The Clouds (423 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aristophanes.The Knights (424 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aristophanes.The Acharnians (425 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aristophanes.430 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aeschylus (attrib. Alcestis (438 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Euripides.The Histories (441 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Herodotus.Antigone (442-441 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Sophocles.Victory Odes (498-444 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Pindar.The Oresteia (458 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aeschylus.The Suppliant Women (463 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aeschylus.Seven Against Thebes (467 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aeschylus.The Persians (472 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Aeschylus.Classic of Poetry (Book of Odes Shijing) (c.Theogony (700 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Hesiod.775-700 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Homer (attrib.) 800-725 BCE, Ancient Greece) – Homer (attrib.) For some Chinese names I have provided both traditional and more recent transliterations. If the author uses a pseudonym, I use that instead of the real name. If there is another common title, I usually provide that also. I sometimes also include the original language title. For works in languages other than English, I usually use the English translation. I have to admit my practice is a little inconsistent here. I have used the names of the countries or regions that were applicable at the time the work was written and/or published, except for German and Italian works for which I have used the terms “Germany” and “Italy” for post-Roman Empire works, no matter the date. In identifying the country or countries associated with the work, I have used the following rules: country of the birth of the author and, if different, the country in which the author was living at the time the work was written.
Where there is a range of dates, I have placed the work under the most recent date, EXCEPT in the case of trilogies and other series, in which case I have placed the entire series at the date of the earliest work. When I have both the date the work was written and the date it was published, and the two dates are several years apart, I have placed the work under the date of writing, but also included the publication date. For undated works, including many of the individual poems, I have used the last year of the author’s life. Some of the dates are approximate or disputed. Novella: a short novel or very long story Novels: a trilogy or longer series of novels Novel: any long work of fiction, no matter the date (Note: some scholars dispute this definition)
I created this meta-meta list by combining the following meta-lists:īest Books – Year by Year (2000-2021) (top 10 or so from each year) This list includes fiction (novels and stories), non-fiction, poetry and plays, organized in chronological order beginning with the Epic of Gilgamesh in 2000 BCE and ending (for now) with the most highly-rated books from 2021. The following list contains the 3,555 best works of literature ever written.