Back أدب قديم Arabic Lliteratura clásica AST Антик әҙәбиәт Bashkir Антична литература Bulgarian Antička književnost BS Literatura clàssica Catalan Starověká literatura Czech Antikvaj verkoj Esperanto Literatura clásica Spanish Antzinako literatura Basque
| History of literature by era |
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| Ancient (corpora) |
| Early medieval |
| Medieval by century |
| Early modern by century |
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| Contemporary by century |
 Literature portal |
| Literature | ||||||
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| Oral literature | ||||||
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Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, clay tablets, papyri, palm leaves, and metal. Before the spread of writing, oral literature did not always survive well, but some texts and fragments have persisted. An unknown number of written works have not survived the ravages of time and are therefore lost.