What a awful crime to posterity Diego Landa committed when he burned the Mayan codices because he assumed they contained nothing but _scribbles and works of devils._ Always holding out hope that some day a cache of them might be found as happened at Nag Hammadi with outlawed Christian, Gnostic and Hermetic writings.
Thank you Dr. Miano for covering this subject. A few years ago I read The Epic of Gilgamesh and I became curious what was the other oldest books that are still around today. I was shocked how hard it was to find what the oldest books are because when I googled I was getting irrelevant answers.
Just wanted to mention that certain texts like the Vedas and the Avesta survived for longer not because they were copied in writing, as you suggest, but because they had schools of rigorous oral transmission to pass them down. Often there was even an aversion to writing the texts down. As a result, the earliest written manuscripts we have of these works is from medieval times!
@@Adam-it3ld but the language used in Vedas are different from any classical sanskrit, and its more closer to the Iranian languages. So, by the time the vedas were written down, they were already memorised.
@@AB-yp7nc The words are *_"jumbled up in different permutations."_* and this *_"ensures that there is no corruption in the vedas?"_* I don't think that means what you think it means. *_"thus there are allegations of adulteration in every single scripture in the world, but not the vedas"_* That would be because no one knows what the words are supposed to be, because they are all jumbled up? {:o:O:} _(Edited for tyops)_
imagine your entire culture reduced to four book because of the ignorance of another group of humans. Such a shame ! Just the loss of the medical knowledge is a tragedy !
Can you imagine, that there are some fanatical religious nutcases in the USA still burning books? We just need them to gain power and the pyre they build to burn everything literary will make the historical tyrants look like rookies.
If anything it's apt. All cultures inevitably are forgotten, misrepresented or distorted. We can only do our best but given the fact that putting 1890's America's into context is an immense challenge, let alone Mesoamerica 3000 years ago.
Dear Sir, I hope this message finds you well. I would like to express my gratitude for sharing your knowledge on the oldest survival books with me. Your research is truly outstanding and commendable. I would be honored to be considered one of your global students from Pakistan. Very warm regards, Zakir
Thank you so much for these videos. You are such a pleasure to watch, your energy is contagious and your love of history is inspiring. Please never stop making content!!
I love this somewhat comparative list taking a sample from each region instead of just going for the oldest range available. I hope there will more content like this showing oldest recorded names, attested rulers, oldest known pantheons/religions from different parts of the world. Also on theme of lost works, some of the lesser known religions/pantheons, civilisations (like Elam, Olmec), languages which aren't talked often about because of scarsity of material to work with.
Lugalbanda II: Electric Lugaloo On a serious note when I think of all the literature that has been lost to time I always flash back to 1 particular piece of writing, "Thunder, Perfect Mind." (TPM) While not nearly as old as some of the books mentioned here, and a shorter form poetic work, it reminds me of the magnitude of what we are missing. I find TPM amazing; it comes from a voice not as often heard in ancient literature, what could certainly be understood to be the divine female. It is as beautiful as it is impactful. In fact it speaks to much of what women face in modernity regarding what actually is a woman's role, how she is perceived, and if others can hold the contradictions concerning womanhood in their minds as easily as women must contain all of those often disparate facets in their very being. This brilliant poem was completely lost to history before the discovery of the Nag Hamadi library. A story so wonderful, that holds just as much meaning in every day life as it did nearly two millennia ago, that had blinked out of memory and therefore existence, but that roared back to public consciousness once found, translated, and made available to the masses. TPM just always gets my mind racing about what other immense works of creativity and knowledge that remain lost and if any are still out there somewhere, waiting to be found while time slowly destroys them and the virtual timer for finding them ticks lower and lower. Thanks for the great video, as always, Professor Miano! You do some of the best work on the platform in your field and seeing there is a new video from you is always exciting. I always have to drop what I am doing and take a history break whenever one of your upload notifications go off.
Language and culture are so hard to get back once they are lost. This is why I believe ancient man knew how to sail the wide oceans: It makes sense that we lost an oral tradition. It makes no sense at all that we lost Magic Stone Levitation Devices or Laser Cutting Tools. 45,000 years ago, a group of people sailed to Australia. The Polynesians populated the whole Pacific without the use of nails, much less a compass, chronometer, or GPS. We were one man dying from potentially losing that knowledge forever. Ancient homo sapiens was no less clever than we are. Once we got to the "cognitive revolution" between 70k and 30k years ago, they had everything they needed to build the same pyramids in Cambodia and Mexico. The Polynesians could sail anywhere between Madagascar and Peru. When they wrote down how to do it, it come out as "religion," stories, "people from the stars." We just didn't understand that this was what made such stories memorable and useful ...
Thank you so much for doing what you do in the manner in wich you do it. I love documentaries and most historical based videos and literature but your style has made these topics very digestable. So keep it up, you are doing a great service to mankind, keep it up and thank you so much.
I read a "book" (more like a collection of poems) from India that was told to me to have been the "oldest text in the world". At the time I read it (2008, maybe?) it had only been translated into German. It was a very philosophical book. Some of the text I remember went something like "is a fruit a fruit because of its 'fruit-ness'? or because of its shape? or perhaps its utility? If we change the shape of the fruit, or cut it up into pieces, or use it for decoration instead of for eating - is it still a fruit?". But I can't for the life of me find this book/collection of poems. But it was in an ancient form of writing pre-dating Sanskrit, which is why it took so long to translate and was only translated by a German scholarly team at the time. Does anyone perhaps know the text I'm thinking of? I believe it was something like 10 or 12 philosophical poems. I'd love to read it again if I can find it.
@@AB-yp7nc It could well be a prakrit Or pali text. How could you say that Sanskrit os older than the prakrit Or pali. There is no archaeological or epigraphical evidence which can prove so. The tradition of writing pali and prakrit is much older than sanskrit. The oldest written records of Sanskrit is in Brahami ( originally called as Dhamma) script which was originally used for writing prakrit and pali. The common script used for writing Sanskrit is Devnagari which originated somewhere between 9th to 10th century AD. If there was no script how was Sanskrit written then. Apart from that there is no signs/sounds for writing 'R' in Brahami so writing the word 'Sanskrit' was almost impossible in Brahami. It is most certain there must a text in pre Sanskrit language in India. The written tradition of Sanskrit is only 2000 to 1500 years old while pali and prakrit were written from 2500 years.
@@AB-yp7nc The question is what is the proof of all of this you're claiming. If we have epigraphical and archaeological evidence of prakrit and pali why not of Sanskrit. Whether composition or writing there must be something that proves the claims. And I challenge you show me the symbols of Brahami which represents 'R'. Of ot was not Brahami what was the script of Sanskrit because Brahami's oldest written records only go as far back as 3rd century BCE.
If there is no physical records of a text or a book in written and neither oral ( for the sake of conversation) how could someone claim that text to be oldest. The oral tradition of stories go as far back as 30,000 years. This doesn't make those stories vedic.
@@AB-yp7nc isn't it pretty dumb to say that Sanskrit was not being written yet the Agni changed into agg Or dharma changed in dhamma. We get these words (at least dhamma) in writing on Asokan inscription centuries before Sanskrit was being written. The Term Sanskrit gives the sense that something was 'Sanskritised'. If there was no older language how could have they sanskritised then.
@@AB-yp7nc Man I am testing it's true but your claim and not you. Testing is a scientific method to reach an objective conclusion. Writing had do everything with dhamma or dharma because its a way to know to know origin of a word (etymology ). How could you claim that Dharma was before dhamma when it wasn't written. I asked you to prove your claims which you failed miserably. And i challenged you to show me a symbol that was used to write 'R' in Brahami ( originally called dhamma script in Asokan inscription) which you didn't provide. There were other sounds or syllables like 'Sh' which are impossible to write in Brahami. There are no 'visarg' either in Brahami and you know Sanskrit can't be written without visarg. So how was it possible that Sanskrit was written in Brahami. If it was not written what makes it oldest language. You're confused because you don't know the difference between a dialect and a language. Sanskrit if only was spoken and not written could only be a dialect not a language. An important feature of language is it is written as well as spoken. And you're saying Sanskrit means 'perfected'. A language can be perfected only when there exist a language prior to it. You can perfect something which already had been in existence. The prakrit is a group of languages I know that but according to linguists they were structurally different from Sanskrit. Pali is totally different from Sanskrit. If prakrit was Sanskrit why were Indians unable to read it's script. It was only when James prinsep deciphered Brahami and kharoshtee circa mid 19th century. And you saying that vedi mantra were not written because they create vibrations is the most unscientific and ridiculous argument I have ever come across. If it's true even for the sake of conversation what evidence you can provide of your claim.
