# What's the Oldest Book You've Read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473 "2008-10-18T00:45:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/21 "2008-10-18T03:58:41Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > But _everybody’s_ read The Iliad and The Odyssey, no? I had to read those in High School. Isn’t it, like, required? People always say this. Thing is . . . I don’t recall being required, or instructed, to read _anything_ in high school. Is it really common to be required to read books for high school classes? In 9th grade we read Romeo and Juliet in class, and then in 11th grade we read excerpts from The Joy Luck Club and Things Fall Apart - also aloud in class - but that’s it. Then again, I went to a county school in one of the last states in education . . . ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/22 "2008-10-18T03:59:38Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Almost non-religious fiction and also the most boring book I’ve ever finished because I had to for school: > > The Pilgrim’s Progress From this World to That Which is to Come: Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream Wherein is Discovered, The Manner of his Letting Out, His Dangerous Journey; And Safe Arrival at the Desired Country. > Modern publishers try to hide this books boring, boring innards by titling it Pilgrim’s Progress. > > Beowulf is pretty old too. It’s older than Pilgrim’s Progress but it sure doesn’t feel older than Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s funny but it’s true. I’ve read parts of Gilgamesh, but not enough to IMHO really qualify. I’ve read the Old Testament all the way through, which I’d probably say is my real “qualifier”. The oldest thing I’ve read in its original language is Chaucer in Middle English - took a whole class in college. ETA - **Cisco** , I went to public schools in South Carolina and we read books in high school. Are you sure you didn’t actually grow up in, say, Darfur? Or does it seem you’ve always been at war with Eastasia? What did you do in English class if you didn’t have to read any books? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/23 "2008-10-18T04:06:15Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > But _everybody’s_ read The Iliad and The Odyssey, no? I had to read those in High School. Isn’t it, like, required? Hmm, good point. Actually, I was assigned _The Epic of Gilgamesh_ in university. Actually, I didn’t read \*The Ilad \* or _The Odyssey_ until university. I did have a lame high school, though. The oldest book I’ve read on my own is probably Sun Tzu’s _The Art of War_, which is sitting on my shelf now. The oldest European work would be _Don Quixote_. The oldest I’ve read in the original and not in translation would be in German and probably some of the works by Goethe. Way back when, I could read a fair bit of German, and I took a class or two on Goethe. I specifically recall reading _The Sorrows of Young Werther_ and _Faust_. But then, those two were assigned. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/24 "2008-10-18T04:16:50Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > People always say this. Thing is . . . I don’t recall being required, or instructed, to read _anything_ in high school. Is it really common to be required to read books for high school classes? In 9th grade we read Romeo and Juliet in class, and then in 11th grade we read excerpts from The Joy Luck Club and Things Fall Apart - also aloud in class - but that’s it. Then again, I went to a county school in one of the last states in education . . . What did you do in English from grades 10 through 12? I’m not being snarky-- I reall want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/25 "2008-10-18T04:47:40Z")
I took Latin in school, and read parts of The Illiad, Pliny’s letters, and a few odes of Horace in the original language. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/26 "2008-10-18T05:16:21Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The oldest I’ve read in the original and not in translation would be in German and probably some of the works by Goethe. Way back when, I could read a fair bit of German, and I took a class or two on Goethe. I specifically recall reading _The Sorrows of Young Werther_ and _Faust_. But then, those two were assigned. And Lessing. [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthold_Ephraim_Lessing). Overlapped a bit with Goethe but wrote some works a little earlier. I read some of his stuff in German that predated Goethe’s works. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/27 "2008-10-18T05:37:59Z")
I was going to say _Persuasion_ from 1814, but then I realized I’ve read _The Canterbury Tails_ from the 14th century, a bunch of Shakspeare, Allegory of the Cave by Plato, and writings from Emanual Kant. So really, I have no idea apparently. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/28 "2008-10-18T05:58:22Z")
