Sumerian, Egyptian & Hebrew:
Authors Unknown
Gilgamesh Epic
Enuma Elish
Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead
Hymn to Osiris
Ancient Greece (800 BC-300 BC):
Aeschylus (525-456 BC)
Agamemnon (from the Oresteia Trilogy)
Homer (8th Century BC)
Illiad (760 BC)
Odyssey (680 BC)
Herodtus (484-425 BC)
Histories (440 BC)
Sophocles (495-406 BC)
Oedipus Rex, also? Oedipus thee King (428 BC)
Plato (424-348 BC)
The Death of Socrates (360 BC)
The Republic (360 BC)
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
The Rhetoric and Poetics (335 BC)
Ancient Rome (300 BC?500 AD):>
Virgil (70-90 BC)
Aeneid (20 BC)
Aurelius, Marcus (121-180 AD)
Meditations (180 AD)
Early Church History (30-500 AD):
Matthew recording the teachings of Jesus (30 AD)
The Sermon on the Mount
Author Unknown
Didache “Teaching†(early second century)
Teachings of the 12 Apostles
St. Clement I, Pope of Rome (Papacy: 88-99 AD)
Writings to the Church in Corinth
St. Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)
Writings
Author Unknown
The Martyrdom of Polycarp (mid 3rd Century)
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
Confessions (398 AD)
Japanese:
Ono no Komachi (825-900 AD)
Poems
Hitomaro, Kakinomoto (662-710 AD)
“In Praise of Empress Jitoâ€
“I Loved Her Like the Leavesâ€
Shunrai, Minamoto no, also Toshiyori) (1055-1129 AD)
Waka Poems
Shikibu, Izumi (974-1034 AD)
“The Cuckooâ€
Shikubu, Murasakai (978-1016 AD)
The Tales of Jenji
Shonagon, Sei (966-1017 AD)
Pillow Book
Indian:
Author Unknown (composed from ~4th century BC-500 AD)
The Bhagavad-Gâtâ- (from the Mah-Bhrata)
Bidpai (3rd century AD) ? Hindu wise man
Panchatantra â€Five Principlesâ€
Mirabai (1498-1546) – Hindu Brahman Aristocrat
“Oh Friends on this Pathâ€
“This Bundle of Sufferingâ€
Mahadeviyakka (19th Century AD) – Hindu
“Other Menâ€
“It Was Like a Streamâ€
Persian & Arabic (600-1400 AD):
Mohammed (570-632 AD) – Arab Muslim
The Koran
Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (717-801 AD) – Iraqian
“In Loveâ€
“Doorkeeper of the Heartâ€
Kassiane (810-867 AD) – Byzantine Christian Hymn Writer
“Hymnâ€
“Most Impartial Judgeâ€
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 AD) ?Iranian
The Rubaiyat
Chinese (1400 BC-1890 AD):
Confucius (551-479 BC)
The Analects (Sayings)
T’ao Ch’ien (365-427 BC)
“After the Ancientsâ€
“Without All That Racketâ€
“Peach Blossom Springâ€
Pan Zhao (48-117 AD)
“Needle and Threadâ€
Wang Wei (699-759 AD)
“Deer Forest Hermitageâ€
“Magnolia Hermitageâ€
“On Parting with Springâ€
Li Po (701-762 AD)
“Drinking Alone with the Moonâ€
Middle Ages (500-1500):
Author Unknown – Spanish
Poema del Cid (1140)
Dante, Alighieri (1265?1321) – Italian
Divine Comedy (The Inferno only)
Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz (1651-1695) – Mexican
“May Heaven Serve as Plate for the Engravingâ€
“Yet if, for Singing your Praiseâ€
Romanticism:
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832) – German
Tragedy of Faust (part 1, 1808 and part 2, 1833)
Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830-1894) – English
“Where are the Songs I Used to Know?†(1904)
“There is a Budding Morrow in the Midnightâ€
Realism:
Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821-1881) – Russian
Crime and Punishment (1866)
Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910) – Russian
War and Peace (1869)
The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886)
Ibsen, Henrik (1828-1906) – Norwegian
A Doll’s House (1879)
Chekhov, Anton (1866-1904) – Russian
“Easter Eve†(1886)
“The Bet†(1889)
Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanova (1892-1941) – Russian
“What Shall I Do?â€â€
Modern Age:
Mistral, Gabriela (1892-1957) – Chilean
“I Am Not Aloneâ€
“Tiny Feetâ€
Márquez, Gabriel GarcÃa (1982 Nobel Prize) ? Columbia
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wingsâ€
Lagerlöf, Selma Louisa (1858-1940) – Swedish
The Löwensköld Ring (1925)
Sodergran, Edith (1892-1923) – Finnish
“Pains Governs Allâ€
Camus, Albert (1913-1960) – French
The Stranger (1942)
Remarque, Erich Maria (1998-1970) – German
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
Markandaya, Kamala (1924-2004) – Hindu
Nectarina Sieve (1955)
Paton, Alan (1903-1988) – South African
Cry the Beloved Country (1948)