The Most Ancient Human Texts
Texts readable at all the times through the centuries are only the alphabetical. Actually, the first constantly readable texts came up with alphabet, the only phoneme lettering. The other pre-alphabetic texts, were either unreadable, or some that are read, which are nothing more than secretarial notes for archiving, like the achaean syllabic script, were after many difficulties inadequately read. Constantly readable through the centuries alphabetical texts of the pre-Christian era are only those in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. All texts of all the other nations on earth are of the post-Christian era.
Alphabet, that was invented for Hebrew texts, the most ancient of all human texts, was given then to the surrounding Semites and Hamites, and among them to the Phoenicians; the Phoenicians gave it to the Greeks, the Greeks to the Romans, then Greeks and Romans together to all humanity. Today with alphabet writes all humanity except the Indians the Chinese and the Indochinese. The most ancient human texts are 15 books of the Old Testament, 9 historic and 6 poetic; of the 15th century B.C. the three of Moses, Genesis, Law ( = Exodus + Leviticus + Numbers ) and Deuteronomy, two of the 12th century, Joshua and Judges, and four of the 11th, Dan ( =Jdg 17-18), Benjamin ( =Jd. 19-21), Ruth, and David's Kingdom (= 1-2 Kings) and the 6 poetic, Psalms (only 100 of them), Job, Proverbs, Wisdom (=Pr. 1-9), Ecclesiastes, Canticles. (t.n.; Song).
After the above 15 books of the Old Testament, second in time human texts are the greek Homeric Epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, of the 11th century B.C..
The remaining books of the Old Testament were written from the 9th century B.C. till the 5th (424 B.C.).
The remaining Greek texts were written from the 9th century and beyond.
Oldest preserved Latin texts are the works of Plautus, written between the years 220-180 B.C.. The rest of Latin texts are younger.
Syriac and other christian texts — except in Greek and Latin — are starting from the year 300 A.D.; namely in Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Gothic, Persian, and Slavonic, all of them christian. Even younger of those are Mohammedan and Arabic texts, and the idolatrous in Indian, Chinese, Indochinese, Japanese, Korean and old-American, written in time sequence as I have listed them from the 7th to the 16th century.
I feel great joy and satisfaction and pride that people of the God and the Bible are those who gave the letters to humanity and opened the way to the sciences, and this, only as their side work; because the work of their mission is other and much higher.
Studies (Μελέτες) 8 (2010)