Some ancient narratives
This is a list of narrative fiction (and some non-fiction, though the lines can get blurry) written in the long period spanning from the beginning of literature to late antiquity.
Before you say “been there, done that”, I need to stress that my ambition was to make it significantly different from various popular “great books” or “canon” lists that are easy to find on the web. I swear it’s not yet another messy jumble of “some old stuff of one kind or another that is supposed to be good for some reason”.
Firstly, this list focuses solely on narrative literature – in other words, on written stories. While both prose and verse forms were admitted, and a broad range of genres is represented, there are no collections of poems, dramas, or abstract philosophical and political treatises. Each work listed here, or at least a significant portion of it, is about interesting things happening to a person or persons over time.
Secondly, the list is decidedly not canonical. While it does include many of the absolute immortal classics of the kind you’ve learned about in school, it also displays many texts that are now largely forgotten or studied only by a narrow group of specialists, such as the Greek proto-novels, folkbook romances, or the late epic Dionysiaca. While biblical literature (both canonical and apocryphal) is certainly far from unknown, it often gets unfairly ignored as a monolith of religious writing that is not supposed to be read for its literary qualities; to amend this, I listed each important biblical narrative work as a separate item.
I did my best to provide links to English translations that are generally well-regarded. Of course, it is important to remember that for some of these works numerous other editions exist, but it would be difficult to present them within the format of this website.
If you’re interested in medieval and early modern fiction as well, my follow-up to this list follows very similar principles.
Atrahasis
(c. 1650 BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Enuma Elish
(late 2nd millennium BCE)
3.5 figs out of 5
Works and Days and Theogony
by Hesiod
(c. 730–700 BCE)
3.5 figs out of 5
Hebrew Bible: The “Enneateuch” (Genesis through Kings)
(c. 8th–5th century BCE)
3.5 figs out of 5
Book of Job
(7th–4th century BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Story of Ahikar (Ahiqar)
(5th century BCE )
3 figs out of 5
Book of Ruth
(6th–4th century BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Histories
by Herodotus
(c. 430 BCE )
2.5 figs out of 5
Cyropaedia (The Education of Cyrus)
by Xenophon of Athens
(c. 370 BCE)
3 figs out of 5
Book of Esther
(4th century BCE)
3 figs out of 5
Book of Tobit
(3rd or early 2nd century BCE)
3 figs out of 5
Book of Enoch
(300–100 BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Book of Daniel (with additions)
(2nd century BCE)
3 figs out of 5
Book of Judith
(2nd–1st century BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
3 Maccabees
(1st century BCE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Joseph and Aseneth
(between 200 BCE and 200 CE)
3 figs out of 5
Chaereas and Callirhoe
by Chariton
(1st century CE)
3.5 figs out of 5
Life of Apollonius of Tyana
by Philostratus
(1st century CE)
3.5 figs out of 5
The Life of Aesop (The Aesop Romance)
(1st century CE)
3 figs out of 5
Pharsalia (On the Civil War)
by Lucan
(65 CE)
3 figs out of 5
Thebaid
by Statius
(80–90 CE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Gospels (canonical)
(between 66 and 110 CE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Acts of the Apostles (canonical)
(80–110 CE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Daphnis and Chloe
by Longus
(2nd century CE)
4 figs out of 5
Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes
by Xenophon of Ephesus
(late 2nd century CE)
3.5 figs out of 5
A True Story
by Lucian of Samosata
(2nd century CE)
4 figs out of 5
Leucippe and Clitophon
by Achilles Tatius
(1st or 2nd century CE)
4 figs out of 5
Acts of the Apostles (non-canonical)
(2nd and 3rd century CE)
3 figs out of 5
Aethiopica (Theagenes and Chariclea)
by Heliodorus
(220s or 370s CE)
4 figs out of 5
Clementine Romance
by Pseudo-Clement
(2nd-4th century CE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Alexander Romance
by Pseudo-Callisthenes
(before 338 CE)
4 figs out of 5
Dionysiaca
by Nonnus of Panopolis
(5th century CE)
3 figs out of 5
Apollonius King of Tyre
(late 6th century CE)
3 figs out of 5
