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What is the oldest known work of fiction?
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What is the oldest known work of fiction?
Understanding what these reference shortforms representOrigin of the idea of a series of booksWas construction work involving hydraulic cements in ancient Rome restricted to the summer season?What's the oldest monomyth?Were the greatest rulers from before the Classical Antiquity known by ancient historians?More honorable to plunder than to work for Germanic tribes in antiquityDid the medieval Europe have an active “lowbrow” culture?What is the earliest known book / novel trilogy in literature?Why wasn't there more use of wind power in antiquity?Which SF author was unable to check his own work out of the library due to insufficient security clearance?
What is the oldest known work of fiction that we know was meant to be taken as fiction? I mean to exclude mythologies; the audience of these was meant to believe they were true. What is the oldest work of fiction where it's truth was never considered?
An example of what I'm looking for: Lysitrata is a work of fiction, and it's audience knew that. The Egyptian creation myth is a work of fiction, but it's audience did not know that.
classical-antiquity literature
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
What is the oldest known work of fiction that we know was meant to be taken as fiction? I mean to exclude mythologies; the audience of these was meant to believe they were true. What is the oldest work of fiction where it's truth was never considered?
An example of what I'm looking for: Lysitrata is a work of fiction, and it's audience knew that. The Egyptian creation myth is a work of fiction, but it's audience did not know that.
classical-antiquity literature
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago
add a comment |
What is the oldest known work of fiction that we know was meant to be taken as fiction? I mean to exclude mythologies; the audience of these was meant to believe they were true. What is the oldest work of fiction where it's truth was never considered?
An example of what I'm looking for: Lysitrata is a work of fiction, and it's audience knew that. The Egyptian creation myth is a work of fiction, but it's audience did not know that.
classical-antiquity literature
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
What is the oldest known work of fiction that we know was meant to be taken as fiction? I mean to exclude mythologies; the audience of these was meant to believe they were true. What is the oldest work of fiction where it's truth was never considered?
An example of what I'm looking for: Lysitrata is a work of fiction, and it's audience knew that. The Egyptian creation myth is a work of fiction, but it's audience did not know that.
classical-antiquity literature
classical-antiquity literature
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
asked 5 hours ago
Ryan_LRyan_L
1211
1211
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Ryan_L is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago
add a comment |
The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago
The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago
The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the 19th Dynasty (c 1215 BCE) and is now owned by the British Museum:
- Image source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The text is written in hieratic script, but a translation is available in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, pp 203-211.
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
add a comment |
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I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the 19th Dynasty (c 1215 BCE) and is now owned by the British Museum:
- Image source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The text is written in hieratic script, but a translation is available in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, pp 203-211.
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
add a comment |
I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the 19th Dynasty (c 1215 BCE) and is now owned by the British Museum:
- Image source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The text is written in hieratic script, but a translation is available in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, pp 203-211.
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
add a comment |
I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the 19th Dynasty (c 1215 BCE) and is now owned by the British Museum:
- Image source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The text is written in hieratic script, but a translation is available in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, pp 203-211.
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the 19th Dynasty (c 1215 BCE) and is now owned by the British Museum:
- Image source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The text is written in hieratic script, but a translation is available in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, pp 203-211.
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
edited 5 hours ago
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
answered 5 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
52.5k6179230
52.5k6179230
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
add a comment |
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
Is that fiction or a religious document? The Wikipedia article notes that the Ennead show up part of the way through, and the story seems to have some similarities with the story of Osiris (e.g. genital amputation followed by resurrection).
– nick012000
13 mins ago
add a comment |
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The problem with your question is that communication has two partners: A sender and a receiver, who encode and decode, respectively. A piece of mythology (and that would be as old as mankind) may only meant to be conceived as true for some receivers. Then there is the problem of truth. Many Christians would maintain that the bible is true in a deeper sense than superficial factualness; a notion that would apply to other myths as well. So your question is pretty fuzzy when you look at it closely ;-).
– Peter A. Schneider
3 mins ago