Every time I watch one of your videos I learn something I didn't know about history. There's not many videos or video creators I can say that about. Your RUclips channel is making me think about getting commercial free RUclips cuz I want to scream every time an ad pops up. No ads are more important than the content of you videos even the funny videos 💜
I hope so too dear, as a South Asian, I am really sad at the destruction of Nalanda, Taxila and many Indian universities, which had been functioning since the times of the Guptas. Many books were burnt by the middle-eastern armies, it is even believed that the library of Nalanda had some 9 million manuscripts( read it somewhere) where Hindus, Buddhists and Jains came to study from different parts of the world, even Greeks and Romans at a time. The bulk was so much that it burnt continuously for 3 months. However, I bear no brunt towards anyone, but still many manuscripts are available in India and I sincerely hope for more older writings to be found. I am also sad about the American history, we have many similarities. Fun fact: the oldest grammarian is believed to be the Indian/South-Asian Hindu sage Panini, who wrote Astadhyayi, a Sanskrit grammar between some 800-500 BC. Another one is Tollakappiyam, a Tamil grammar written by Tollakapiyar in the period between 300 BC. Sanskrit is one of the oldest Indo-European language, while Tamil is the oldest Dravidian language archeologically.
After my little research first time it got destroyed by Huns under Mihirakula during the reign of Skandagupta (455-467 AD). Second time by The second destruction came in the early 7th century by the Gaudas. 3rd time by Turkish leader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193. And those white huns destroyed the university of Texila in c600 AD I still can't find any resource or historical text even by biased hindu sites that middle eastern armies destroyed and burned them down?
Huns and Bakhtiyar khilji were Turkic, while Gaudas were Bengali kings. Even though these three groups attacked the site, Bakhtiyar khilji ransacked and killed all the Buddhist and Hindu clergy of his time in the 12th century AD. Nalanda had surely survived the Hun and Gauda invasions without much casualties as they were repaired under the Hindu Guptas and Buddhist Harshavardhana.
@@thunderbear0 I didn't even name Islam for it, don't engage me in your sinful Al-taquiya. Huns were not Muslim but Turkic/ Iranic shaman, but the last invader was and he did give a fatal blow and didn't allow any reparations during his rule to that place. That's where the problem lies, I need not play victim card here like your co-religionists always do, just reiterating history.
@@infinite5795 lol take it easy. Where did i took islams name? and that "sinful taqiya" is not our thing. Just tell me where and when did middle eastern armies came and destroyed those universities thats a simple question i asked in a respectful manner And since from when huns became turks? And i agree university doesn't matter if its muslims or hindu or Buddhist it shouldn't be destroyed khilji was a illiterate warrior that some turkic king hired for his fighting skills and did whatever he was told just like mongols, these people don't know the value of knowledge and universities
Muslims have destroyed but a small fraction of the total number of books that have been destroyed throughout history. In fact, in the medieval period, they were instrumental in the preservation of many ancient works, which Christian Europe neglected.
@@WorldofAntiquity Not only that, there are still private libraries in Timbuktu that possible could have copies of lost books that might make this list, all of them have still not been investigated be researchers. I would claim that Christians have destroyed far more books then Muslims but it is a bit stupid to put everyone of the same religion during history as the same people. Some scholars have done a lot to preserve books while certain political or religious leaders have destroyed them on purpose and usually for no good reason. There is one source not mentioned in the video that might make a change too, the Herculaneum papyri. We have a bit of a technical problem reading those since they are a bit... charred but new technology seems to be moving in the right direction so it isn't unlikely we will be able to read them soon and while what we seen so far isn't copies of Greek literature there might be some in there or new scrolls might be found so there is a some hope to find some more really ancient books from Europe.
@@loke6664 The vast majority of books were lost due to just things like mold and the loss of knowledge of Greek which made people unable to copy them. Late antique Christians didn't generally destroy books although there are exceptions like certain heresies and magical texts. But when it comes to heresies ironically Christians often preserved books they hated by writing response books that attacked those heretical books/views unwittingly preserving much of those books/views for posterity.
@@henrimourant9855 I did not claim that Christians destroyed all books they did not like, just that I think more books have been destroyed by Christians then Muslims. You do for instance have the purge of Gnostic texts during the early Roman period to mention one, luckily for us we did found a cash in a well in Egypt that had a lot of preserved texts. But as I said, it is stupid to blame an entire religion for the destruction of the books, a single ruler (king, Emperor or Pope) were usually the one to blame in cases of destruction on purpose. I mean, we have seen recent burning och books and records by both Christian and Muslim fundamentalist but that doesn't make all religious people book burning morons, usually it is extremists behind such an occurrence.
A correction. The division you give of Samhitas, Aryanyakas, Upanishads and Bramanas are a general division of Vedas, samhitas being organized into many parts including Rig Veda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda and they span a larger period ending a bit after budhism. Rig Veda is the oldest layer of samhitas indeed, with "comentaries" regarding it divided into Aryanyakas, Upanishads and Bramanas .
Another book that deserves an honorable mention in the east asia category is the Shan Hai Jing. This book contains a collection of Chinese Mythology, zoology, herbology and geography (some real/ some fantasy). The earliest mentioned copy of it comes from 4th century BCE (although the authencity of it is contested). But according to tradition, before it was compiled into a book. Those stories are insribed in potteries along with the depiction of different mythological beast found in the book. When those potteries were gradually lost, they compiled it into a book without those illustrations unfortunately. (They even have a vivid description of animals that resembles like the giraffe, zebra, Atlantic flyingfish etc which is really buffling given that they are not endemic in China). Pretty cool
Is it specifically an Atlantic flying fish or just a flying fish? Flying fish themselves aren't endemic to only the Atlantic, but are found in most seas and oceans of the world including East China Sea and South China Sea. As far as the giraffes and zebras, these coincide with China's golden age of exploration, as there were two giraffes in the imperial court. While China has been known to be very secretive and insular, there have been periods in their history of great exploration.
@@garymaidman625 The description of the flying fish can be found in the 西次三經 subsection of the book. 又西百八十里，曰泰器之山。觀水出焉，西流注于流沙。是多文鰩魚，狀如鯉魚，魚身而鳥翼，蒼文而白首，赤喙，常從西海遊于東海，以夜飛。其音如鸞雞，其味酸甘，食之已狂，見則天下大穰。 As you travel west for another hundred eighty "li", there the mountain called "taiqi" can be found. As you observe the waters, it flows west in sandlike formation (westward current). There, lots of creatures called "wenyao" resides. They resemble like carp yet their bodies have birdlike wings. With several markings, their heads white and their mouths red. Occasionally swims from "West Sea" to "East Sea" and "flies" during the night. They sound like "luan" bird. If cooked, they taste savory sour. A food to cure madness. Those who saw it will expect a good harvest. ---- I infer it based on the geography of the location the text mentions. We know that the creature is located far west of China. It swims in the "West Sea" (Sea is the biggest body of water in ancient text). There is simply no massive body of water in the west of China nearby. A possible explanation is travellers from the west shared this information. Or maybe their forefathers migrated from the west and stories like these are passed down but the eastward migration theory has long been disputed so far. Of course claims like these needs credible evidence. Unforturnately, this book is mixed with fictional elements that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish what is real/fiction. ---- Regarding your 2nd query, China's golden age of exploration is in Ming dynasty. This refers specifically to the voyages of Zheng He (1405-1431CE). The Shan Hai Jing existing 4th century BCE. I think it is the other way around. When Zheng He visited the shores of Africa, they are amazed at the creatures that they saw (zebra, giraffe) as how near they are depicted by shan hai jing. They even brought back giraffe (what they thought as "kirin")
@@pandamancer3984 I think it might describing India. The mountain might be the Himalayas, and the waters might be Brahmaputra which flows west into the Bay of Bengal, where flying fish can be found (although not commonly, today atleast) Alternatively it might be Punjab rivers which also flow west into the Arabian sea where they might also be found. Idk (ancient?) Chinese but I think interpreting it as 'water from the mountain flows west' , ' where this water ends up you'll find fish'
Dr Who..:):) You have done it again! Great Teaching. Thank You. I was very lucky, at school, to have had 3 teachers of History who brought the subject alive for me. You are the 4th!. Not that there is an order of excellence:) I was born in Bath. I am sure you can imagine how that influenced me when I was young. Thank You Prof. David! Great Educator!