The bible, Homer, Plato, Beowulf… when was Popol Vuh written? > [@Cisco](#): > > People always say this. Thing is . . . I don’t recall being required, or instructed, to read _anything_ in high school. Is it really common to be required to read books for high school classes? In 9th grade we read Romeo and Juliet in class, and then in 11th grade we read excerpts from The Joy Luck Club and Things Fall Apart - also aloud in class - but that’s it. Then again, I went to a county school in one of the last states in education . . . Wow, really? I can probably dreg up the memory of 75% of the books I was required to read in high school, from Romeo and Juliet and Summer of My German Soldier in 9th grade to MacBeth and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 12th. The only high school English classes I took that didn’t have books assigned were fiction and non-fiction writing sophomore year. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/29 "2008-10-18T06:01:23Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > ETA - **Cisco** , I went to public schools in South Carolina and we read books in high school. Are you sure you didn’t actually grow up in, say, Darfur? Or does it seem you’ve always been at war with Eastasia? What did you do in English class if you didn’t have to read any books? I was your neighbor to the north. Did you go to city schools or county? > [@Biggirl](#): > > What did you do in English from grades 10 through 12? > > I’m not being snarky-- I reall want to know. You’re asking me to dust off some old memories . . . I _think_ 10th grade was grammar, 11th was creative writing, and 12th was persuasive writing/the 5-paragraph essay. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/30 "2008-10-18T06:08:48Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I was your neighbor to the north. Did you go to city schools or county? > > You’re asking me to dust off some old memories . . . I _think_ 10th grade was grammar, 11th was creative writing, and 12th was persuasive writing/the 5-paragraph essay. Ah, it sounds like it focused on writing. We didn’t have plain old English, we had English Literature-- which meant we had to read a lot of boring stuff. On the upside, we got to read a lot of cool stuff too. I’d like to point out that I didn’t read Pilgrim’s Progress in high school and not everybody in my h.S. read Beowulf. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/31 "2008-10-18T07:21:40Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I specifically recall reading _The Sorrows of Young Werther_.. Ah! The prototypical Goth novel! Could on translate it (though even 1970-vintage high schoolers could stomach it) but it remained barfatroucic. Gotta admit I’ve recently gotten in contact with a classmate, but memories of her yellow dress, spangled with daisy eyelets, had more to do with it than the verbiage. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/32 "2008-10-18T07:36:00Z")
In translation, _Gilgamesh_. In the original language, all of _Beowulf_ and bits of Homer. Very slowly in both cases. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/33 "2008-10-18T07:36:53Z")
Herodotus’ _Histories_, followed by Aristotle’s _Rhetoric_. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/34 "2008-10-18T14:52:26Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Ah, it sounds like it focused on writing. We didn’t have plain old English, we had English Literature-- which meant we had to read a lot of boring stuff. On the upside, we got to read a lot of cool stuff too. Wait – so there’s a chance I learned things that other people didn’t? I never looked at it that way. I always figured everybody else did the stuff we did plus read books. Maybe that’s why first year college english was ridiculously easy for me and everybody else I know struggled. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/35 "2008-10-18T16:02:46Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > … I’ve read _The Canterbury Tails_ from the 14th century … That must be the porno remake. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/36 "2008-10-18T16:41:30Z")
Remake? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/37 "2008-10-18T19:30:40Z")
The _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ for me also. For true novels, probably _Robinson Crusoe_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/38 "2008-10-18T20:16:16Z")
It’s Gilgamesh for me as well, though that rather stretches the definition of “book.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/39 "2008-10-18T20:28:48Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I was your neighbor to the north. Did you go to city schools or county? > > You’re asking me to dust off some old memories . . . I _think_ 10th grade was grammar, 11th was creative writing, and 12th was persuasive writing/the 5-paragraph essay. We only have county - they’re all county. I think that’s true for the whole state. I was wrong, before - I said the oldest thing I’ve read in the original language is Middle English Chaucer, but I’ve also read the Aeneid and the Gallic Wars and some other stuff in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473/40 "2008-10-19T00:33:10Z")
Gligamesh in translation, Homer in the original … couldn’t do that these days, my Greek has rusted away from disuse. Pity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-book-youve-read/468473.md?page=3)