejuna by Lope De Vega
1619 Idea by Michael Drayton
1619 The Maid's Tragedy by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont
1616 Les Tragiques by Agrippa D'Aubigne
1615 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
1613 The Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea by Luis de Gongora
1612 The White Devil by John Webster
1610 Jin Ping Mei by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng
1608 The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton
1606 Volpone by Ben Jonson
1600 Erotokritos by Vitsentzos Kornaros
1600 Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1600 The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Ralegh
16th century
1501 Book of Margery Kempe
1501 Judita by Marko Marulic
1505 Lament for the Makaris by William Dunbar
1509 In Praise of Folly by Erasmus
1516 Utopia by Sir Thomas More
1518 Songs of Kabir
1518 The Mandrake by Niccolo Machiavelli
1521 Colin Clout by John Skelton
1522 The Great Lutheran Fool by Thomas Murner
1526 Hell by Clement Marot
1528 The Book of the Courtier by Baltissar Castiglione
1532 Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
1541 Bovo-Bukh by Elia Levita
1554 Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous
1555 The Regrets by Joachim du Bellay
1557 They Flee From Me by Thomas Wyatt
1558 The Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre
1564 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
1569 The Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga
1572 The Lusiads by Luis vaz de Camoes
1573 Farewell with a Mischief by George Gascoigne
1578 Euphues by John Lyly
1581 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso
1586 Astrophel and Stella by Philip Sydney
1587 When You Are Truly Old by Pierre de Ronsard
1589 The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
1592 The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd
1592 A Litany in Time of Plague by Thomas Nashe
1594 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
1596 The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
1598 Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson
1598 Consolation for Mr. du Perier by Francois de Malherbe
15th century
1405 Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan
1420 The Siege of Thebes by John Lydgate
1424 La Belle Dame sans Merci by Alain Chartier
1428 Book 13 of the Aeneid by Maffeo Vegio
1440 Poems by Charles Duke of Orleans
1461 Ballad of the Dead Ladies by Francois Villon
1476 Stanzas on His Father's Death by Jorge Manrique
1480 Manto by Poliziano
1482 Khamsa by Ali-Shir Nava'i
1483 Morgante by Luigi Pulci
1485 Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory
1485 Everyman by Anonymous
1485 Haft Awrang by Jami
1490 Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell and Marti Joan de Galba
1492 Poems by Lorenzo de Medici
1494 The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant
1495 Orlando In Love by Matteo Maria Boiardo
1499 La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas
Medieval Literature (Europe)
1400 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
1390 Confessio Amantis by John Gower
1390 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous
1387 Piers Plowman by William Langland
1375 The Bruce by John Barbour
1374 The Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarch
1353 The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
1321 Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
1300 Grettis Saga by Anonymous
1300 A Lady Asks Me by Guido Cavalcanti
1290 Havelok the Dane by Anonymous
1280 Njal's Saga by Anonymous
1276 The Gentle Heart by Guido Guinizelli
1275 Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun
1270 Elder Edda by Anonymous
1260 Laxdaela Saga by Anonymous
1250 Thorstein the Staff-Struck by Anonymous
1240 Egil's Saga by Anonymous
1225 Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach
1220 Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
1210 Nibelungenlied by Anonymous
1210 On this gay and slender tune by Arnaut Daniel
1210 Tristan and Isolt by Gottfried von Strassburg
1207 Song of the Cid by Abbot Peter
1200 Under the Linden Tree by Walther von der Vogelweide
1200 Aucassin and Nicolette by Anonymous
1190 Mabinogion by Anonymous
1190 Tale of Igor's Campaign by Anonymous
1190 Henry the Leper by Hartmann von Aue
1184 The Joyful Springtime Pleases Me by Bertran de Born
1180 When I See the Lark by Bernart de Ventadorn
1175 The Werewolf by Marie de France
1170 Yvain the Knight of the Lion by Chretien de Troyes
1163 The Confession by The Archpoet
1160 Tain Bo Cuailnge by Anonymous
1144 Letters of Abelard and Heloise
1141 Ode to Zion by Judah Halevi
1100 Under the Sun I Ride Along by William IX Duke of Aquitaine
1098 Song of Roland by Anonymous
1050 Digenes Akritas by Anonymous
991 The Battle of Maldon by Anonymous
937 The Battle of Brunanburh by Anonymous
850 Beowulf by Anonymous
850 The Phoenix by Anonymous
841 The Battle of Fontenoy by Angilbert
840 Elene by Cynewulf
830 Lay of Hildebrand by Anonymous
800 Finnsburg Fragment by Anonymous
680 Dream of the Rood by Caedmon
675 Y Gododdin by Aneirin
524 Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Classical literature (Western)
750BC Homer- The Iliad
750BC Hesiod- Theogony
700-500BC Homeric Hymns
680-645BC Archilochus- Be Bold
630-570BC Sappho- Hymn to Aphrodite
620-564BC Aesop- The Fox and the Grapes
582-485BC Anacreon- Love's Night Walk
525-456BC Aeschylus- Oresteia
522-443BC Pindar- Victory Odes
497-405BC Sophocles- Oedipus Rex
484-425BC Herodotus- Histories
480-406BC Euripides- Medea
460-395BC Thucydides- History of the Peloponnesian War
446-386BC Aristophanes- Lysistrata
445-380BC Lysias- Speeches
436-338BC Isocrates- Panathenaicus
430-354BC Xenophon- Anabasis
424-348BC Plato- Republic
420-348BC Isaeus- Speeches
396-323BC Lycurgus- Speeches
390-322BC Hypereides- Speeches
389-314BC Aeschines- Speeches
384-322BC Demosthenes- On the Crown
384-322BC Aristotle- Nichomachean Ethics
371-287BC Theophrastus- On Character
361-291BC Dinarchus- Speeches
342-291BC Menander- The Miser
323-283BC Euclid- Elements
310-250BC Theocritus- Idylls
310-240BC Callimachus- Aetia
300-246BC Apollonius Rhodius- Argonautika
254-184BC Plautus- The Pot of Gold
204-270BC Plotinus- Enneads
200-118BC Polybius- The Histories
195-159BC Terence- The Brothers
106-43BC Cicero- Dream of Scipio
100-44BC Caesar- The Gallic War
86-35BC Sallust- The Catiline Conspiracy
84-54BC Catullus- Poem 107
70-19BC Virgil- The Aeneid
65-8BC Horace- Odes
64BC-24AD Strabo- Geography
60-7BC Dionysus of Halicarnassus- On Imitation
59BC-17AD Livy- History of Rome
55-19BC Tibullus- Elegies
50-15BC Sextus Propertius- Elegies
43BC-17AD Ovid- Metamorphoses
4BC-65AD Seneca- Thyestes
23-79AD Pliny the Elder- Natural History
27-66AD Petronius- Satyricon
34-62AD Persius- Satires
35-100AD Quintillian- Institutes of Oratory
37-100AD Josephus- The Jewish War
39-65AD Lucan- Pharsalia
40-104AD Martial- Epigrams
45-96AD Statius- Thebaid
46-120AD Plutarch- Lives
55-138AD Juvenal- Satires
55-135AD Epictetus- Discourses
56-117AD Tacitus- Annals
61-112AD Pliny the Younger- Letters
69-130AD Suetonius- Lives of 12 Caesars
86-160AD Arrian- The Anabasis of Alexander
90-168AD Ptolemy- The Great Treatise
95-165AD Appian- Roman History
121-180AD Marcus Aurelius- Meditations
125-180AD Apuleius- The Golden ***
125-180AD Lucian- True Story
125-180AD Aulus Gellius- Attic Nights
129-199AD Galen- Medical Writing
143-176AD Pausanias- Description of Greece
150AD Longus- Daphnis and Chloe
150-235AD Cassius Dio- Roman History
213-273AD Longinus- On the Sublime
250AD Heliodorus- Ethiopica
354-430AD St. Augustine- Confessions
400AD Nonnus- Dionysiacca

