The Greatest Ancient Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
192 The Republic Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
274 Metamorphoses Ovid 8 Roman Latin
286 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
382 The Histories of Herodotus Herodotus -450 Greek Ancient greek
402 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
505 De Rerum Natura Lucretius 55 Roman Latin
526 The Art of War Sun Tzu -500 Chinese Classical chinese
604 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
640 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
640 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
664 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
709 The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides -410 Greek Ancient greek
738 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
766 Corpus Aristotelicum Aristotle -322 Greek Greek
769 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
772 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
796 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
816 Annals Cornelius Tacitus 109 Roman Latin
855 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
887 The Odes Horace 23 Roman Latin
929 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
1111 The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle -334 Greek Ancient greek
1116 The Symposium Plato -385 Greek Ancient greek
1160 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1182 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1223 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
1292 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1297 Fragments Heraclitus -500 Greek Ancient greek
1516 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1551 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1651 On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Nicolaus Copernicus 1543 Polish Latin
1675 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
1812 Daphnis and Chloe Longus -200 Greek Ancient greek
2399 Popol Vuh Dennis Tedlock 1985 Mayan K'iche'
2466 Phaedrus Plato -370 Greek Ancient greek
2501 Metaphysics Aristotle -347 Greek Ancient greek
2529 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
2555 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2719 Geography Ptolemy 150 Greek Greek
2719 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
2740 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3127 The Consolation of Philosophy Boethius 524 Roman Latin
3420 The Book of Songs China -600 Chinese Classical chinese
3420 The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain Han Shan 600 Chinese Classical chinese
3912 The History of Rome Livy -27 Roman Latin
4063 Odes Andreas Kalvos 1824 Greek Greek
4533 Mencius Mencius -300 Chinese Classical chinese
4533 Meghadūta Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
4909 Catiline Orations Marcus Tullius Cicero -63 Roman Latin
4909 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
5102 The Making of Homeric Verse Milman Parry 1971 American English
5294 Gorgias/Gorgias Coleen P. Zoller, Jurgen R. Gatt, S. Montgomery Ewegen 2023 Unknown Unknown
5367 Euclid's Elements Euclid -300 Greek Ancient greek
5367 Enneads Plotinus -270 Greek Greek
5611 Anabasis Xenophon -390 Greek Ancient greek
5611 The Histories Polybius -150 Greek Greek
5611 Catiline's War, The Jugurthine War, Histories Sallust -40 Roman Latin
5611 Natural History Pliny the Elder 77 Roman Latin
6002 Egyptian Book Of The Dead Unknown -1550 Egyptian Egyptian (hieroglyphic)
6002 Works Empedocles -439 Greek Ancient greek
6002 Moralia Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
6002 On The Gods Marcus Tullius Cicero 45 Roman Latin
6002 Attis And Other Poems Catullus -53 Roman Latin
6002 Eclogues Virgil -37 Latin Latin
6002 Pharsalia Lucan 61 Roman Latin
6002 The Poetic Edda Unknown 1270 Multiple Old norse
6921 The Lycian Shore Freya Stark 1956 British English
7102 Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws Philo of Alexandria 50 Jewish Greek
7102 Spqr Mary Beard 2015 British English
7102 Pandora's Jar Natalie Haynes 2020 British English
7102 Rubicon Tom Holland 2003 British English
7326 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
8134 Claudius The God Robert Graves 1935 British English
8134 Imperial Caesar Rex Warner 1960 British English
8589 Collapse Jared Diamond 2005 American English