Your content is fascinating and nearly as fascinating are the various ways people get crazy about your content which you seem very familiar with. Humans gonna human. Thanks for all the great videos ✨
Excellent video. One point regarding Rig Veda which i feel you may have missed is the geography that was mentioned in it. The reference to river Saraswati which slowly becomes a deity from a river. Corroborated by on-ground archaeology. Am i on the right track Doctor
Doc has a separate video on the vedas, you should check it out! He discusses the geographical descriptions, the geographical history of the place, and how one should interpret the “stuti” format of some of the vedic meter.
Another excellent video on a really interesting and important topic. Ive been aware of the destruction of knowledge from Mexico and Peru, and similar destructive events in Europe and the middle east, for a long time, but when I first learned about the destruction of ancient books in China by the early emperors a couple years ago I somehow found it even more shocking, perhaps just because it was new to me, and perhaps because it was a culture erasing huge chunks of its own past.
I really loved how you prefaced this video by explaining your method for defining a rarest book and addressing any potential controversies that outrage tourists could come up with 🙏 i had no problem with the information you presented, i think it was objective and informative 🙏 i read lugalbanda in the mountain cave after watching this
Talking about old books, back in middle school back in the late 80s I had to use my grandfather's encyclopedia for research on the moon landing. I spent an hour trying to find it until I realized his encyclopedia was from the Kennedy administration, so the moon landing hadn't even happened yet! I thought it was both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
What's "heartbreaking" about _that?_ Hilarious, I get. The idea that something wasn't known because it hadn't happened yet, though? I don't see why that would even be sad, much less "heartbreaking." And, child, if that's your idea of "heartbreaking," I wish I had your sheltered life. I'd trade you at the drop of a hat. I could tell you a lot about what's heartbreaking.
My heart breaks for all the destroyed and forgotten texts of time. It's still happening today, that's the worst part. You'd think we would know better, as a species, by now.
Not just texts, but buildings and other things of cultural significance. Conversation is only a relatively new concept. Many of these texts were not even destroyed in a malicious way, but simply because the material was reused or succumbed to weather conditions. An example of this, while not a text, is Hadrian's Wall, which at one stage was 6m high, however the local farmers needed stone to build their houses and so used the stone from Hadrian's Wall. While I myself have a bachelor's in ancient history and archaeology, I actually have no problem with this, because while it 'destroys' a certain history, it creates another history. It's part of the story.
It's not always classical works that get destroyed. I had a Bible that was passed down to me from at least 7 generations before me. The "blank" pages recorded my family's lineage. My house was broken into in 1991, all of my books were thrown into a pile outside and burned. My family history was reduced to ashes. It wasn't until about 15 years ago my brother found almost all those family records on the internet. But that's not quite the same, is it?
Excellent that you mentioned Tolkappiyam ! According to sangam texts there were two sangams before this that scholars place before the 5th century b.c , a lot of ancient texts that were lost due to time
Here goes my "super thanks" for you creating this video. Good to see other works I had no idea about, being brought into the topic! Sadly, the Americas and far east tend to be left in the shadow. Thumbs up for you to close this gap!
Not more than 2000BCE. But arround 2000BCE to 500BC. Latest layers of Upanishads date back to 500BC. Still it very impressive becouse vedic people memorized rather than writting. Even if they wrote it they have to copy it time to time. As books in indian subcontinent were written on palm leaves books which are Highly perishable.
@@subhashanvs3229 Not correct. The oldest layers of Rigveda go back to 3800 BCE. The language of Rigveda and the language of Upanishads is very different .
@@ranapratapsingh3416 you are very wrong. Rig veda doesn't go back to 3800 BCE. There was IVC still around. And Iranian branch and aryan branch didn't even split. I don't no why you estimated that. Could you please give me reason. And Upanishads are the latest that's why I said 500BCE
Many times I’ve read an interesting fact or story and learn that the old source I got it from got it from an older source that no longer exists. One example is Augustus’s right hand man Marcus Agrippa wrote a book that is pretty much totally lost. The guy was a major figure and his descendants were quite powerful so it would seem like at least one version would of made it thru the ages. Yet here is the epic of Gilgamesh with it’s old ass, a letter from a guy begging for help cause the “sea peoples” were attacking was found in a furnace which was used to harden the clay tablets they wrote on. Apparently the sea peoples conquered the place while the tablet was being finished. That’s a crazy glimpse into things that happened long ago. The loss of libraries in Alexandria and Constantinople. To bad people didn’t try to make a copy of important books in brass or such.
As always, I love your channel; loved this lecture, learned a whole bunch, so thank you, thank you, many times thank you. One request/suggestion would be that at some point you return to the Popol Vuh and maybe mix in a look at the Rabinal Achi, it would also be fascinating to hear a discussion of the Chilam Balam books. The thing about the Popol Vuh that would make such a good discussion is that yes, the versions we have are written in alphabetic script in the the 16th and 17th century, BUT the current scholarship seems to feel that some traditional works in the Maya script were still being actively (clandestinely) read/used into the late colonial period (contemporary with the alphabetic texts) and that the versions we have are in fact transcriptions of "original" Mayan versions ---AND --- that archaeology has found artistic representations and short pieces of text which correspond closely to many stories in the Popol Vuh we actually have, thus indicating the extreme antiquity of these stories (back into not just the classic period, but deep into pre-classic antiquity). With the Popol Vuh, then, we have a case study to look at how transcription, oral traditions, etc. succeed and/or fail in preserving ancient texts and traditions. I suggest the Rabonal Achi, a much more obscure work, also from the conquest/early colonial period because it preserves a mode of ritual drama employed by the post classic Maya to glorify kings and warriors --- in some ways reminiscent of other heroic traditions --the Iliad, etc.
Sad to see David not mentioning the oldest book of all time - Twilight. Historians date it to around the 33rd century BCE, at a time when the concept of how to write a piece of literature had not yet been developed.
I’d be interested in a video on religious books by decreasing age, both for when written and oldest extant copies. Heh. You may have already done this. Just found your channel, and I’m subscribing.
Hi Irena, he mentioned it by name. The Book of the Dead is the culmination of the Old Kingdom texts found in the Pyramids. The Book of the Dead was compiled during the New Kingdom thus making it substantially "younger" than the Pyramid texts :)
The burning of Pre-Columbian manuscripts is so heartbreaking!!! & in typical colonizer-fashion, 3/4 were whisked away to European countries... It's time to start returning the goods!! 💙 Thank you as always Dr Miano, being immersed in Ancient History is the best way to start my day!
Or you inform yourself before making baseless accusation against "European countries". A good start would be "Breaking the Maya Code" by Michael. D. Coe.
@@puremathematics5730 I value the cultural contributions of all prior civilizations, and just like with any dated system of beliefs- we have the modern-day advantage of understanding the world & what contributes to the wellbeing of living creatures. We can appreciate the manuscripts, architecture & art left by a culture, without adopting anachronistic beliefs, life human sacrifice. I don't identify with any specific culture, I'm a homosapien!
@@puremathematics5730 well the Europeans being adults married children and treated their women like slaves. They sacrificed women as witches, not much of a difference.
Something that I find fun to point out, from more...modern literature. Gilgamesh, or a version of him, still exists as a superhero in the Marvel universe, he's even been a member of the Avengers before. Something's kinda nice to me about the heroic mythology of the past becoming part of the heroic mythology of the present, even the oldest hero's story is still told.
I only started exploring comics a year ago, and one thing that's struck me is how much of a mythological vibe a lot of it has. Gilgamesh is another Jack Kirby creation. That guy was amazing. Such fascinating world-building.
This was an awesome list. I quite enjoyed it and would enjoy a follow up w more ancient writings from different cultures. Or a video about just what different people decided to start writing about when they developed writing systems
One that I would like to bring up is the Diary of Merer, while not as glamorous as the Pyramid Texts from the 5th and 6th Dynasties, it does predate them, coming in at the 4th Dynasty under Khufu. More people need to know about these as they tell us of the transportation of limestone to the Giza plateau which helps put the Pyramidologists (aka Pyramidiots) in their pseudohistory place XD A Fantastic video though ^^
I think you should've mention books of Hittites and generally Asia Minor. Yes, formally it's Asian territory (and actually the one that the name "Asia" was originally about), and it has tight cultural connections with West Asia, but still, there are theories on how they were influenced by Crete myths (and maybe lost books?) and how they later influenced Greek myths and literature, Hesiod's Theogony. So I think it has notable connections with Europe literature and may be somewhat considered part of it.
