For literature, it’s the Bible, read it three times cover to cover and often come back to it, at least to my favorite books. I’m not religious, but I’m very fond of myths, legends and fairy tales. I’ve also read the Iliad (not in Homer’s verse, but in a 19th century prose adaption and in Stephen Fry’s recollection) and many German legends and fairy tales (the brothers Grimm’s “Kinder und Hausmärchen” is probably my favorite book).
As for music, the oldest (composed and recorded, I’m not a classical music guy) is Blues from the early 1920s. That’s about the same cut-off as for movies, though I’ve also watched pre-1920s movies.
As for art, I like art from every era, beginning with the oldest cave paintings which I find fascinating but do not regularly seek out, so engage would be too big a word.
On a regular basis? Just old comic books from the 1940s these days. I’ve also been taking a pretty deep dive into 1950s proto-Rock and Roll. I think I’ve already read all of the classics I want to and pretty much the same for old movies (although I do drag them out for a monthly outdoor movie night; most recently, The Bride of Frankenstein)
Excluding the Bible as a bit too obvious, for me it would probably be Billy Shakes. Just last month I played Lord Montague (or, as he’s sometimes called, “Old Montague!”) in a local production of Romeo and Juliet. That particular theater company does at least one Shakespeare play each season, and I will usually go see them if I’m not in them.
Besides reading the Bible, I often listen to the Iliad read by Ian MacKellen on road trips. My church choir has old music in its repertoire; in a couple weeks we’re singing a Tallis piece (1500s) but Easter itself has some very old traditional chant such as the Exultet which is circa 6th century A.D.
I’ve read the Gilgamesh Epic in several translations but not that recently. The earliest fragments date to 2000 BC. It’s a great story, and I used to fantasize about starting a bar called Siduri’s. Siduri is the divine barmaid at the end of the world, who dispenses timeless advice.
Vivaldi and Bach are on my phone, so they come up fairly often during walks.Also tons of Beethoven. I often dive into my Mr. Dooley in an original collection from around 1900. I have a pirated Jules Verne from 1868, but I wouldn’t call it a frequent read. And I often listen to the '60s channel on Sirius.
Musically I listen to little after 2000.
I sometimes play the Seikilos Epitaph, the oldest surviving complete musical composition, probably dating from the 1st or the 2nd century CE, on instruments.
Other than the Bible and commentaries thereupon, the oldest stuff I engage with on a semi-regular basis would be nineteenth century novelists like Twain, Dickens and Hugo.
Ooh, I should have thought of that’n - my car’s name is Ereshkigal! 'Cus she’s powerful, and black, and I, uh… Was kind of suicidal and thinking about driving her of a cliff, so… Death-goddess… Yeeeaaah…
