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266 books available
An original text or artifact produced within the tradition or period under study. It offers direct evidence for language, practice, and belief, and is the basis for later interpretation and transmission.
The Iliad
Homer
750-700 BCE
Greek
The Odyssey
Homer
700-600 BCE
Greek
Epic of Gilgamesh
Sin-leqi-unninni
1200-1000 BCE
Mesopotamian, Akkadian
Mahabharata
Vyasa
200 BCE-400 CE
Indian, Hindu
Ramayana
Valmiki
300-100 BCE
Indian, Hindu
Rigveda
Anonymous
1200-900 BCE
Indian, Hindu
Poetic Edda
Anonymous
1270 CE
Germanic, Norse
Enuma Elish
Anonymous
1100-1000 BCE
Mesopotamian, Babylonian
Metamorphoses
Ovid
1 BCE-8 CE
Roman
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous
1300-1800 CE
Arabic
The Aeneid
Virgil
29-19 BCE
Roman
Book of the Dead
Anonymous
1550-50 BCE
Egyptian
Beowulf
Anonymous
1000-1025 CE
Germanic, Anglo-Saxon
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
429-425 BCE
Greek
Oresteia
Aeschylus
458 BCE
Greek
Popol Vuh
Anonymous
1554-1703 CE
Mesoamerican, Mayan
Kojiki
O no Yasumaro
712 CE
East Asian, Japanese
Nihon Shoki
Prince Toneri
720 CE
East Asian, Japanese
Antigone
Sophocles
441 BCE
Greek
Apollodorus' Library
Pseudo-Apollodorus
1-200 CE
Greek
Theogony
Hesiod
700-600 BCE
Greek
Baal Cycle
Anonymous
1300 BCE
Levantine, Ugaritic
Atrahasis
Anonymous
1700 BCE
Mesopotamian, Akkadian
The Descent of Inanna
Anonymous
1900-1600 BCE
Mesopotamian, Sumerian