Wow that is great!

[mortalterror]

Wow that is great!

Glad to be of help. Also, I edited my original post so the dates are all sequential from the top to bottom. I didn't want to confuse anybody having the numbers go the wrong way at different points.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Okay, Dark Muse . . . GET READING!!!!! :lol:

[Dark Muse]

Okay, Dark Muse . . . GET READING!!!!! :lol:

Hahah I know really

[PeterL]

My lists aren't complete by any means, and I leave some things off others wouldn't, if I think that they suck. Plus, I haven't fleshed out my renaissance era lists yet or incorporated my Eastern Cannon into the Classical and Medieval periods.
Eastern Cannon
Various (2400-700BC) Egyptian Book of the Dead
Anonymous (1800BC) Story of Sinuhe
Anonymous (1800BC) Epic of Gilgamesh
Anonymous (1600BC) Enuma Elis
Various (1000-700BC) Book of Odes

A major error there. The Enuma Elish is the Gilgamesh Epic, or vice versa, depending on which title you prefer. There are several stories involved, and the earliest extant version is from about 2150 - 2000 BCE. or earlier. They are set about 3000 BCE and some pretend to have been written by Gilgamesh.

[JBI]

Ah nothing between Qu Yuan and (with the exception of Tao Yuanming) the high Tang. If anyone cares I will make an aPpendix of those texts from China. There are many and they have been getting a lot of attention recently.

[mortalterror]

A major error there. The Enuma Elish is the Gilgamesh Epic, or vice versa, depending on which title you prefer. There are several stories involved, and the earliest extant version is from about 2150 - 2000 BCE. or earlier. They are set about 3000 BCE and some pretend to have been written by Gilgamesh.

Are you sure? I seem to recall reading a version of the Enuma Elish that didn't have the Gilgamesh story in it. My recollection is that it was more an Akkadian Theogony about Marduk and his pantheon.


