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.
1300–1201 BC
1 work
c. 1300 BC
Akkadian
Ludlul bel nemeqi
Attributed to Shubshi-meshre-Shakkan
A nobleman loses office, health, friends, and standing, and can find no fault in himself. His diviners cannot read his case, his god has abandoned him, and what is good to a man is an abomination to his god — until three dreams bring a stranger who restores him.
1–100
1 work
c. 50 BC – AD 100
Greek
Anonymous
Job on his deathbed retells his own story: he brought the disaster on himself by destroying an idol's temple, endured it as an athlete endures a bout, and leaves his three daughters not property but cords that let them speak in the tongues of angels.
501–600
1 work
c. 579–591
Latin
Moralia in Iob
Gregory the Great · c. 540–604
Thirty-five books begun as conferences for fellow monks in Constantinople, reading Job at three levels — historical, allegorical, and moral — and using it to map the interior life.
3 of 1774 works