Love the vid. I love reading historical books so this list is great I've read a few of these before and thay are great some stories really stand the test of time. Thank you 👍👍💯👏👏😎
The only ones of these books that I have read is The Iliad and I was shocked how much I enjoyed it. The style is a bit odd with paragraphs describing individual warriors who are never seen again. However, Achilles character arc, moving from his angry at being wronged by Agamemnon, then his wrath at Hector after the death of Patroclus, before ultimately coming to terms with his feelings of loss and returning Hector's body to Priam is still relatable (the emotions not necessarily the events that produce them), and make for a great read. Truly timeless
I think you should have subdivided Africa into multiple regions like you did with Asia. It feels a little unfair to just treat it as one unified continent when it has many diverse cultures.
@@WorldofAntiquity Africa, the continent that gets treated as a single country. You can fit Europe, Japan, China, the US, and India into the amount of land Africa covers. Yes the line has to be drawn somewhere, but...is that really the best place to draw it, or is it just that we are so used to thinking of Africa as one big Sally Struthers charity case that we don't even think twice about treating it as the diverse expanse of the start of man that it is. And honestly, I know very little of what was going on south of Egypt during these time periods you tend to cover. So, it'd be really interesting to get something. If it is just a lack of information, or knowledge, or whatever, even that is worth pointing out as it provides some justification, context, and insight into why handle it as one large single place.
Other parts of Africa had written long-form content waaay later (and like Dr. Miano said, that's not a knock against African cultures). And then when they do show up, in the Middle Ages, they're translations: the Bible in Ethiopia and Islamic hadith and fiqh along the Niger River and Swahili Coast. I wonder how translations would figure into a list like the one in this video. Is it still the oldest book if it's a translation of a work from somewhere else?
@@franks450 As I said, at least put some context around why one is opting to treat an entire continent as a single thing. As pointed out in the original post Asia was split up. And why did you scare quote inclusion? Are you trying to elicit doubt that inclusion is an actual thing?
@@AveragePicker *Africa, the continent that gets treated as a single country.* It gets treated as a region, as the other sections also do. *You can fit Europe, Japan, China, the US, and India into the amount of land Africa covers.* Okay, but how many books prior to the year 1000 have been preserved from Africa? I'm an ancient historian, remember. If there were ancient books from other places in Africa, I would most certainly have given them due coverage. Anyway, I did not have Japan, China, the US, or India as sections in the video.
@@Error_Bhoi no... Hinduism is made by our beliefs on God not by language .. we are also hindus ... We have huge respect on hinduism... But we also have very much respect on our mother tongue
@@Error_Bhoi Wrong information. Sanskrit didn't Even existed during Lord Buddhas period. No Linguistics and archeological evidence. Tamil is much older than that
Super Thanks 🙏🏽 IS in order! Refreshing to see a vid on actual occurrences with dating!!! Thanks to you sir, for being an actual scholar and a gentleman!!!!
I think it’s fascinating that the Egyptians used papyrus for so much, but that the only stuff that remains of their older writings is written on tomb walls. Did this sort of thing happen in ancient Mesopotamia at all? Is there any possibility that people were writing on perishable materials over there as well as on clay?
Clay tablets have been found with added comments or librarian's remarks written on them in ink, so it's possible some perishable materials were used for everyday purpose. I'm thinking of personal notes, receits and stuff like that. But not for long texts deemed worthy of preservation.
Well, shoot. When you started talking literature, I was hoping something from Enheduanna had made the list. But I don't actually know if we have anything from her or if she was just known to be a poet. Seems it would have to be pretty old if any texts survived.
Enheduanna is the first known author whos name is attributed to any work of literature. She wrote at least 37 or possibly 42 temple hymns and at least 2 epic poems, "The Exaltation of Inanna" and "Inanna and Ebih". Enheduanna was also a princes, daughter of Sharru-ken (Sargon of Akkad) and a High Priestess of the Temple of the Moon God Nanna in the city of Ur.
@@stephaniechochotte434 There is a collection of 42 temple hymns on 37 tablets, but only the last hymn has her name on it. Some people think she wrote (or edited) the whole collection, but others say she wrote only the last hymn. Her two longer poems are not long enough to be considered books. This is not to disparage her or downplay her work. She is an important person in history.
The world is obsessed with dates not the content.when scholars are obsessed in believing with the crazy idea that the world is created 6000 years ago as described in their so called religious book then they try everything to fit into that 6000 year timeframe. 😅
But Sir, according to Praveen Mohan Vedas contain scientific manuscript that were used in the design of space rockets and nuclear reactors and teleportation devices and plastic surgery and Tesla coils, all written 18,000 yeas ago. And you are saying it describes chalcolithic inventions only. Whom shall we believe now.
Isn't this Praveen Mohan the "gentleman" who has upset religious leaders in India by trespassing on sacred sites instead of gaining their permission to do so? 🤔
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
What a awful crime to posterity Diego Landa committed when he burned the Mayan codices because he assumed they contained nothing but _scribbles and works of devils._ Always holding out hope that some day a cache of them might be found as happened at Nag Hammadi with outlawed Christian, Gnostic and Hermetic writings.
I hope so too!
I concur. I want them to find "Q" so bad, too
@@WorldofAntiquity count me in too
@@Bogey1022 try The gospel of mary from magdala.
compare Her versions of a couple of Psalms to the broken versions in our "bibles".
Yes. It hurts much worse than the desruction of the Alexandrian Library. I recall reading how the Mayans wept hopelessly at such desecration.
In Greece we never stopped learning Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in school to this day and Isiod's Theogonia also!Great video thanks!
Thank you Dr. Miano for covering this subject. A few years ago I read The Epic of Gilgamesh and I became curious what was the other oldest books that are still around today. I was shocked how hard it was to find what the oldest books are because when I googled I was getting irrelevant answers.
Just wanted to mention that certain texts like the Vedas and the Avesta survived for longer not because they were copied in writing, as you suggest, but because they had schools of rigorous oral transmission to pass them down. Often there was even an aversion to writing the texts down. As a result, the earliest written manuscripts we have of these works is from medieval times!
There is no old copy of vidas
@@Adam-it3ld And your ola is only 1500years old.
@@Adam-it3ld but the language used in Vedas are different from any classical sanskrit, and its more closer to the Iranian languages.
So, by the time the vedas were written down, they were already memorised.
I’m still looking for a old book I can read that has material like the Master key ! I’m lookin for past knowledge
@@AB-yp7nc
The words are *_"jumbled up in different permutations."_* and this *_"ensures that there is no corruption in the vedas?"_*
I don't think that means what you think it means.
*_"thus there are allegations of adulteration in every single scripture in the world, but not the vedas"_*
That would be because no one knows what the words are supposed to be, because they are all jumbled up?
{:o:O:}
_(Edited for tyops)_
imagine your entire culture reduced to four book because of the ignorance of another group of humans. Such a shame ! Just the loss of the medical knowledge is a tragedy !
Maaan Faaaaaac your culture
Can you imagine, that there are some fanatical religious nutcases in the USA still burning books? We just need them to gain power and the pyre they build to burn everything literary will make the historical tyrants look like rookies.
If anything it's apt. All cultures inevitably are forgotten, misrepresented or distorted. We can only do our best but given the fact that putting 1890's America's into context is an immense challenge, let alone Mesoamerica 3000 years ago.
So long as those 4 books are the first four books of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I'd be ok with that.
Stunning and brave.
Dear Sir,
I hope this message finds you well. I would like to express my gratitude for sharing your knowledge on the oldest survival books with me.
Your research is truly outstanding and commendable.
I would be honored to be considered one of your global students from Pakistan.
Very warm regards,
Zakir
Thank you so much for these videos. You are such a pleasure to watch, your energy is contagious and your love of history is inspiring. Please never stop making content!!
I love this somewhat comparative list taking a sample from each region instead of just going for the oldest range available.
I hope there will more content like this showing oldest recorded names, attested rulers, oldest known pantheons/religions from different parts of the world.
Also on theme of lost works, some of the lesser known religions/pantheons, civilisations (like Elam, Olmec), languages which aren't talked often about because of scarsity of material to work with.
I love the way this guy thinks
Lugalbanda II: Electric Lugaloo
On a serious note when I think of all the literature that has been lost to time I always flash back to 1 particular piece of writing, "Thunder, Perfect Mind." (TPM) While not nearly as old as some of the books mentioned here, and a shorter form poetic work, it reminds me of the magnitude of what we are missing. I find TPM amazing; it comes from a voice not as often heard in ancient literature, what could certainly be understood to be the divine female. It is as beautiful as it is impactful. In fact it speaks to much of what women face in modernity regarding what actually is a woman's role, how she is perceived, and if others can hold the contradictions concerning womanhood in their minds as easily as women must contain all of those often disparate facets in their very being.
