История литературы: от истоков до древности.

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a more in depth table of the history of literature

The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces. Not all writings constitute literature. Some recorded materials, such as compilations of data (e. g., a check register) are not considered literature, and this article relates only to the evolution of the works defined above.

Early literature is derived from stories told in hunter gatherer bands through oral tradition, including myth and folklore. Storytelling emerged as the human mind evolved to apply causal reasoning and structure events into a narrative and language, allowing early humans to share information with one another. Early storytelling provided opportunity to learn about dangers and social norms while also entertaining listeners. Myth can be expanded to include all use of patterns and stories to make sense of the world, and it may be psychologically intrinsic to humans. Epic poetry is recognized as the pinnacle of ancient literature. These works are long narrative poems that recount the feats of mythic heroes, often said to take place in the nation's early history. The history of writing began independently in different parts of the world, including in Mesopotamia about 3200 BC, in Ancient China about 1250 BC, and in Mesoamerica about 650 BC. Literature was not initially incorporated in writing, as it was primarily used for simpler purposes, such as accounting. Some of the earliest surviving works of literature include The Maxims of Ptahhotep and the Story of Wenamun from Ancient Egypt, Instructions of Shuruppak and Poor Man of Nippur from Mesopotamia, and Classic of Poetry from Ancient China.

Sumerian literature is the oldest known literature, written in Sumer. Types of literature were not clearly defined, and all Sumerian literature incorporated poetic aspects. Sumerian poems demonstrate basic elements of poetry, including lines, imagery, and metaphor. Humans, gods, talking animals, and inanimate objects were all incorporated as characters. Suspense and humor were both incorporated into Sumerian stories. These stories were primarily shared orally, though they were also recorded by scribes. Some works were associated with specific musical instruments or contexts and may have been performed in specific settings. Sumerian literature did not use titles, instead being referred to by the work's first line. Akkadian literature developed in subsequent Mesopotamian societies, such as Babylonia and Assyria, from the third to first millennia BC. During this time, it spread to other areas, including Egypt, Ugarit, and Hattusa. The Akkadian language was influenced by the Sumerian language, and many elements of Sumerian literature were adopted in Akkadian literature. Many works of Akkadian literature were commissioned by kings that had scribes and scholars in their service. Some of these works served to celebrate the king or the divine, while others recorded information for religious practices or medicine. Poetry, proverbs, folktales, love lyrics, and accounts of disputes were all incorporated into Akkadian literature.

Literature of the Old Kingdom of Egypt developed directly from practical use during the Fifth Dynasty. Lists of offerings to the gods were rewritten as prayers, and statistical information about state officials was expanded into autobiographies. These autobiographies were written to exemplify the virtues of their subjects and often incorporated a free flow style that blended prose and poetry. Kings were not written about beyond clerical recordings, but poetry was performed during the funerals of kings as part of a religious ritual. The Instructions, a form of wisdom literature that was popular during most of Ancient Egyptian history, taught maxims of Ancient Egyptian philosophy that combined pragmatic thought and religious speculation. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, the popularity of wisdom literature and educational works persisted, though the use of teachings and stories was prioritized over the use of discourses. Entertainment literature was popular among the nobility during this period, incorporating aspects of narrative myth and folklore, religious hymns, love songs, and praise for the king and the city.

Chinese mythology played a notable role in the earliest Chinese literature, though it was less prominent compared to mythological literature in other civilizations. By the time of the Zhou dynasty, Chinese culture emphasized the community over the individual, discouraging mythological stories of great personages and characterization of the divine. Mythological literature was more common in the southern Chu nation. The Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi are philosophical compilations that serve as the foundation of Taoism. Confucius was a defining figure in ancient Chinese philosophy and politics. He collected the Six Classics as founding texts of Confucianism, and they became the central texts by which other works were compared in Chinese literary scholarship. Confucianism dominated literary tastes in Ancient China starting in the Warring States period. The Classic of Poetry, one of the Six Classics, is the oldest existing anthology of Chinese poetry. It comprises 305 works by anonymous authors dating from the 12th to 7th centuries BC. Prior to the collection of these works, poetic tradition in Ancient China was primarily oral. The Chu Ci anthology is a volume of poems from the Warring States period written in Chu and attributed to Qu Yuan. These poems were written as rhapsodies that were meant to be recited with a specific tone rather than sung. The Music Bureau was developed during the Zhou dynasty, establishing a governmental role for the collection of musical works and folk songs that would persist throughout Chinese history. Historical documents developed into an early form of literature during the Warring States period, as documentation was combined with narrative and sometimes with legendary accounts of history. Two of the Six Classics, the Book of Documents and the Spring and Autumn Annals, are historical documents. The latter inspired works of historical commentary that became a genre in their own right, including the Zuo Zhuan, the Gongyang Zhuan, and the Guliang Zhuan. The Zuo Zhuan is considered to be the first large scale narrative work in Chinese literature. The Art of War by Sun Tzu was an influential book on military strategy that is still referenced in the modern era.