This epic is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview, centered on the supremacy of Marduk and the creation of humankind for the service of the gods. Its primary original purpose, however, is not an exposition of theology or theogony but the elevation of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, above other Mesopotamian gods.

The Enûma Eliš exists in various copies from Babylon and Assyria. The version from Ashurbanipal's library dates to the 7th century BCE. The composition of the text probably dates to the Bronze Age, to the time of Hammurabi or perhaps the early Kassite era (roughly 18th to 16th centuries BCE), although some scholars favour a later date of ca. 1100 BCE.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%C3%BBma_Eli%C5%A1


The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five independent Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Four of these were used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. This first, "Old Babylonian" version of the epic dates to the 18th century BC and is titled Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few fragments of it survive. The later, Standard Babylonian version dates from the 13th to the tenth centuries and bears the title Sha naqba īmuru ("He who Saw the Deep"). Fragments of approximately two thirds of this longer, 12 tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_gilgamesh

Also, there seem to be different versions of each which were popular at different periods, some of which are incomplete. I may have just listed the version in popular use today and not the very earliest fragmentary version.

Honestly, I'm much more familiar with Greek and Roman texts than Babylonian/Sumerian/Akkadian and Egyptian. There are no doubt many great classics of those eras that I've simply never heard of. I make no promises for the thoroughness of my lists. They are just as thorough as I could make them noodling in my free time. I'm not an expert in Chinese literature, or Scandinavian literature. There are almost no Vietnamese or Korean books on my list. I don't know much about Sanskrit, and I couldn't get a hold of any decent Tamil translations. My knowledge of Hebrew for all periods is lacking. I've bought books about the last couple centuries of Indian, and Latin American literature which I just haven't gotten around to reading. You might also want to look deeper into Hungarian, Polish, or Serbian literature to find areas I might have missed. The complete history of literature is very large and I am just one man.

[Jive One]

Does the Egyptian Book of the Dead consist of an actual narrative? I was always under the impression that it was made up of only descriptions and procedures.

Anyways, thanks for this fantastic list. Hopefully the less known of these works aren't too hard to track down.

Just as an aside, has anyone ever heard of the Epic of King Gesar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_King_Gesar)? Is there an English translation, partial or complete, that's available somewhere?

[lawpark]

Ah nothing between Qu Yuan and (with the exception of Tao Yuanming) the high Tang. If anyone cares I will make an aPpendix of those texts from China. There are many and they have been getting a lot of attention recently.

Your favorite probably would be Wen Xuan and/or Wen Xin Diao Long? Do we count literary critism here?

[Dark Muse]

Well I am working on making my way through the list. It helps that thus far most of the works have been pretty short. To make things easier on myself I am just going along in the order in which they are listed.

Fables I had read as a kid.

So here is where I am so far:

1. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho
2. Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery by John Wilmot

Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku sounds intriguing to me, but I could not find a copy of it available online, so I will be setting this one aside until I am able to procure a copy of it.

I will be starting Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway next.

[bIGwIRE]

Bump.
I just wanted to say thank you to Mortal and move this thread up for any who missed it. I've been winding my way through your lists since you posted them, and it has proved to be a great resource for me.
Thanks MT.

[Dark Muse]

I am still making my way through, but I have been distracted by other things lately but presently I am working on Maxims

[OrphanPip]

I could add a couple suggestions for the 17th century. It would be worthwhile to read Behn's prose, either her short novellas or Ooronoko, which are all amusing. There's also Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, which is the earliest example of science fiction in English. Francis Bacon's "new Atlantis" is also a bit of a curiosity. Then in poetry I'd add Rochester (better poet than a playwright), Lovelace, and Herrick.

Maybe Elizabeth Cary's Tragedy of Mariam is worth reading, since it is the first play we can definitively say was written by a woman in English. It's an OK play.

[neilgee]

I could add a couple suggestions for the 17th century. It would be worthwhile to read Behn's prose, either her short novellas or Ooronoko, which are all amusing. There's also Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, which is the earliest example of science fiction in English. Francis Bacon's "new Atlantis" is also a bit of a curiosity. Then in poetry I'd add Rochester (better poet than a playwright), Lovelace, and Herrick.

Maybe Elizabeth Cary's Tragedy of Mariam is worth reading, since it is the first play we can definitively say was written by a woman in English. It's an OK play.

I'm trying desperately to recall if I ever read Ooronoko during my "Rover" phrase, a phase when I managed to see that play three times, but I can only remember The Rover so either I didn't read the other one or I haven't found it worth remembering...

[Dark Muse]

*Update*



So here is where I am so far:

1. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho
2. Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery by John Wilmot
3. Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway
4. Maximes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
5. All For Love by John Dryden
6. The Rover by Aphra Behn

[Nate]

The complete history of literature is very large and I am just one man.

you should get a marble paperweight with those words embossed