This brilliant poem was completely lost to history before the discovery of the Nag Hamadi library. A story so wonderful, that holds just as much meaning in every day life as it did nearly two millennia ago, that had blinked out of memory and therefore existence, but that roared back to public consciousness once found, translated, and made available to the masses. TPM just always gets my mind racing about what other immense works of creativity and knowledge that remain lost and if any are still out there somewhere, waiting to be found while time slowly destroys them and the virtual timer for finding them ticks lower and lower.
Thanks for the great video, as always, Professor Miano! You do some of the best work on the platform in your field and seeing there is a new video from you is always exciting. I always have to drop what I am doing and take a history break whenever one of your upload notifications go off.
Precisely
I'm beyond jealous that I never came up with electric Lugaloo.
'Electric Lugaloo'
I am WHEEZING
Language and culture are so hard to get back once they are lost. This is why I believe ancient man knew how to sail the wide oceans: It makes sense that we lost an oral tradition. It makes no sense at all that we lost Magic Stone Levitation Devices or Laser Cutting Tools. 45,000 years ago, a group of people sailed to Australia. The Polynesians populated the whole Pacific without the use of nails, much less a compass, chronometer, or GPS. We were one man dying from potentially losing that knowledge forever. Ancient homo sapiens was no less clever than we are. Once we got to the "cognitive revolution" between 70k and 30k years ago, they had everything they needed to build the same pyramids in Cambodia and Mexico. The Polynesians could sail anywhere between Madagascar and Peru. When they wrote down how to do it, it come out as "religion," stories, "people from the stars." We just didn't understand that this was what made such stories memorable and useful ...
@@shaolin1derpalm me too. I laughed when I saw the reference! Not many remember that sublime breakin’ masterpiece.
Great overview of the subject. Thanks for posting such fascinating content.
What a great video. I liked how you explained the perimeters of what a “book” would/could/should be prior to your continental and regional examples.
I liked this, you're very easy to listen to and I love that there's no nonsense. Thanks for making it :)
Thank you so much for doing what you do in the manner in wich you do it. I love documentaries and most historical based videos and literature but your style has made these topics very digestable. So keep it up, you are doing a great service to mankind, keep it up and thank you so much.
I read a "book" (more like a collection of poems) from India that was told to me to have been the "oldest text in the world". At the time I read it (2008, maybe?) it had only been translated into German. It was a very philosophical book. Some of the text I remember went something like "is a fruit a fruit because of its 'fruit-ness'? or because of its shape? or perhaps its utility? If we change the shape of the fruit, or cut it up into pieces, or use it for decoration instead of for eating - is it still a fruit?". But I can't for the life of me find this book/collection of poems. But it was in an ancient form of writing pre-dating Sanskrit, which is why it took so long to translate and was only translated by a German scholarly team at the time. Does anyone perhaps know the text I'm thinking of? I believe it was something like 10 or 12 philosophical poems. I'd love to read it again if I can find it.
@@AB-yp7nc It could well be a prakrit Or pali text. How could you say that Sanskrit os older than the prakrit Or pali. There is no archaeological or epigraphical evidence which can prove so. The tradition of writing pali and prakrit is much older than sanskrit. The oldest written records of Sanskrit is in Brahami ( originally called as Dhamma) script which was originally used for writing prakrit and pali. The common script used for writing Sanskrit is Devnagari which originated somewhere between 9th to 10th century AD. If there was no script how was Sanskrit written then. Apart from that there is no signs/sounds for writing 'R' in Brahami so writing the word 'Sanskrit' was almost impossible in Brahami. It is most certain there must a text in pre Sanskrit language in India. The written tradition of Sanskrit is only 2000 to 1500 years old while pali and prakrit were written from 2500 years.
@@AB-yp7nc The question is what is the proof of all of this you're claiming. If we have epigraphical and archaeological evidence of prakrit and pali why not of Sanskrit. Whether composition or writing there must be something that proves the claims. And I challenge you show me the symbols of Brahami which represents 'R'. Of ot was not Brahami what was the script of Sanskrit because Brahami's oldest written records only go as far back as 3rd century BCE.
If there is no physical records of a text or a book in written and neither oral ( for the sake of conversation) how could someone claim that text to be oldest. The oral tradition of stories go as far back as 30,000 years. This doesn't make those stories vedic.
@@AB-yp7nc isn't it pretty dumb to say that Sanskrit was not being written yet the Agni changed into agg Or dharma changed in dhamma. We get these words (at least dhamma) in writing on Asokan inscription centuries before Sanskrit was being written. The Term Sanskrit gives the sense that something was 'Sanskritised'. If there was no older language how could have they sanskritised then.
@@AB-yp7nc Man I am testing it's true but your claim and not you. Testing is a scientific method to reach an objective conclusion. Writing had do everything with dhamma or dharma because its a way to know to know origin of a word (etymology ). How could you claim that Dharma was before dhamma when it wasn't written. I asked you to prove your claims which you failed miserably. And i challenged you to show me a symbol that was used to write 'R' in Brahami ( originally called dhamma script in Asokan inscription) which you didn't provide. There were other sounds or syllables like 'Sh' which are impossible to write in Brahami. There are no 'visarg' either in Brahami and you know Sanskrit can't be written without visarg. So how was it possible that Sanskrit was written in Brahami. If it was not written what makes it oldest language. You're confused because you don't know the difference between a dialect and a language. Sanskrit if only was spoken and not written could only be a dialect not a language. An important feature of language is it is written as well as spoken. And you're saying Sanskrit means 'perfected'. A language can be perfected only when there exist a language prior to it. You can perfect something which already had been in existence. The prakrit is a group of languages I know that but according to linguists they were structurally different from Sanskrit. Pali is totally different from Sanskrit. If prakrit was Sanskrit why were Indians unable to read it's script. It was only when James prinsep deciphered Brahami and kharoshtee circa mid 19th century. And you saying that vedi mantra were not written because they create vibrations is the most unscientific and ridiculous argument I have ever come across. If it's true even for the sake of conversation what evidence you can provide of your claim.
Many thanks as always! There are so much sensational and dubious history videos that it is nice to find a place where reason and research reside.
Great video David. The devices and formats that cultures use for expression are important to understand.
Every time I watch one of your videos I learn something I didn't know about history. There's not many videos or video creators I can say that about. Your RUclips channel is making me think about getting commercial free RUclips cuz I want to scream every time an ad pops up. No ads are more important than the content of you videos even the funny videos 💜
I particularly loved this episode. I hope you do more episodes about ancient writing!
Your video popped up in my recommendations. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by!
First video i seen of yours, and thank you for your format. no nonsense. Love it sir
I hope so too dear, as a South Asian, I am really sad at the destruction of Nalanda, Taxila and many Indian universities, which had been functioning since the times of the Guptas. Many books were burnt by the middle-eastern armies, it is even believed that the library of Nalanda had some 9 million manuscripts( read it somewhere) where Hindus, Buddhists and Jains came to study from different parts of the world, even Greeks and Romans at a time. The bulk was so much that it burnt continuously for 3 months. However, I bear no brunt towards anyone, but still many manuscripts are available in India and I sincerely hope for more older writings to be found. I am also sad about the American history, we have many similarities.
Fun fact: the oldest grammarian is believed to be the Indian/South-Asian Hindu sage Panini, who wrote Astadhyayi, a Sanskrit grammar between some 800-500 BC. Another one is Tollakappiyam, a Tamil grammar written by Tollakapiyar in the period between 300 BC. Sanskrit is one of the oldest Indo-European language, while Tamil is the oldest Dravidian language archeologically.
Can i have a resource where it says middle eastern armies burned them down?
After my little research first time it got destroyed by Huns under Mihirakula during the reign of Skandagupta (455-467 AD).
Second time by The second destruction came in the early 7th century by the Gaudas.
3rd time by Turkish leader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193.
And those white huns destroyed the university of Texila in c600 AD
I still can't find any resource or historical text even by biased hindu sites that middle eastern armies destroyed and burned them down?
Huns and Bakhtiyar khilji were Turkic, while Gaudas were Bengali kings. Even though these three groups attacked the site, Bakhtiyar khilji ransacked and killed all the Buddhist and Hindu clergy of his time in the 12th century AD. Nalanda had surely survived the Hun and Gauda invasions without much casualties as they were repaired under the Hindu Guptas and Buddhist Harshavardhana.