Poetry written in the brief period of the Qin dynasty has been entirely lost. Poetry in the Han dynasty diverged as several branches developed, including short length, paralleled exposition, rhymed exposition, and ancient style, and idealism also became popular during the Han dynasty. The books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium, with the oldest texts originating from about the eleventh or tenth centuries BCE. They are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. The Old Testament was compiled and edited by various authors over a period of centuries, with many scholars concluding that the Hebrew canon was solidified by about the 3rd century BC. The New Testament was an additional collection of books that supplemented the Hebrew Bible, consisting of the gospels that described Jesus and the epistles written by notable figures of early Christianity.

Early Greek literature was composed in dactylic hexameter. Homer is credited with the codification of epic poetry in Ancient Greece with the Iliad and the Odyssey. Hesiod is credited with developing a literary tradition of poetry derived from catalogues and genealogies, such as the Megala Erga and the Theogony. Notable writers of religious literature also held similar prominence at the time, but these works have since been lost. Notable among later Greek poets was Sappho, who contributed to the development of lyric poetry and was widely popular in antiquity. Ancient Greek plays originate from the chorus plays of Athens in the 6th century BC as a tradition to honor Dionysus, the god of theater and wine. Greek plays came to be associated with "elaborate costumes, complex choreography, scenic architecture, and the mask". They were often structured as a tetralogy in which three tragedies were followed by a satyr play. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were known for their tragedies, while Aristophanes and Menander were known for their comedies. Sophocles is most well known for his play Oedipus Rex, which established an early example of literary irony. Ancient Greek philosophy was developed as the foundation of Western philosophy. Thales of Miletus was the first person in recorded history to engage in Western philosophy. The Ancient Greek philosophical literature was advanced by Plato, who incorporated philosophical debates into dialogues with Socratic questioning. Aristotle, Plato's student, wrote dozens of works on many scientific disciplines. Aristotle also developed early literary criticism and literary theory in his Poetics.

In the Roman Republic, literature took the form of tragedy, comedy, epic, and historical. Livius Andronicus is recognized as the originator of literature in the Latin language, and due to Rome's influence, the development of Latin literature often extended beyond the traditional boundaries of Rome. Plautus was an influential playwright known for his comedies that emphasized humor and popular culture. The late republic saw the rise of Augustan literature and Classical Latin, which was primarily prose and included the works of Cicero and Sallust. Upon the formation of the Roman Empire, political commentary declined and prose went out of favor to be replaced by poetry. Poets such as Virgil, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid are recognized as bringing about the Golden Age of Latin literature. Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid closely followed the formula established by Homer. Prominent Latin authors that lived during the early empire included Pliny the Elder, Seneca the Younger, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As the Roman Empire grew, Latin literature increasingly came from Spain and Northern Africa. Historical works of the early empire included the epic Pharsalia by Lucan, which followed Caesar's civil war, and the Annals of Tacitus, which recorded the events of the first century. The Golden Ass by Apuleius was written in the later Empire and is possibly the world's oldest novel. The adoption of Christianity in the Roman Empire became apparent in Latin literature, most notably in the confessional writing of Augustine of Hippo, such as the Confessions.

Knowledge traditions in India handed down philosophical gleanings and theological concepts through the two traditions of Shruti and Smriti, meaning that which is learnt and that which is experienced, which included the Vedas. It is generally believed that the Puranas are the earliest philosophical writings in Indian history, although linguistic works on Sanskrit existed earlier than 1000 BC. Puranic works such as the Indian epics: Ramayana and Mahabharata, have influenced countless other works, including Balinese Kecak and other performances such as shadow puppetry (wayang), and many European works. Pali literature has an important position in the rise of Buddhism. Classical Sanskrit literature flowers in the Maurya and Gupta periods, roughly spanning the 2nd century BC to the 8th century AD. Classical Tamil literature also emerged in the early historic period dating from 300 BC to 300 AD, and is the earliest secular literature of India, mainly dealing with themes such as love and war. The Gupta period in India sees the flowering of Sanskrit drama, classical Sanskrit poetry and the compilation of the Puranas.

