The Greatest Mythological 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
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
24 The Odyssey Homer -740 Greek Ancient greek
30 The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
70 The Aeneid Virgil -19 Roman Latin
72 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
125 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
127 Paradise Lost John Milton 1667 British English
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
175 Metamorphoses Ovid 8 Roman Latin
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
300 The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell 1791 British English
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
315 Relativity Albert Einstein 1916 German German
323 Mahabharata Vyasa -400 Indian Sanskrit
334 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
367 Journey to the West Wu Cheng'en 1592 Chinese Chinese
383 Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles -401 Greek Ancient greek
388 The Complete Works of Plato Plato -387 Greek Ancient greek
404 The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay 1787 American English
422 Ramayana Valmiki -200 Indian Sanskrit
446 Joseph and His Brothers Thomas Mann 1933 German German
458 Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1781 German German
481 The Lusiad Luís Vaz Camões 1572 Portuguese Portuguese
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
512 The Golden Ass Apuleius 158 Roman Latin
531 The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1776 Scottish English
548 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
563 Panchatantra Unknown -300 Multiple Sanskrit
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
645 A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee 1934 British English
659 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
667 The Book of Job Unknown -600 Israeli Hebrew
669 Beowulf Unknown 1000 Unknown Old english
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
702 Vathek William Beckford 1786 British French
774 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Mary Wollstonecraft 1792 British English
848 Der Judenstaat Theodor Herzl 1896 Austro-Hungarian German
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
945 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male Alfred C. Kinsey 1948 American English
972 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1030 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes 1641 French Latin
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1053 The Kalevala Elias Lönnrot 1835 Finnish Finnish
1083 Upanishads Unknown -799 Indian Sanskrit
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian
1102 I Ching China -1000 Chinese Chinese
1108 Chaka Thomas Mofolo 1925 South African Sesotho
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1125 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1126 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
1141 The Golden Bough James George Frazer 1890 British English
1186 Tristan Gottfried von Strassburg 1210 German Middle high german
1190 The Spirit Of The Laws Montesquieu 1748 French French
1223 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1232 Children of Gebelawi Naguib Mahfouz 1959 Egyptian Arabic
1239 The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne John Donne 1952 British English
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1283 Cybernetics Norbert Wiener 1948 American English
1291 Parzival Wolfram Eschenbach 1200 German Middle high german
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1350 Seven Against Thebes Aeschylus -467 Greek Ancient greek
1351 The Suppliants Aeschylus -463 Greek Ancient greek
1515 The World as Will and Idea Arthur Schopenhauer 1818 German German
1529 Orientalism Edward W. Said 1978 Palestinian English
1537 The Owl Service Alan Garner 1967 British English
1540 Decline of the West Oswald Spengler 1918 German German
1544 The Poetic Edda Unknown 1270 Multiple Old norse
1601 Studies in the Psychology of Sex Havelock Ellis 1897 British English
1611 The Song of Hiawatha Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1855 American English
1692 Till We Have Faces C. S. Lewis 1956 British English
1694 Cassandra Christa Wolf 1983 German German
1843 Euclid's Elements Euclid -300 Greek Ancient greek
1869 The Recognition of Sakuntala Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
2006 The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter Unknown 900 Japanese Japanese
2061 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
2138 The Worm Ouroboros E. R. Eddison 1922 British English
2141 Mythago Wood Robert Holdstock 1984 British English
2150 The Conference Of The Birds Attar Neyshabouri 1177 Persian Persian
2186 The American Language H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2348 Bulfinch's Mythology Thomas Bulfinch 1855 British English
2431 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2501 Popol Vuh Dennis Tedlock 1985 Mayan K'iche'
2516 Hippolytus Euripides -428 Greek Ancient greek
2592 The Gods Of Pegana Lord Dunsany 1905 Irish English
2624 The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell 1949 American English
2651 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2717 Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Unknown 1400 British Middle english
2718 The Sagas Of Icelanders Örnólfur Thorsson 1000 Icelandic Old norse
2728 La légende des siècles Victor Hugo 1859 French French
2800 Collected Plays Of Euripides Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
2880 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
2914 The Broken Sword Poul Anderson 1954 American English
2989 The Tale Of Igor's Campaign Unknown 1187 Russian Old east slavic
2999 The Rise of the West William H. McNeill 1963 American English
3086 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3105 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3127 Attis And Other Poems Catullus -53 Roman Latin
3252 Dwellers In The Mirage A. Merritt 1932 American English
3255 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
3305 The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkien 1977 British English
3371 Fable Of Polyphemus And Galatea Luis de Góngora 1627 Spanish Spanish
3406 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3442 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay 1984 Canadian English
3561 Insight Bernard Lonergan 1957 Canadian English
3620 Day Of The Minotaur Thomas Burnett Swann 1966 American English
3638 The Tootinameh; Or, Tales of a Parrot India, Iran 1300 Indian Persian
3893 Oriental Tales Marguerite Yourcenar 1938 French French