Ancient History and Literature Anthology I

This anthology gathers the foundational texts of the ancient world—works that shaped the moral, political, and religious imagination of early civilizations. From the justice of Hammurabi’s law to the wisdom of Confucius, from the myths of Mesopotamia and Egypt to the tragedies and histories of Greece, these writings trace humanity’s earliest reflections on order, virtue, suffering, and the divine. Together they reveal how ancient peoples sought meaning amid chaos and sought to harmonize the human and the cosmic through story, law, and inquiry.

Readings and Authors Dates

• Code of Hammurabi — King Hammurabi of Babylon (reigned c. 1792–1750 BC)

• Confucius, Analects — Confucius (Kong Fuzi, c. 551–479 BC)

• Herodotus, Histories — Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484–425 BC)

• Thucydides, Histories — Thucydides (c. 460–395 BC)

• Plutarch, Life of Alexander the Great — Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 46–120 AD)

• Epic of Gilgamesh — Anonymous Sumerian/Babylonian authors (c. 2100–1200 BC)

• Aeschylus, Agamemnon & Oresteia — Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BC)

• Euripides, Cyclops — Euripides (c. 480–406 BC)

• Enuma Elish — Anonymous Babylonian author (c. 1100 BC)

• The Kumarbi Cycle (Anthology) — Hittite poets (c. 1400–1200 BC)

• Great Hymn to Aten (Anthology) — Attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten (reigned c. 1353–1336 BC)

• Ba‘al Cycle (Anthology) — Ugaritic authors (c. 1400 BC)

• Hesiod, Theogony — Hesiod (c. 750–650 BC)

• Atrahasis Epic — Anonymous Babylonian author (c. 1700 BC)

• The Babylonian Theodicy — Anonymous Babylonian author (c. 1000 BC)