Ancient literature

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History of Literature
Ancient literature
Babylonian literature
Indian literature
Bengali literature
Hindi literature
Kannada literature
Marathi literature
Malayalam literature
Sanskrit literature
Tamil literature
Urdu literature
Chinese literature
Greek literature
Latin literature
Arabic literature
Persian literature
Pahlavi literature

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The History of literature begins with the history of writing, in Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, although the oldest literary texts that have come down to us date to a full millennium after the invention of writing, to the late 3rd millennium BC. The earliest literary authors known by name are Ptahhotep and Enheduanna, dating to ca. the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, respectively.

Texts handed down by oral tradition may predate their fixation in written form by several centuries, or, in extreme cases, even millennia. Classical Antiquity is usually considered to begin with Homer, in the 8th century BC. Many older literary texts are known, but often difficult to date. This includes the texts in the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch being traditionally dated to the 15th century BC, while modern scholarship puts it to the 10th century BC at the very earliest. A very early example is the so called Egyptian Book of the Dead which was eventually written down in the Papyrus of Ani in approximately 250 BC but probably dates from about the 18th century BC.

Contents

[edit] List of ancient texts


History of Literature


Early Literature
Indian literature
Indian literature * Sanskrit literature * Tamil literature
Chinese literature
Greek literature
Latin literature
Persian literature
Pahlavi literature * Persian literature
The Medieval Period
Matter of Rome * Matter of France * Matter of Britain * Medieval literature * Arabic literature * 13th century in literature * 14th century in literature
European Renaissance Literature
European Renaissance Literature * 15th century in literature
The early modern period
16th century in literature * 17th century in literature
European literature in the 18th century
1700s * 1710s * 1720s * 1730s * 1740s * 1750s * 1760s * 1770s * 1780s * 1790s * 1800s
Modern Literature, 19th century
1800s * 1810s * 1820s * 1830s * 1840s * 1850s * 1860s * 1870s * 1880s * 1890s * 1900s
Modern Literature, 20th century
Modernism
Structuralism * Deconstruction * Poststructuralism * Postmodernism * Post-Colonialism * Hypertext fiction
1900s * 1910s * 1920s * 1930s * 1940s * 1950s * 1960s * 1970s * 1980s * 1990s * 2000s
Modern Literature in Europe
European Literature
Modern Literature in the Americas
Argentine literature * Brazilian literature * Canadian literature * Colombian literature * Cuban literature * Jamaican literature * Mexican literature * Peruvian writers * Literature of the United States
Australasian Literature
Australian literature * New Zealand literature
Modern Asian Literature
Modern Asian Literature * Chinese literature * Indian literature * Pakistani literature * Tamil literature * Hindi literature * Urdu literature * Indian writing in English * Bengali literature * Marathi literature * Malayalam literature * Japanese literature * Vietnamese literature
African Literature
African literature * Nigerian literature * Moroccan literature * South African literature * Swahili literature
Other topics
History of theatre * History of science fiction * History of ideas * Intellectual history * Literature by nationality * Centuries in poetry

[edit] Bronze Age


[edit] Iron Age

[edit] Classical Antiquity

See also Ancient Greek literature, Latin literature.

[edit] See also

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