The Really Long List of Great Literature
If the nearly one thousand books of The Greatest Literature of All Time are not enough to keep you reading, how about twice as many? And then some?
So far we have listed here more than 2,400 titles...and counting. If that seems daunting, don't worry. You're not expected to read all the works listed here. No one could.
So why present this really, really long list? To give you more great reading choices. More amazing works you might never have heard of or considered. More diversity in your reading, pushing you to stray from the narrower established canon.
Each title is on this list because at least some subset of readers, writers, critics or scholars thinks it's great.
Like our flagship Greatest Literature list, the Really Long List of Great Literature focuses on major creative works, although it may additionally include a few significant short works or nonfiction works.
Even more than our other lists, this is a work in endless progress. It is continually being updated and upgraded.
Latest update: March 17, 2024
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
Ancient Literature (BCE)
c.2100–2000
The Descent of Inanna
by Anonymous, Sumer
Epic poem
c.2100–1200
Gilgamesh
by Anonymous, Babylon
Poem also known as The Epic of Gilgamesh; He Who Saw the Deep
c.2030
A Love Song of Shu-Suen
by Anonymous, Sumer
Poem
c.1990
"The Shipwrecked Sailor"
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story also known as "The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor"; "The Sailor and the Serpent"; "The Island of Enchantment"
c.1800
Enuma Elish
by Anonymous, Babylon
Poem
"The Eloquent Peasant"
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story also known as "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant"; "The Plea of the Eloquent Peasant"; "The Tale of the Peasant and the Workman"
c.1200
Tale of Two Brothers
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story
c.1100
Story of Wenamun
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story
c.1200–100
The Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament)
by Various authors, Middle East
Prose and poetry collection
c.1000
Dialogue of Pessimism
by Anonymous, Assyria
Dialogue
c.1000–600
Classic of Poetry
by Various authors, China
Poetry collection
c.600–200
Ramayana
by Valmiki, India
Poem
c.610–580
Sappho's Poems
by Sappho, Greece
Poetry collection
c.600–500
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, Greece
Story collection includes The Fox and the Grapes, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and more
c.520–440
Epinician Odes
by Pindar, Greece
Poetry collection
c.500
The Art of War
by Sun Tzu, China
Nonfiction
Hero and Leander
by Musaeus Grammaticus, Greece
Poem
475
Olympian
by Pindar, Greece
Play
472
The Persians
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play
467
Seven Against Thebes
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play
c.462
The Suppliant Maidens
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play
458
The Oresteia
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play series includes Agamemnon, The Eumenides, The Libation Bearers
c.450–425
Prometheus Bound
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play
The Women of Trachis
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
442–441
Ajax
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
438
Alcestis
by Euripides, Greece
Play
431
Medea
by Euripides, Greece
Play
431–404
Histories
by Herodotus, History
Play
c.430
Children of Heracles
by Euripides, Greece
Play
429
Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles, Greece
Play also known as Oedipus; Oedipus Tyrannus; Oedipus the King
428
Hippolytus
by Euripides, Greece
Play
Andromache
by Euripides, Greece
Play
c.427
Hecuba
by Euripides, Greece
Play
425
The Acharnians
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
424
The Knights
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
423
The Clouds
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
The Suppliants
by Euripides, Greece
Play
422
The Wasps
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
c.420–410
Electra
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
418
Electra
by Euripides, Greece
Play
c.416
Herakles
by Euripides, Greece
Play
415
The Trojan Women
by Euripides, Greece
Play
414
The Birds
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
414–412
Ion
by Euripides, Greece
Play
411
Women at the Thesmophoria
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
412
Helen
by Euripides, Greece
Play
c.412
Iphigenia Tauris
by Euripides, Greece
Play
411
Lysistrata
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
409
Philoctetes
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
406
The Bacchae
by Euripides, Greece
Play
c.405
Cyclops
by Euripides, Greece
Play
405
The Frogs
by Aristophanes, Greece
Play
401
Oedipus at Colonus
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
c.400
Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu, China
Nonfiction
c.400–400CE
Mahābhārata
by Anonymous, India
Poem
c.385–370
The Symposium
by Plato, Greece
Nonfiction
History of the Peloponnesian War
by Thucydides, Greece
Nonfiction
c.380
Meno
by Plato, Greece
Nonfiction
c.370
Phaedrus
by Plato, Greece
Nonfiction
Anabasis
by Xenophon, Greece
Nonfiction
Cryopedia
by Xenophon, Greece
Biography
317–316
Dyskolos
by Menander, Greece
Play
c.300
Zhuangzi
by Zhuang Zhou, China
Story collection
c.270
Epigrams
by Asclepiades of Samos, Greece
Poetry collection
Idylls
by Theocritus, Greece
Poetry collection
c.270–240
Aetia
by Callimachus, Greece
Poem
c.250
Voyage of the Argonauts
by Appollonius of Rhodes, Greece
Poem
c.200–300
Panchatantra (Five Treatises)
by Anonymous, India
Story collection
c.200
The Analects
by Confucious, China, Sayings
The Twin Brothers
by Plautus, Rome
Play
Miles Gloriosus
by Plautus, Rome
Play
191
Pseudolus
by Plautus, Rome
Play
166
The Girl from Andros
by Terence, Rome
Play
163
The Self-Tormenter
by Terence, Rome
Play
161
Eunuchus
by Terence, Rome
Play
c.50
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius, Rome
Poem
c.46
Commentaries on the Civil War
by Julius Caesar, Rome, History
c.41–37
Eclogues
by Virgil, Rome
Poetry collection
c.35–30
Satires
by Horace, Rome
Poetry collection
30–26
Marathus cycle
by Tibullus, Rome
Poetry cycle
29
Georgics
by Virgil, Rome
Poem
c.29–16
Elegies
by Sextus Propertius, Rome
Poetry collection
c.29–19
Aeneid
by Virgil, Rome
Poem
23–13
Odes
by Horace, Rome
Poetry collection
c.19
The Art of Poetry
by Horace, Rome
Poem
Ancient Literature (1 to 400 CE)
c.48–110
The New Testament
by Various authors, Middle East
Prose and poetry collection
c.50
Callirhoe
by Chariton, Greece
Novel
Medea
by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Rome
Play
Hercules Furens
by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Rome
Play
c.54
Phaedra
by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Rome
Play
c.55
Thyestes
by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Rome
Play
c.60-70
Satyricon
by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Rome
Novel
61–65
Pharsalia
by Lucan, Rome
Epic poem
c.79
Argonautica
by Valerius Flaccus, Rome
Poem
c.86–103
Epigrams
by Martial, Rome
Poetry collection
c.92
Thebaid
by Statius, Rome
Poem
c.93–96
Silvae
by Statius, Rome
Poetry collection
c.100
Parallel Lives
by Plutarch, Greece, Biographies
c.100–127
Satires
by Juvenal, Rome
Poetry collection
121
The Twelve Caesars
by Suetonis, Rome
Biography
c.150
Daphnis and Chloe
by Longus, Greece
Novel
The Golden Ass
by Lucius Apuleius, Numidia
Novel
c.290
Records of Diverse Matters
by Zhang Hua, China
Story collection
c.300
The Vision of Vasavadatta
by Bhāsa, India
Play
397–400
Confessions
by Augustine of Hippo, Numidia
Memoir
c.400
The Recognition of Sakuntala
by Kalidasa, India
Play
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
See also:
Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list
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