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
175 Metamorphoses Ovid 8 Roman Latin
220 The Republic Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
313 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
334 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
402 The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle -334 Greek Ancient greek
405 De Rerum Natura Lucretius 55 Roman Latin
518 The Odes Horace 23 Roman Latin
596 The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides -410 Greek Ancient greek
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
624 The Histories of Herodotus Herodotus -450 Greek Ancient greek
783 Anabasis Xenophon -390 Greek Ancient greek
835 The Art of War Sun Tzu -500 Chinese Classical chinese
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
932 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1016 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1054 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
1123 The Symposium Plato -385 Greek Ancient greek
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1126 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1180 Annals Cornelius Tacitus 109 Roman Latin
1192 The Politics Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1364 Fragments Heraclitus -500 Greek Ancient greek
1383 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
1449 Corpus Aristotelicum Aristotle -322 Greek Greek
1528 The Consolation of Philosophy Boethius 524 Roman Latin
1543 Eclogues Virgil -37 Latin Latin
1544 The Poetic Edda Unknown 1270 Multiple Old norse
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1843 Euclid's Elements Euclid -300 Greek Ancient greek
1913 Mencius Mencius -300 Chinese Classical chinese
1923 The Conquest Of Gaul Gaius Julius Caesar -51 Roman Latin
2026 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2030 On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Nicolaus Copernicus 1543 Polish Latin
2148 The Book of Songs China -600 Chinese Classical chinese
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2421 Phaedrus Plato -370 Greek Ancient greek
2501 Popol Vuh Dennis Tedlock 1985 Mayan K'iche'
2508 Metaphysics Aristotle -347 Greek Ancient greek
2565 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2703 Natural History Pliny the Elder 77 Roman Latin
2779 Carmina Burana Unknown 1230 Multiple Latin
2800 Collected Plays Of Euripides Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
2920 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
3127 Attis And Other Poems Catullus -53 Roman Latin
3255 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
3275 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3295 Cyropaedia Xenophon -370 Greek Ancient greek
3298 The Gallic War And Other Writings Gaius Julius Caesar -58 Roman Latin
3297 The Dead Sea Scrolls Unknown -150 Multiple Hebrew, aramaic, greek
3299 The Works Of Philodemus Philodemus -50 Greek Greek
3546 Daphnis and Chloe Longus -200 Greek Ancient greek
3638 The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain Han Shan 600 Chinese Classical chinese
3638 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3638 The Tomb Of Tutankhamun Howard Carter 1954 British English
3638 Gods, Graves, And Scholars C. W. Ceram 1949 German German
3638 Report On The Excavations At Troy Heinrich Schliemann 1875 German German
3638 Ich Suchte Adam Herbert Wendt 1954 German German
3638 History Of The Art Of Antiquity Johann Joachim Winckelmann 1762 German German
3953 Odes Andreas Kalvos 1824 Greek Greek
4530 Der Naturen Bloeme Jacob van Maerlant 1270 Dutch Middle dutch
4731 The Making of Homeric Verse Milman Parry 1971 American English
4780 Pharsalia Lucan 61 Roman Latin
4898 The Teachings Of Ptahhotep Ptahhotep -2400 Unknown Ancient egyptian
4898 Enūma Eliš Unknown -1100 Unknown Akkadian
4898 The Poetry Of Enheduanna Enheduanna -2300 Unknown Sumerian
5135 Kebra Nagast Unknown 1350 Multiple Ge'ez
5135 The Eloquent Peasant Unknown -1850 Egyptian Ancient egyptian
5823 Moralia Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
5825 On The Gods Marcus Tullius Cicero 45 Roman Latin
5852 Works Empedocles -439 Greek Ancient greek
5913 Egyptian Book Of The Dead Unknown -1550 Egyptian Egyptian (hieroglyphic)
6097 The History of Rome Livy -27 Roman Latin
6136 Poems Of Du Fu Du Fu 759 Chinese Classical chinese
6245 Claudius The God Robert Graves 1935 British English
6808 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
7022 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
7633 The Golden Road William Dalrymple 2024 Unknown English
7998 The Great Transformation Karen Armstrong 2006 British English
8026 The Class Struggle In The Ancient Greek World G. E. M. de Ste. Croix 1981 British English
8031 The Lycian Shore Freya Stark 1956 British English
8332 The Last Days Of Socrates Plato -399 Greek Ancient greek
8640 Catiline Orations Marcus Tullius Cicero -63 Roman Latin
9656 The Silk Road Sven Hedin 2012 Swedish Swedish
9656 De Architectura Vitruvius 2016 Roman Latin
9715 Laxdæla Saga Unknown 1245 Icelandic Old norse
9856 Meghadūta Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
9918 The Greek Commonwealth Alfred Eckhard Zimmern 1911 British English
10047 Poems Of Wang Wei Wei Wang 700 Chinese Chinese
11517 Enchiridion Of Epictetus Epictetus 135 Greek Greek
11523 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11524 On The Crown Demosthenes -330 Greek Ancient greek
11526 Selected Speeches Demosthenes, Robin Waterfield -322 Greek Greek
11535 Timaeus Plato -360 Greek Ancient greek
13033 Those Who Are About To Die Harry Sidebottom 2025 British English
13094 Dinner With King Tut Sam Kean 2025 American English
13178 Proto Laura Spinney 2025 British English
13359 History Of Greece George Grote 1846 British English
13590 Papyrus Irene Vallejo 2019 Spanish Spanish
13702 Collapse Jared Diamond 2005 American English
13711 The Greek Way Edith Hamilton 1930 American English
14110 Enneads Plotinus -270 Greek Greek
14112 Geography Ptolemy 150 Greek Greek
14430 The Greatness And Decline Of Rome Guglielmo Ferrero 1907 Italian Italian
14676 Men Of The Old Stone Age Henry Fairfield Osborn 1915 American English
14722 Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws Philo of Alexandria 50 Jewish Greek
14724 Catiline's War, The Jugurthine War, Histories Sallust -40 Roman Latin
14725 De Anima Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
14723 Apocolocyntosis Seneca 54 Roman Latin
14751 On The Ends Of Good And Evil Marcus Tullius Cicero 45 Roman Latin
14749 On Behalf Of Caelius Cicero -56 Roman Latin
14761 The Histories Polybius -150 Greek Greek
14769 The Symposium Xenophon 361 Greek Ancient greek
14787 The Wonder That Was India Arthur Llewellyn Basham 1954 British English
14983 Imperial Caesar Rex Warner 1960 British English