Ancient Literature

Epic of Gilgamesh

2100 BCE

The 'Epic of Gilgamesh' was part of Mesopotamian literature in the Akkadian language. It was about the king, Gilgamesh, and how he abused his power and his futile attempts at looking for something he will never find. Picture citation: https://www.ancient-literature.com/other_gilgamesh.html

Homer's Iliad

725 BCE

The Iliad was one of Homers earliest works of literature, it portrays Greek God and Goddesses. The book was most known for the story about how Athena; Goddess of war and skill, helping to build a wooden horse. This was called the Trojan horse and it was left outside the city of Troy and there were actually Greek soldiers inside waiting to kill and ambush their enemy. Picture citation:https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/what-should-we-do-violence-iliad

Beowulf

700 BCE

Beowulf was composed around 700-900 BCE. The book is about warriors and common wars at that time. There is no known author of this poetry piece but the fact that it is Anglo-Saxon and became popular in England around the 1600s. Picture citation: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/452893306262174259/

Sappho of Lesbos writes poetry on sexuality

625 BCE

Sappho wrote poetry and sang monodic songs as well as wedding songs that were called 'epithalamia.' She wrote poetry about women, sexually and included a lot about her love, desires and passions about them. The word lesbian which we use today, was derived from 'lesbos.' Picture citation: https://ozofe.com/sappho/

Behistun Inscription

515 BCE

Was created by Darius 1 and in Old Persian it was called "bagastana" meaning "the god's place or land." It was about Darius' successful wars and suppression's of rebellions etc. It was inscribed on a cliff. Picture citation: https://www.itto.org/iran/photogallery/bisotun-inscription-rock-relief-kermanshah/

Herodotus' 'History'

430 BCE

Herodotus was one of the first major historians in the Ancient East. His book 'History' meant 'inquiry' in Greek and the book included the Persian War between the Greek and Persians. Most of what we know about the war stemmed from his book. Picture citation: https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/

Thucydides author of 'History of Peloponnesian War' dies

400 BCE

Thucydides began writing about the Peloponnesian war since the beginning; estimated roughly around 433 BCE. He died before getting the chance to review his book and to make changes etc. He called his work "possession for all times." Picture citation: https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-thucydidess-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war-71550

Plato's 'Republic'

375 BCE

Plato was a philosopher and student of Socrates, another philosopher and teacher. He wrote dialogues about Socrates where he was the main character. Apology was about his speech written in his defense at trial. Republic was another dialogue written about his political ideas. Picture citation: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/contributors/plato

Aristotle dies

322 BCE

Aristotle was a philosopher and scientist. He wrote about biology, chemistry, history, ethics etc. Some of his works included: 'On the Heavens,' 'History of Animals.' Picture citation: https://www.biography.com/scholar/aristotle

Euclid writes 'Elements'

300 BCE

Euclid was a Greek mathematician. He wrote 'Elements,' a geometry book, about logic, scientific study, math and axioms. Over time, people learned from his book and even pointed out some flaws. Picture citation: https://sunfaceman.medium.com/math-and-magic-euclid-defines-space-ea987f61709c

Megasthenes writes 'Indika'

300 BCE

Megasthenes traveled to India and wrote about their government, history, geography and more in his book. He wasn't the first traveler to do this but his work is used the most. Picture citation: https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2017/12/27/300-bc-book-indica-megasthenes-dispels-caste-theories-india/

Hebrew bible is translated to Greek

300 BCE

"Septuagint" was the name of the earliest translation of the Old Testament into Greek. The name came from the '72' translators. Once translated, each copy varied so scholars had to go back to the Hebrew texts for accuracy. Even now there are so many copies and translations of the Bible and they all vary. Picture citation: https://faithbibleministriesblog.com/2018/04/20/the-greek-hebrew-languages-a-simple-overview-2016-2/

Citations

1 BCE

World History (Gale in context)
Britannica
Ancient Literature
New World Encyclopedia
Ancient History Encyclopedia