Early literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of literature during ancient times.

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

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, Classical Tamil, and Sangam literature in India, Chinese classics in China, and in Late Antiquity the beginning of classical Syriac and Middle Persian literature.