Bronze Age Literature

The history of literature begins with the invention of writing, in Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Writing developed out of proto-literate sign systems in the 30th century BC, although the oldest known literary texts date from the 27th or 26th century BC.

Literature from the Iron Age includes the earliest texts which have been preserved in a manuscript tradition (as opposed to texts which have been recovered by archaeologists), including the Avestan Gathas (see date of Zoroaster), the Indian Vedas (see Vedic period), parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament; cf. dating the Bible), and the earliest literature from Ancient Greece.

Classical Antiquity is generally considered to begin with Homer in the 8th century BC, and it continues until the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. Although the earliest Classics were in Ancient Greek, from the 3rd century BC Greek literature was joined by Latin literature. As well as the Western canon, there is also a period of classical Sanskrit literature and Sangam literature in India, Chinese classics in China, and in Late Antiquity the beginning of classical Syriac and Middle Persian literature.

The following is a chronological list of literary works up until the 5th century AD. Literature of the 6th to 9th centuries is covered in Early medieval literature.

For a list of the earliest testimony in each language, see list of languages by first written accounts.