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→Bronze Age: The earliest literature is from 3500 BC, the first written record. The first written records are of the Kish Tablet.
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{{History of literature by era}}
{{Literature}}{{More citations needed|date=May 2024}}
'''Ancient literature''' comprisesClassical religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, clay tablets, papyri, palm leaves, and metal. Before the spread of writing, [[oral literature]] did not always survive well, but some texts and fragments have persisted. One can conclude that an unknown number of written works too have likely not survived the ravages of time and are therefore lost.
 
==Incomplete list of ancient texts==
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===Bronze Age===
{{See also|Sumerian literature|Akkadian literature|Ancient Egyptian literature|Hittite texts|Ugaritic texts}}
'''Early Bronze Age''': 3rd millennium BC (approximate dates shown). The earliest written literature dates from about 30002600 BC (classical [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Ancient World|author=Grimbly, Shona|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2000|isbn=978-1-57958-281-4|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRZu51yv1X4C|quote=The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC, when the Sumerians started to write down their long epic poems.}}</ref> The earliest literary author known by name is [[Enheduanna]], a Sumerian priestess and public figure dating to {{circa}} the 24th century BC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lithub.com/why-has-no-one-ever-heard-of-the-worlds-first-poet/|title=Why Has No One Ever Heard of the World's First Poet?|date=2017-06-22|website=Literary Hub|access-date=2019-01-19}}</ref>
Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the ''[[Egyptian Book of the Dead]]'', which was recorded in the ''[[Papyrus of Ani]]'' around 1240 BC, but other versions of the book probably date from about the 18th century BC.
* '''3500 {{spnd}} 3200 BC''' Sumerian ''[[Kish Tablet]]''
* '''3400 {{spnd}} 3000 BC:''' Sumerian ''[[Kushim Tablets]]''
* '''3100 {{spnd}} 3000 BC:''' Egyptian ''[[Iry-Hor]]'', ''[[Ka]]'', ''[[Famine Stele]]'', and the ''[[Narmer Stele]]'' texts and inscriptions
 
Apparently there were no written works between 3000 BC and 2600 BC.
 
* '''2600 BC:''' Sumerian texts from [[Abu Salabikh]], including the ''[[Instructions of Shuruppak]]'' and the ''[[Kesh temple hymn]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Biggs |first=Robert D. |url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip99.pdf |title=Inscriptions from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1974 |isbn=0-226-62202-9 |series=[[University of Chicago Oriental Institute|Oriental Institute]] Publications |author-link=Robert D. Biggs |issue=99}}</ref><ref>Two fragmentary [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] versions survive, from the 15th century BCE and from the end of the second millennium BCE: "Its great antiquity and popularity is evidenced by the large number of manuscripts of it that have survived" (Beaulieu in Clifford 2007:4).</ref><ref name="Hansencentret2002">{{cite book |author1=Mogens Herman Hansen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBa3oW3F5rQC&pg=PA40 |title=A comparative study of six city-state cultures: an investigation |author2=Københavns universitet. Polis centret |date=2002 |publisher=Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab |isbn=978-87-7876-316-7 |pages=40– |access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="BlackBlack2006">{{cite book |author1=Jeremy A. Black |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1W2mTtGVV4C&pg=PA325 |title=The Literature of Ancient Sumer |author2=Jeremy Black |author3=Graham Cunningham |author4=Eleanor Robson |date=13 April 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-929633-0 |pages=325– |access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref>''
* '''2600 BC:''' Egyptian ''The Life of [[Metjen]]'' from [[Saqqara]]<ref name="towi">Toby A. H. Wilkinson: ''Early Dynastic Egypt''. Routledge, London/New York 2001, {{ISBN|0-415-26011-6}}.</ref>
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