The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1400–1301 BC
1 work
c. 1400 BC
Akkadian
Anonymous
Adapa, the first of the seven sages, breaks the wing of the south wind and is summoned before Anu. His god Ea warns him not to eat the food offered in heaven, since it will be the food of death. It is the food of life, and by obeying he loses immortality for himself and for humankind.
1–100
2 works
c. AD 1–100
Greek
Apocalypse of Moses
Anonymous
What Adam and Eve did after the garden: the penance standing in the Jordan and the Tigris, Satan's account of why he refused to worship a creature made of clay, and Eve's deathbed confession to her children of how it all happened.
c. 100
Hebrew or Aramaic, surviving in Latin and Syriac
Anonymous
Seven visions in which Ezra, sitting in the ruins of Jerusalem, refuses to accept the angel's answers: why does God let the wicked prosper, why were so few made to be saved, and what use was a law that no one could keep. The consolations do not silence him.
101–200
1 work
c. 100–200
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Adam in his seven hundredth year tells Seth what he learned from three visitors: that the creator is not the highest God, that a race descended from Seth will survive flood and fire, and that thirteen kingdoms will each give a false account of where the illuminator came from.
501–600
1 work
c. 500–600; older material within it
Syriac
Anonymous
Sacred history from Adam to Pentecost, hung on one idea: Adam was buried with gold, myrrh, and frankincense in a cave beneath Eden, Noah carried the body onto the ark, and it was finally laid at Golgotha — so that Christ's blood ran down onto Adam's skull.
5 of 1774 works