Ancient Literary Traditions: A Comparative Study
Item 1. Western Literature
Introduction
The first written texts date from 3500 BC and emerged as a need to express religious and philosophical thoughts, aiming for static, objective results in literature. The oldest known literature comes from Egypt (located in eastern Africa, separated from Asia by the Red Sea, and centered around the Nile River) and Mesopotamia (located in Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). These two civilizations were agricultural, relying on fishing and farming. They were heavily influenced by priests, who constituted a social class with more culture and knowledge than the rest of the population. These societies were polytheistic and structured in a pyramid, with the religious class at the apex.
Mesopotamian Literature
During this time, paper was not known, and writing was done on clay or wax tablets, using pictorial signs with specific meanings. This writing is called cuneiform. It influenced Greek literature, the Bible, and Egyptian literature. The most important work of Mesopotamia is the Hammurabi Code, carved on a stone block around 1700 BC, which regulates the legal basis for governing the nation. It introduces the law of retaliation: “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Another significant work is The Poem of Creation, a religious piece that includes strict formulas and astronomical knowledge. Only a few fragments of clay tablets with cuneiform writing remain of Gilgamesh (2000 BC). The surviving pieces are divided into two parts: the first symbolizes the struggle between the savage and civilized qualities of men, and the second features a hero who feels mortal and seeks immortality.
Egyptian Literature
The Egyptians had a writing system based on hieroglyphs. The first written work found is the Rosetta Stone. Later, papyrus was used for writing. Egyptian texts include magical-religious texts, hymns to the gods, didactic texts with rules to govern the people, and autobiographical, satirical, and fictional narratives. Subsequently, two Egyptian papyri were found chronicling the exploits of the pharaohs. The most important work is The Book of the Dead, a funerary text written to teach the dead how to protect themselves during their stay in the other world.
Indian Literature
It is divided into three periods:
- The first, dating to the Vedic period (2500 BC), features a world full of demons and supernatural beings weaving the fate of men.
- A second, Post-Vedic period, where the first two most important literary works were written: Ramayana and Mahabharata, poems with great significance, similar to the Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey.
Ramayana: Dating from the mid-third century BC, it depicts the calamities of a king who was banished to the forest with his wife. It includes adventures that end happily, as the husband finds his wife and rules his country. The book contains philosophical and religious teachings.
Mahabharata: It consists of more than 20,000 verses and belongs to popular, oral traditional literature. The plot is epic, involving fighting between the descendants of kings who want to inherit power. It has influenced all of Western literature, making it a significant epic.
Another narrative work is the Panchatantra, a collection of stories with a didactic teaching, known as a moral. All its stories are fables.
Chinese Literature
Within this literature, there is an oral, popular, and traditional anonymity that came to be written many years after its creation. There is also a more formal literature, complex and written by known authors from its inception.
Poetry: The Book of Songs, belonging to popular literature, stands out. These are songs or ballads from various parts of China. They describe how people lived, the change of seasons, wars with barbarians, love, heartbreak, and so on.
Prose: Narrates the adventures and struggles of a Chinese hero of antiquity. There is also a section on the history of China, a collection of laws dedicated to Confucius, and finally, discussions of Taoism.