Antiquity Literature

Ancient literature comprises the epics, poems, sacred writings, histories, and works of wisdom preserved from early civilizations. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homeric epic, Chinese classics, and Indian sacred and philosophical texts arose in different languages and cultural settings, often through long processes of oral transmission and written preservation. Their stories and teachings examine kingship, friendship, justice, mortality, and humanity’s relationship with the divine. Verse, dialogue, proverb, and narrative give these concerns memorable forms. Reading them in their own traditions preserves the differences between a sacred teaching, a historical account, and a poet’s imaginative work.