Timeline of Ancient Writings

In my years of research, I have learned that it is useful to have a timeline of “who said what” “when.”  As we all know, versions of history and philosophical concepts change dramatically down through the years.  Here is a timeline of some ancient writers or writings.  Obviously the dates are approximate.  And certainly I have left out many that may be added later; leave a comment with someone you would like included.

c. 3000-2000 BCE             Sumerian Hymns and Tablets

c. 3000-2000 BCE             Egyptian Pyramid and Coffin Texts

c. 2285-2250 BCE               Sumerian Tablet story of Innanna

c. 1900 BCE                          Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh

c. 1900 BCE                          Egyptian Story of Sinuhe

c. 1800 BCE                          Babylonian Texts

c. 1600 BCE                          Egyptian Book of the Dead

c. 1600-1100 BCE                Indian Sanskrit Rigveda

c. 1100-600 BCE                  Zorastrian Avesta

c. 1000 BCE                          Chinese I Ching

c. 900-700 BCE                    Indian Upanishads and Brahmanas

c. 850-750 BCE                     Hebrew Torah

c. 850-750 BCE                     Homer, Greek, Iliad and Odyssey

c. 800 BCE                             Indian Mahabharata

c. 700 BCE                              Hesiod, Greek Theogony, and Works and Day

c. 638 BCE                              Solon, Greek Statesman and Poet

c. 620- c. 570 BCE                 Sappho, Greek Poet

c. 600 BCE                              Aesop, Greek, Fables

c. 600 BCE                              Epimenides of Knossos, Poet

c.600 Chinese,                        Lao Tse  Tao Te Ching

c. 600-500 BCE                     Confucious, Chinese philosopher,

c. 525 – c. 456 BCE                Aeschylus, Greek Tragedian

c. 522-443 BCE                     Pindar, Greek Poet

c. 500 BCE                             Parmenides, Greek Philosopher

c. 496 – c. 406 BCE               Sophocles, Greek Playwright

c. 484 – 407 BCE                  Euripides, Greek Tragedian

c.480-425 BCE                     Herodotus, Greek Histories

c. 460 -380 BCE                  Aristophanes, Greek Comedic Playwright

c. 450 BCE                            Diagoras of Melos, Sophist

c. 436 BC – 338 BC               Isocrates, Greek Rhetorician

C. 460-400 BCE                   Thucydides, Greek history, particularly of Peloponnesian War

c. 423 BCE                             Socrates, Greek Philosopher

c. 400 BCE                             India Ramayana

c. 400 BCE                             Menander, Greek Comic Dramatist

c. 430-371 BCE                      Xenophon, Greek Historian Anabasis

c. 399 BCE                              Socrates convicted in Athens

c. 387-360 BCE                     Plato, Greek Philosopher

c. 350 BCE                             Aristoxenos, Harmonic Elements

c. 340 BCE                             Philitas, Greek Poet, Demeter

c. 330 BCE                            Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

c. 300 BCE                           Theocritus, Greek Poet

c. 300 BCE                            Apollonius of Rhodes, Greek Poet

c. 250 BCE                           Diogenes Laertius, Greek Historian

c. 254 – 184 BC                   Plautus, Roman Playwright

c. 234 – 149 BCE               Cato the Elder, Roman Historian

c. 160 – 103 BC                   Gaius Lucilius, Roman Satirist

c. 185 BCE                          Terence, Roman drama

c. 106 – 43 BCE                 Cicero, Roman Philosopher

c. 99 – 55 BCE                   Lucretius, Roman Poet & Philosopher

70 – 19 BCE                        Virgin, Roman Poet, The Aeneid

65 – 8 BCE                           Horace, Roman Poet

59 BCE – 17 CE                  Livy, Roman Historian

c. 43 BCE-17 CE                 Ovid, Metamorphoses

c. 20 BCE-50 CE                Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Jewish Philosopher

c. 4 BCE-65 CE                   Seneca the Younger, Philosopher and Playwright

c. 23-79 CE                         Pliny the Elder, Encyclopedia

c. 46-120 CE                       Plutarch, Roman Historian

c. 56-117 CE                        Tacitus, Roman historian, Histories and Annals

c. 100-200 CE                    Christian Bible

c. 120 CE                             Pausanias, Roman Geographer describes Ancient Greece

c. 529 CE                            Justinian closes schools of Athens

c. 700 CE                            Arabic Qur’an

c 800 CE                            Anglo-Saxon Beowulf