List of 7 Oldest Surviving Books in the World

Books are not simply a collection of words; they are time capsules that hold the wisdom, stories, and knowledge of past civilizations. Well-preserved books in the world are not commonly seen and allow us to examine and reflect upon where we have come from as a species and the origins of human thought, cultures, religions, and learning.

Unlike today, the early texts were transcribed with care on materials like papyrus, parchment, and bamboo, and often written by hand! As such, surviving hundreds of years is a testament to an extraordinary achievement. 

Collectively, these books are the foundation of literature, philosophy, spirituality, and science, and demonstrate how humankind sought to make sense of itself and the universe, long before the invention of the printing press.

 Overall, examining early books helps us understand writing systems, storytelling, and belief structures, making sense of our world while celebrating the efforts of scribes and scholars who sought to preserve knowledge for future generations.

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List of Top 7 Oldest Surviving Books in the World

Here are the top 7 oldest surviving books in the world, along with their dates and region: 

1. The Pyramid Texts (ca. 2400-2300 BCE, Egypt)

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest known religious texts in the world: they are inscribed on the walls of the pyramids at Saqqara, from Egypt's Old Kingdom, and contain spells, prayers, and incantations for the pharaohs to use in the afterlife. 

These texts were not inscribed on papyrus like later manuscripts; they were chiseled directly into the stone walls of the pyramids for the sake of preserving the sacred inscriptions. The inscriptions express the beliefs of the Egyptians, particularly regarding the path of the soul and the gods Osiris and Ra.

2. The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2100 BCE, Mesopotamia)

The Epic of Gilgamesh is often called the world's first great literary work. It originated in ancient Mesopotamia and was written in cuneiform on clay tablets. 

This text tells the story of the adventures of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk and explores themes that resonate universally like friendship, immortality, and humanity's mortality. The most complete text consists of twelve tablets from the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, earlier fragments antiquate the story on paper much earlier than that.

3. Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE, India)

The Rigveda is the oldest and earliest surviving text from ancient India. The Vedas consist of four texts, and the Rigveda is composed in Vedic Sanskrit and includes 1,028 hymns (suktas) organized into ten books (mandala). 

The hymns praise natural forces of nature and deities, including Agni (the fire god), Indra (the rain and thunder god), and Varuna (cosmic order). The Rigveda consisted of oral tradition for centuries before it was eventually written and is the historic source of Hindu philosophy and spirituality.

4. The Iliad & Odyssey (ca. 800 BCE, Greece)

 The Iliad and Odyssey have long been attributed to the poet Homer. They are epic poems that are at the center of Greek literature and of Western civilization in general. The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War and particularly takes up the story of the anger of Achilles, while the Odyssey recounts the adventures of Odysseus and his attempts to return home from Troy to Ithaca. 

The Iliad and Odyssey were most likely composed as oral works before being written down. Both works contain themes of Heroism, the idea of Fate, the concept of Honor, and the human struggle against gods and fate.

5. Hebrew Bible / Tanakh (Israel)

The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, is Judaism's text from which it emerged and is one of the world's great texts of religion. Written and collected over hundreds of years, it is comprised of history, laws, poetry, prophecy, and wisdom.

 While the earliest texts are arguably as old as 1200 BCE, the oldest extant manuscripts are the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the mid-twentieth century, and dated to about 200 BCE. The scrolls were found near Qumran and included a large portion of the Hebrew Bible; they established the age and stability of the text.