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
Anonymous,
Sumer, Poetry
c.2100–1200
Babylon, poem
c.2030
A Love Song of Shu-Suen
Anonymous,
Sumer, poem
c.1800
Enuma Elish
Anonymous,
Babylon, poem
c.1200
Tale of Two Brothers
Anonymous,
Egypt, story
c.1100
Story of Wenamun
Anonymous,
Egypt, story
c.1200–100
Various authors,,
MIddle East, Prose and poetry
c.1000
Dialogue of Pessimism
Anonymous,
Assyria, poem
c.1000–600
Classic of Poetry
Various authors,,
China, Poetry
c.700
Theogony
Greece, poem
Works and Days
Greece, poem
c.600–200
Ramayana
Valmiki,
India, poem
c.610–580
Sappho's Poems
Sappho,
Greece, poetry collection
c.600–500
Aesop's Fables
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
Pindar,
Greece, poetry collection
c.500
The Art of War
Sun Tzu,
China, nonfiction
Hero and Leander
Musaeus Grammaticus,
Greece, poem
475
Olympian
Pindar,
Greece, play
472
The Persians
Aeschylus,
Greece, play
467
Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus,
Greece, play
c.462
The Suppliant Maidens
Aeschylus,
Greece, play
458
The Oresteia
Aeschylus,
Greece, play series
Includes Agamemnon, The Eumenides, The Libation Bearers
c.450–425
Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus,
Greece, play
The Women of Trachis
Sophocles,
Greece, play
442–441
Ajax
Sophocles,
Greece, play
438
Alcestis
Euripides,
Greece, play
431
Medea
Euripides,
Greece, play
431–404
Histories
Herodotus,
History, play
c.430
Children of Heracles
Euripides,
Greece, play
429
Sophocles,
Greece, play
428
Hippolytus
Euripides,
Greece, play
Andromache
Euripides,
Greece, play
c.427
Hecuba
Euripides,
Greece, play
425
The Acharnians
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
424
The Knights
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
423
The Clouds
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
The Suppliants
Euripides,
Greece, play
422
The Wasps
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
c.420–410
Electra
Sophocles,
Greece, play
418
Electra
Euripides,
Greece, play
c.416
Herakles
Euripides,
Greece, play
415
The Trojan Women
Euripides,
Greece, play
414
The Birds
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
414–412
Ion
Euripides,
Greece, play
411
Women at the Thesmophoria
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
412
Helen
Euripides,
Greece, play
c.412
Iphigenia Tauris
Euripides,
Greece, play
411
Lysistrata
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
409
Philoctetes
Sophocles,
Greece, play
406
The Bacchae
Euripides,
Greece, play
c.405
Cyclops
Euripides,
Greece, play
405
The Frogs
Aristophanes,
Greece, play
401
Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles,
Greece, play
c.400
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu,
China, nonfiction
c.400–400CE
Mahābhārata
Anonymous,
India, poem
c.385–370
The Symposium
Plato,
Greece, nonfiction
c.380
Plato,
Greece, nonfiction
History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides,
Greece, nonfiction
c.380
Meno
Plato,
Greece, nonfiction
c.370
Phaedrus
Plato,
Greece, nonfiction
Anabasis
Xenophon,
Greece, nonfiction
Cryopedia
Xenophon,
Greece, biography
317–316
Dyskolos
Menander,
Greece, play
c.300
Zhuangzi
Zhuang Zhou,
China, story collection
c.270
Epigrams
Asclepiades of Samos,
Greece, poetry collection
Idylls
Theocritus,
Greece, poetry collection
c.270–240
Aetia
Callimachus,
Greece, poem
c.250
Voyage of the Argonauts
Appollonius of Rhodes,
Greece, poem
c.200–300
Panchatantra (Five Treatises)
Anonymous,
India, story collection
c.200
The Analects
Confucious,
China, Sayings
The Twin Brothers
Plautus,
Rome, play
Miles Gloriosus
Plautus,
Rome, play
191
Pseudolus
Plautus,
Rome, play
166
The Girl from Andros
Terence,
Rome, play
163
The Self-Tormenter
Terence,
Rome, play
161
Eunuchus
Terence,
Rome, play
c.50
On the Nature of Things
Lucretius,
Rome, Poetry
c.46
Commentaries on the Civil War
Julius Caesar,
Rome, History
c.41–37
Eclogues
Virgil,
Rome, poetry collection
c.35–30
Satires
Horace,
Rome, poetry collection
30–26
Marathus cycle
Tibullus,
Rome, Poetry
29
Georgics
Virgil,
Rome, poem
c.29–16
Elegies
Sextus Propertius,
Rome, poetry collection
c.29–19
Aeneid
Virgil,
Rome, poem
23–13
Odes
Horace,
Rome, poem
c.19
The Art of Poetry
Horace,
Rome, poem
c.10
The Art of Love
Rome, poem
Ancient Literature (1 to 400 CE)
c.8
Metamorphoses
Rome, poem
The Book of Days
Rome, poem
c.48–110
Various authors,,
Middle East, Prose and poetry
c.50
Callirhoe
Chariton,
Greece, novel
Medea
Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Rome, play
Hercules Furens
Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Rome, play
c.54
Phaedra
Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Rome, play
c.55
Thyestes
Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Rome, play
c.60-70
Satyricon
Gaius Petronius Arbiter,
Rome, novel
61–65
Pharsalia
Lucan,
Rome, Poetry
c.79
Argonautica
Valerius Flaccus,
Rome, poem
c.86–103
Epigrams
Martial,
Rome, poetry collection
c.92
Thebaid
Statius,
Rome, poem
c.93–96
Silvae
Statius,
Rome, poetry collection
c.100
Parallel Lives
Plutarch,
Greece, Biographies
c.100–127
Satires
Juvenal,
Rome, poetry collection
121
The Twelve Caesars
Suetonis,
Rome, biography
c.150
Daphnis and Chloe
Longus,
Greece, novel
The Golden Ass
Lucius Apuleius,
Numidia, novel
c.290
Records of Diverse Matters
Zhang Hua,
China, story collection
c.300
The Vision of Vasavadatta
Bhāsa,
India, play
397–400
Confessions
Augustine of Hippo,
Numidia, memoir
c.400
The Recognition of Sakuntala
Kalidasa,
India, play
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