@@thunderbear0 I didn't even name Islam for it, don't engage me in your sinful Al-taquiya. Huns were not Muslim but Turkic/ Iranic shaman, but the last invader was and he did give a fatal blow and didn't allow any reparations during his rule to that place. That's where the problem lies, I need not play victim card here like your co-religionists always do, just reiterating history.
@@infinite5795 lol take it easy.
Where did i took islams name? and that "sinful taqiya" is not our thing.
Just tell me where and when did middle eastern armies came and destroyed those universities thats a simple question i asked in a respectful manner
And since from when huns became turks?
And i agree university doesn't matter if its muslims or hindu or Buddhist it shouldn't be destroyed khilji was a illiterate warrior that some turkic king hired for his fighting skills and did whatever he was told just like mongols, these people don't know the value of knowledge and universities
First Trey the Explainer's video on books we can no longer read made me sad and now this one kind of makes me feel better :)
As an history fan hearing stories of people burning history books or texts is extremely distressing. Just imagine what knowledge we have lost.
Still happening today. Amazon ban a lot of books and publishers don't print new copies. Mark Twain being a recent example.
Muslims have destroyed but a small fraction of the total number of books that have been destroyed throughout history. In fact, in the medieval period, they were instrumental in the preservation of many ancient works, which Christian Europe neglected.
@@WorldofAntiquity Not only that, there are still private libraries in Timbuktu that possible could have copies of lost books that might make this list, all of them have still not been investigated be researchers.
I would claim that Christians have destroyed far more books then Muslims but it is a bit stupid to put everyone of the same religion during history as the same people. Some scholars have done a lot to preserve books while certain political or religious leaders have destroyed them on purpose and usually for no good reason.
There is one source not mentioned in the video that might make a change too, the Herculaneum papyri. We have a bit of a technical problem reading those since they are a bit... charred but new technology seems to be moving in the right direction so it isn't unlikely we will be able to read them soon and while what we seen so far isn't copies of Greek literature there might be some in there or new scrolls might be found so there is a some hope to find some more really ancient books from Europe.
@@loke6664 The vast majority of books were lost due to just things like mold and the loss of knowledge of Greek which made people unable to copy them. Late antique Christians didn't generally destroy books although there are exceptions like certain heresies and magical texts. But when it comes to heresies ironically Christians often preserved books they hated by writing response books that attacked those heretical books/views unwittingly preserving much of those books/views for posterity.
@@henrimourant9855 I did not claim that Christians destroyed all books they did not like, just that I think more books have been destroyed by Christians then Muslims.
You do for instance have the purge of Gnostic texts during the early Roman period to mention one, luckily for us we did found a cash in a well in Egypt that had a lot of preserved texts.
But as I said, it is stupid to blame an entire religion for the destruction of the books, a single ruler (king, Emperor or Pope) were usually the one to blame in cases of destruction on purpose.
I mean, we have seen recent burning och books and records by both Christian and Muslim fundamentalist but that doesn't make all religious people book burning morons, usually it is extremists behind such an occurrence.
A correction. The division you give of Samhitas, Aryanyakas, Upanishads and Bramanas are a general division of Vedas, samhitas being organized into many parts including Rig Veda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda and they span a larger period ending a bit after budhism. Rig Veda is the oldest layer of samhitas indeed, with "comentaries" regarding it divided into Aryanyakas, Upanishads and Bramanas .
Interesting topic, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate how organized the presentation is.
Another book that deserves an honorable mention in the east asia category is the Shan Hai Jing. This book contains a collection of Chinese Mythology, zoology, herbology and geography (some real/ some fantasy).
The earliest mentioned copy of it comes from 4th century BCE (although the authencity of it is contested). But according to tradition, before it was compiled into a book. Those stories are insribed in potteries along with the depiction of different mythological beast found in the book. When those potteries were gradually lost, they compiled it into a book without those illustrations unfortunately.
(They even have a vivid description of animals that resembles like the giraffe, zebra, Atlantic flyingfish etc which is really buffling given that they are not endemic in China). Pretty cool
Is it specifically an Atlantic flying fish or just a flying fish? Flying fish themselves aren't endemic to only the Atlantic, but are found in most seas and oceans of the world including East China Sea and South China Sea. As far as the giraffes and zebras, these coincide with China's golden age of exploration, as there were two giraffes in the imperial court. While China has been known to be very secretive and insular, there have been periods in their history of great exploration.
@@garymaidman625 The description of the flying fish can be found in the 西次三經 subsection of the book.
又西百八十里，曰泰器之山。觀水出焉，西流注于流沙。是多文鰩魚，狀如鯉魚，魚身而鳥翼，蒼文而白首，赤喙，常從西海遊于東海，以夜飛。其音如鸞雞，其味酸甘，食之已狂，見則天下大穰。
As you travel west for another hundred eighty "li", there the mountain called "taiqi" can be found. As you observe the waters, it flows west in sandlike formation (westward current). There, lots of creatures called "wenyao" resides. They resemble like carp yet their bodies have birdlike wings. With several markings, their heads white and their mouths red. Occasionally swims from "West Sea" to "East Sea" and "flies" during the night. They sound like "luan" bird. If cooked, they taste savory sour. A food to cure madness. Those who saw it will expect a good harvest.
----
I infer it based on the geography of the location the text mentions. We know that the creature is located far west of China. It swims in the "West Sea" (Sea is the biggest body of water in ancient text). There is simply no massive body of water in the west of China nearby. A possible explanation is travellers from the west shared this information. Or maybe their forefathers migrated from the west and stories like these are passed down but the eastward migration theory has long been disputed so far.
Of course claims like these needs credible evidence. Unforturnately, this book is mixed with fictional elements that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish what is real/fiction.
----
Regarding your 2nd query, China's golden age of exploration is in Ming dynasty. This refers specifically to the voyages of Zheng He (1405-1431CE). The Shan Hai Jing existing 4th century BCE. I think it is the other way around. When Zheng He visited the shores of Africa, they are amazed at the creatures that they saw (zebra, giraffe) as how near they are depicted by shan hai jing. They even brought back giraffe (what they thought as "kirin")
@@pandamancer3984 I think it might describing India.
The mountain might be the Himalayas, and the waters might be Brahmaputra which flows west into the Bay of Bengal, where flying fish can be found (although not commonly, today atleast)
Alternatively it might be Punjab rivers which also flow west into the Arabian sea where they might also be found.
Idk (ancient?) Chinese but I think interpreting it as 'water from the mountain flows west' , ' where this water ends up you'll find fish'
Thank you professor Miano for an excellent investigation of this topic. Truly enjoyed it!!!
This is incredibly passionate and informative 🙌🙏
Thanks!
And thank you, Myra!
As always, a great review. Thank you for the insight.
Man I wonder how many of such works won't ever come to light all because of how human history played out and time.
Dr Who..:):) You have done it again! Great Teaching. Thank You. I was very lucky, at school, to have had 3 teachers of History who brought the subject alive for me. You are the 4th!. Not that there is an order of excellence:) I was born in Bath. I am sure you can imagine how that influenced me when I was young. Thank You Prof. David! Great Educator!
Your content is fascinating and nearly as fascinating are the various ways people get crazy about your content which you seem very familiar with. Humans gonna human. Thanks for all the great videos ✨
Excellent video. One point regarding Rig Veda which i feel you may have missed is the geography that was mentioned in it. The reference to river Saraswati which slowly becomes a deity from a river. Corroborated by on-ground archaeology. Am i on the right track Doctor
Doc has a separate video on the vedas, you should check it out! He discusses the geographical descriptions, the geographical history of the place, and how one should interpret the “stuti” format of some of the vedic meter.
Love this type of content from you!
A very satisfactory overview, thanks for the insight!
Excellent as always, both informative and entertaining. Thank you
Another excellent video on a really interesting and important topic.
Ive been aware of the destruction of knowledge from Mexico and Peru, and similar destructive events in Europe and the middle east, for a long time, but when I first learned about the destruction of ancient books in China by the early emperors a couple years ago I somehow found it even more shocking, perhaps just because it was new to me, and perhaps because it was a culture erasing huge chunks of its own past.