After the fall of Rome (in roughly 476), many of the literary approaches and styles invented by the Greeks and Romans fell out of favor in Europe. In the millennium or so that intervened between Rome's fall and the Florentine Renaissance, medieval literature focused more and more on faith and faith related matters, in part because the works written by the Greeks had not been preserved in Europe, and therefore there were few models of classical literature to learn from and move beyond. Although much had been lost to the ravages of time (and to catastrophe, as in the burning of the Library of Alexandria), many Greek works remained extant: they were preserved and copied carefully by Muslim scribes. What little there was became changed and distorted, with new forms beginning to develop from the distortions. Some of these distorted beginnings of new styles can be seen in the literature generally described as Matter of Rome, Matter of France and Matter of Britain. Around 400 AD, the Prudenti Psychomachia began the tradition of allegorical tales. Poetry flourished, however, in the hands of the troubadours, whose courtly romances and chanson de geste amused and entertained the upper classes who were their patrons. The First Crusade in 1095 also affected literature. For instance the image of the knight would take on a different significance. The Islamic emphasis on scientific investigation and the preservation of the Greek philosophical writings would also affect European literature. Hagiographies, or "lives of the saints", were frequent among early medieval European texts. The writings of Bede—Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum—and others continue the faith based historical tradition begun by Eusebius in the early 4th century. Between Augustine and The Bible, religious authors had numerous aspects of Christianity that needed further explication and interpretation. Thomas Aquinas, more than any other single person, was able to turn theology into a kind of science, in part because he was heavily influenced by Aristotle, whose works were returning to Europe in the 13th century. Playwriting essentially ceased, except for the mystery plays and the passion plays that focused heavily on conveying Christian belief to the common people. Latin continued to be used as a literary language in medieval Europe. Though it was also spoken, it was primarily learned and expressed through literature, and scientific literature was typically written in Latin. Christianity became increasingly prominent in medieval European literature, also written in Latin. Religious literature in other languages proliferated during the 13th century as those who were not educated in Latin sought religious literature that they could understand. Women in particular were not permitted to learn Latin, and an extensive body of religious literature in many languages was written by women at this time.

Early Medieval literature in England was written in Old English, which is not mutually intelligible with modern English. Works of this time include the epic poem Beowulf and Arthurian fantasy based on the legendary character of King Arthur. Literature in the modern English language began with Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, known for The Canterbury Tales.

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio was published in 1351, and it influenced European literature over the following centuries. Its framing device of ten individuals each telling ten stories introduced the term novella and inspired later works, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), which was a compilation of many earlier folk tales told by the Persian Queen Scheherazade. The epic took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. All Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English, regardless of whether they appeared in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, in any version, and a number of tales are known in Europe as "Arabian Nights" despite existing in no Arabic manuscript. Many imitations were written, especially in France. Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, considered the greatest epic of Italian literature, derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology: the Hadith and the Kitab al Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber scalae Machometi, "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder") concerning Muhammad's ascension to Heaven, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi. The Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele's The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.

Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al Nafis (1213–1288) were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus) as a response to al Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers, and then Ibn al Nafis also wrote a novel Theologus Autodidactus as a response to Ibn Tufail's Philosophus Autodidactus. Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in Philosophus Autodidactus and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus) who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story in Philosophus Autodidactus, the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in Theologus Autodidactus, developing into the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel. Theologus Autodidactus deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, the end of the world and doomsday, resurrection, and the afterlife. Rather than giving supernatural or mythological explanations for these events, Ibn al Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using the scientific knowledge of biology, astronomy, cosmology and geology known in his time. His main purpose behind this science fiction work was to explain Islamic religious teachings in terms of science and philosophy through the use of fiction. A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus, first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, a candidate for the title of "first novel in English". Philosophus Autodidactus also inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist. The story also anticipated Rousseau's Emile: or, On Education in some ways, and is also similar to Mowgli's story in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book as well as Tarzan's story, in that a baby is abandoned but taken care of and fed by a mother wolf. Among other innovations in Arabic literature was Ibn Khaldun's perspective on chronicling past events—by fully rejecting supernatural explanations, Khaldun essentially invented the scientific or sociological approach to history.

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history and the longest epic poem ever written. From Persian culture the book which would, eventually, become the most famous in the west is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The Rubáiyát is a collection of poems by the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám (1048–1122). "Rubaiyat" means "quatrains": verses of four lines. Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story. Examples of early Persian proto science fiction include Al Farabi's Opinions of the residents of a splendid city about a utopian society, and elements such as the flying carpet.