I really loved how you prefaced this video by explaining your method for defining a rarest book and addressing any potential controversies that outrage tourists could come up with 🙏 i had no problem with the information you presented, i think it was objective and informative 🙏 i read lugalbanda in the mountain cave after watching this
Talking about old books, back in middle school back in the late 80s I had to use my grandfather's encyclopedia for research on the moon landing. I spent an hour trying to find it until I realized his encyclopedia was from the Kennedy administration, so the moon landing hadn't even happened yet! I thought it was both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
Stupid and shallow comparison to the subject of the video.
What's "heartbreaking" about _that?_ Hilarious, I get. The idea that something wasn't known because it hadn't happened yet, though? I don't see why that would even be sad, much less "heartbreaking."
And, child, if that's your idea of "heartbreaking," I wish I had your sheltered life. I'd trade you at the drop of a hat. I could tell you a lot about what's heartbreaking.
@@MaryAnnNytowl the fact that you felt compelled to write all this is heartbreaking.
heartbreaking that they were so dumb as a student
@@RogersMgmtGroup it's heartbreaking that you're such a bad person and terrible at insulting.
Thanks, an interesting and informative overview of something very important, well done.
My heart breaks for all the destroyed and forgotten texts of time. It's still happening today, that's the worst part. You'd think we would know better, as a species, by now.
Not just texts, but buildings and other things of cultural significance. Conversation is only a relatively new concept. Many of these texts were not even destroyed in a malicious way, but simply because the material was reused or succumbed to weather conditions. An example of this, while not a text, is Hadrian's Wall, which at one stage was 6m high, however the local farmers needed stone to build their houses and so used the stone from Hadrian's Wall. While I myself have a bachelor's in ancient history and archaeology, I actually have no problem with this, because while it 'destroys' a certain history, it creates another history. It's part of the story.
History has power. As long as there are people that desire power there will be people who would erase history.
@@repeat_defender
Some texts should definitely not exist.
It's not always classical works that get destroyed. I had a Bible that was passed down to me from at least 7 generations before me. The "blank" pages recorded my family's lineage. My house was broken into in 1991, all of my books were thrown into a pile outside and burned.
My family history was reduced to ashes. It wasn't until about 15 years ago my brother found almost all those family records on the internet. But that's not quite the same, is it?
Great video, as always.
“he who saw the Abyss” is an amazing name for a 5,000 year old story.
Thank you for all the hard work and great spirit you put in it.
Excellent that you mentioned Tolkappiyam ! According to sangam texts there were two sangams before this that scholars place before the 5th century b.c , a lot of ancient texts that were lost due to time
This book is from the second Sagham. The first one was attended by gods. So they are not considered historical and probably is allegory.
2:55 I wish you luck...
A very informative video, the definition is extremely interesting and the main part give some good prospective.
Here goes my "super thanks" for you creating this video. Good to see other works I had no idea about, being brought into the topic!
Sadly, the Americas and far east tend to be left in the shadow. Thumbs up for you to close this gap!
A very cool & informative video. Thank you for this.
You work is really amazing and the way you explain makes these videos that much more enjoyable, thank you
Glad you like them!
@@WorldofAntiquity Can you do a tour in Mexico please! I have 3 people that would go.... your mexico series is amazing.... MORE PLEASE!
Very well informed! Love listening to experts in any field.
Thank you for adding value to RUclips. Great work. Keep doing what youre doing please.
Even better than The Earliest Cities list. Keep up the truly awesome work!
One of the oldest texts from India is Rig Veda dating to more than 2000 BCE.
Not more than 2000BCE. But arround 2000BCE to 500BC. Latest layers of Upanishads date back to 500BC. Still it very impressive becouse vedic people memorized rather than writting. Even if they wrote it they have to copy it time to time. As books in indian subcontinent were written on palm leaves books which are Highly perishable.
@@subhashanvs3229 Not correct. The oldest layers of Rigveda go back to 3800 BCE. The language of Rigveda and the language of Upanishads is very different .
@@ranapratapsingh3416 you are very wrong. Rig veda doesn't go back to 3800 BCE. There was IVC still around. And Iranian branch and aryan branch didn't even split. I don't no why you estimated that. Could you please give me reason.
And Upanishads are the latest that's why I said 500BCE
@@subhashanvs3229 check your dna reserach we are not aryans it's a fake theory
@@anubhavsoni7620 yeah! Because we are rather mixed?
Another great video. Thanks a lot David.
Many times I’ve read an interesting fact or story and learn that the old source I got it from got it from an older source that no longer exists. One example is Augustus’s right hand man Marcus Agrippa wrote a book that is pretty much totally lost. The guy was a major figure and his descendants were quite powerful so it would seem like at least one version would of made it thru the ages. Yet here is the epic of Gilgamesh with it’s old ass, a letter from a guy begging for help cause the “sea peoples” were attacking was found in a furnace which was used to harden the clay tablets they wrote on. Apparently the sea peoples conquered the place while the tablet was being finished. That’s a crazy glimpse into things that happened long ago. The loss of libraries in Alexandria and Constantinople. To bad people didn’t try to make a copy of important books in brass or such.
Good presentation. Very interesting. Thank you.
As always, I love your channel; loved this lecture, learned a whole bunch, so thank you, thank you, many times thank you. One request/suggestion would be that at some point you return to the Popol Vuh and maybe mix in a look at the Rabinal Achi, it would also be fascinating to hear a discussion of the Chilam Balam books. The thing about the Popol Vuh that would make such a good discussion is that yes, the versions we have are written in alphabetic script in the the 16th and 17th century, BUT the current scholarship seems to feel that some traditional works in the Maya script were still being actively (clandestinely) read/used into the late colonial period (contemporary with the alphabetic texts) and that the versions we have are in fact transcriptions of "original" Mayan versions ---AND --- that archaeology has found artistic representations and short pieces of text which correspond closely to many stories in the Popol Vuh we actually have, thus indicating the extreme antiquity of these stories (back into not just the classic period, but deep into pre-classic antiquity). With the Popol Vuh, then, we have a case study to look at how transcription, oral traditions, etc. succeed and/or fail in preserving ancient texts and traditions. I suggest the Rabonal Achi, a much more obscure work, also from the conquest/early colonial period because it preserves a mode of ritual drama employed by the post classic Maya to glorify kings and warriors --- in some ways reminiscent of other heroic traditions --the Iliad, etc.
Your delivery and information are both sterling. I thank you very much. Just bought a few of these. All the best, A.
Sad to see David not mentioning the oldest book of all time - Twilight.
Historians date it to around the 33rd century BCE, at a time when the concept of how to write a piece of literature had not yet been developed.
😄
Great video, Dr. Miano!
I’d be interested in a video on religious books by decreasing age, both for when written and oldest extant copies. Heh. You may have already done this. Just found your channel, and I’m subscribing.
This was a really interesting video. Thank you.
What about the Egyptian Book of the Dead? Do we know its full text? Many exemplary books have been preserved, I admired such in Cairo ✌💗
Hi Irena, he mentioned it by name. The Book of the Dead is the culmination of the Old Kingdom texts found in the Pyramids. The Book of the Dead was compiled during the New Kingdom thus making it substantially "younger" than the Pyramid texts :)
By the way, was it the Papyrus of Ani? I heard they made restoration works on it, did they restore it back to one piece? In any case, I envy you ^^
@tensaibr It's my impatience ;)
@@tensaibr Perhaps, it occupied the entire wall
13:20
Another very informative video David
Great list. I was surprised Enheduanna's the Exaltation of Inanna didn't at least get an honorable mention.
Brilliant detailed video. Cheers
The burning of Pre-Columbian manuscripts is so heartbreaking!!! & in typical colonizer-fashion, 3/4 were whisked away to European countries... It's time to start returning the goods!! 💙 Thank you as always Dr Miano, being immersed in Ancient History is the best way to start my day!
I wouldn't hold my breath.
The only thing that will cause them to let go what they have taken will be cataclymic enough to destroy it anyway.
Or you inform yourself before making baseless accusation against "European countries". A good start would be "Breaking the Maya Code" by Michael. D. Coe.
The Mayan practiced human sacrifice many children s well Do find that a beautiful culture.
@@puremathematics5730 I value the cultural contributions of all prior civilizations, and just like with any dated system of beliefs- we have the modern-day advantage of understanding the world & what contributes to the wellbeing of living creatures. We can appreciate the manuscripts, architecture & art left by a culture, without adopting anachronistic beliefs, life human sacrifice. I don't identify with any specific culture, I'm a homosapien!
@@puremathematics5730 well the Europeans being adults married children and treated their women like slaves. They sacrificed women as witches, not much of a difference.
This is one of the most enjoyable videos I've watched in a while.
Something that I find fun to point out, from more...modern literature. Gilgamesh, or a version of him, still exists as a superhero in the Marvel universe, he's even been a member of the Avengers before. Something's kinda nice to me about the heroic mythology of the past becoming part of the heroic mythology of the present, even the oldest hero's story is still told.
"even the oldest hero's story is still told"
Hero in the Herakles sense though.
Gilgamesh was no perfect poster boi.
@@mnomadvfx Oh of course. Marvel's had to sand down a lot of his rougher edges. Still though, there he be.
I only started exploring comics a year ago, and one thing that's struck me is how much of a mythological vibe a lot of it has.
Gilgamesh is another Jack Kirby creation. That guy was amazing. Such fascinating world-building.
Was his superpower having consomating newlywed women before the husband's could?
Gilgamesh died, and his death is the whole point of the epic... it's strange a comic book brought him back to life.
This was an awesome list. I quite enjoyed it and would enjoy a follow up w more ancient writings from different cultures. Or a video about just what different people decided to start writing about when they developed writing systems
One that I would like to bring up is the Diary of Merer, while not as glamorous as the Pyramid Texts from the 5th and 6th Dynasties, it does predate them, coming in at the 4th Dynasty under Khufu. More people need to know about these as they tell us of the transportation of limestone to the Giza plateau which helps put the Pyramidologists (aka Pyramidiots) in their pseudohistory place XD A Fantastic video though ^^
Well, that's not what qualified in this list, though, as it's not a work of literature, but a, well, diary.
One of the best channels on youtube!
The Rig Veda survived because it had a meaning worth remembering
Very interesting! I love your channel, found out about it only recently.
I think you should've mention books of Hittites and generally Asia Minor. Yes, formally it's Asian territory (and actually the one that the name "Asia" was originally about), and it has tight cultural connections with West Asia, but still, there are theories on how they were influenced by Crete myths (and maybe lost books?) and how they later influenced Greek myths and literature, Hesiod's Theogony. So I think it has notable connections with Europe literature and may be somewhat considered part of it.
Love the vid. I love reading historical books so this list is great I've read a few of these before and thay are great some stories really stand the test of time. Thank you 👍👍💯👏👏😎
The only ones of these books that I have read is The Iliad and I was shocked how much I enjoyed it.
The style is a bit odd with paragraphs describing individual warriors who are never seen again. However, Achilles character arc, moving from his angry at being wronged by Agamemnon, then his wrath at Hector after the death of Patroclus, before ultimately coming to terms with his feelings of loss and returning Hector's body to Priam is still relatable (the emotions not necessarily the events that produce them), and make for a great read. Truly timeless
It's one of the most moving stories ever told, even today. It's much more tender and reflective than you might expect.
Thank you, very interesting and informative.
Yeah, clay was the best way to preserve ancient writing. Wish more cultures used it
Thank you, your work is good
“Surviving” is the keyword.
Paper-like technologies don’t last.
And surviving doesn’t mean first or oldest. It simply means what we found.
Thanks
And thank you, Kris!
Imagine this guy being your homeroom & history teacher all years of high school. I would repeat on purpose.
Really loving your channel!
I think you should have subdivided Africa into multiple regions like you did with Asia. It feels a little unfair to just treat it as one unified continent when it has many diverse cultures.
Every country has a different culture. But I have to draw the line somewhere.
@@WorldofAntiquity Africa, the continent that gets treated as a single country. You can fit Europe, Japan, China, the US, and India into the amount of land Africa covers. Yes the line has to be drawn somewhere, but...is that really the best place to draw it, or is it just that we are so used to thinking of Africa as one big Sally Struthers charity case that we don't even think twice about treating it as the diverse expanse of the start of man that it is.
And honestly, I know very little of what was going on south of Egypt during these time periods you tend to cover. So, it'd be really interesting to get something. If it is just a lack of information, or knowledge, or whatever, even that is worth pointing out as it provides some justification, context, and insight into why handle it as one large single place.
Other parts of Africa had written long-form content waaay later (and like Dr. Miano said, that's not a knock against African cultures). And then when they do show up, in the Middle Ages, they're translations: the Bible in Ethiopia and Islamic hadith and fiqh along the Niger River and Swahili Coast. I wonder how translations would figure into a list like the one in this video. Is it still the oldest book if it's a translation of a work from somewhere else?
@@franks450 As I said, at least put some context around why one is opting to treat an entire continent as a single thing. As pointed out in the original post Asia was split up.
And why did you scare quote inclusion? Are you trying to elicit doubt that inclusion is an actual thing?
@@AveragePicker *Africa, the continent that gets treated as a single country.*
It gets treated as a region, as the other sections also do.
*You can fit Europe, Japan, China, the US, and India into the amount of land Africa covers.*
Okay, but how many books prior to the year 1000 have been preserved from Africa? I'm an ancient historian, remember. If there were ancient books from other places in Africa, I would most certainly have given them due coverage. Anyway, I did not have Japan, China, the US, or India as sections in the video.
Good energy, informative and interesting.
Please Talk about Tamil Language and it's history ..... தமிழ்(tamil/thamizh) is spoken in southern part of India 🇮🇳
Also Sri Lanka and Singapore.
But sanskrit is more important because we are Hindu
@@Error_Bhoi no... Hinduism is made by our beliefs on God not by language .. we are also hindus ... We have huge respect on hinduism... But we also have very much respect on our mother tongue
@@vasangettamemes8689
Bro our mother tongue is Tamil and sanskrit is oldest and language of gods
@@Error_Bhoi
Wrong information.
Sanskrit didn't Even existed during Lord Buddhas period.
No Linguistics and archeological evidence.
Tamil is much older than that
Bedankt
And thank you, Michiel!
The oldest novel is the Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki which is complete and written in 1021.
Super Thanks 🙏🏽 IS in order! Refreshing to see a vid on actual occurrences with dating!!! Thanks to you sir, for being an actual scholar and a gentleman!!!!
I think it’s fascinating that the Egyptians used papyrus for so much, but that the only stuff that remains of their older writings is written on tomb walls.
Did this sort of thing happen in ancient Mesopotamia at all? Is there any possibility that people were writing on perishable materials over there as well as on clay?
Clay tablets have been found with added comments or librarian's remarks written on them in ink, so it's possible some perishable materials were used for everyday purpose. I'm thinking of personal notes, receits and stuff like that. But not for long texts deemed worthy of preservation.
People traveled with the clay tablets, so I would think that it was the lightest medium they had, at least for a while.
Thanks!
@@WorldofAntiquity I wouldn't like to carry an encyclopedia
Clay tablets, the earliest proto Kindle
Thank you very much. Appreciate your work on this.
Well, shoot. When you started talking literature, I was hoping something from Enheduanna had made the list. But I don't actually know if we have anything from her or if she was just known to be a poet. Seems it would have to be pretty old if any texts survived.
We have a couple of short works from her.
@@WorldofAntiquity excellent, gonna check them out
Enheduanna is the first known author whos name is attributed to any work of literature. She wrote at least 37 or possibly 42 temple hymns and at least 2 epic poems, "The Exaltation of Inanna" and "Inanna and Ebih".
Enheduanna was also a princes, daughter of Sharru-ken (Sargon of Akkad) and a High Priestess of the Temple of the Moon God Nanna in the city of Ur.
@@stephaniechochotte434 There is a collection of 42 temple hymns on 37 tablets, but only the last hymn has her name on it. Some people think she wrote (or edited) the whole collection, but others say she wrote only the last hymn. Her two longer poems are not long enough to be considered books. This is not to disparage her or downplay her work. She is an important person in history.
Excellent video, thank you!
The world is obsessed with dates not the content.when scholars are obsessed in believing with the crazy idea that the world is created 6000 years ago as described in their so called religious book then they try everything to fit into that 6000 year timeframe. 😅
this dude allmost be one of the best information-channels around yt. well done, man.
h.m.
It would be great if you could make a collab with the RUclips "Lady of the Library" She does literature commentary on ancient history
Super thanks. Loved it!
But Sir, according to Praveen Mohan Vedas contain scientific manuscript that were used in the design of space rockets and nuclear reactors and teleportation devices and plastic surgery and Tesla coils, all written 18,000 yeas ago. And you are saying it describes chalcolithic inventions only. Whom shall we believe now.
I guess it depends on whether you are a realist or a fantasist.
Isn't this Praveen Mohan the "gentleman" who has upset religious leaders in India by trespassing on sacred sites instead of gaining their permission to do so? 🤔
Well, their mythology is as bogus as their king Vikramditya 😂