The Texts
38 primary texts. We link out to the source; click any text for its reading links, the gods and things in it, and its companion reading path.
Egyptian
The Pyramid Texts
Egyptian · c. 2400–2300 BCE (Old Kingdom)
The Coffin Texts
Egyptian · c. 2100–1800 BCE (Middle Kingdom)
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Egyptian · c. 1550 BCE onward (New Kingdom)
The Greek Magical Papyri (PGM)
Egyptian · c. 100 BCE – 400 CE
Mesopotamian
The Enūma Eliš (Babylonian Creation)
Mesopotamian · c. 1100 BCE (text), older tradition
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Mesopotamian · c. 2100–1200 BCE
Greek
Hesiod — Theogony
Greek · c. 700 BCE
Hesiod — Works and Days
Greek · c. 700 BCE
Homer — The Iliad
Greek · c. 750 BCE (composed), older tradition
Homer — The Odyssey
Greek · c. 725 BCE
The Homeric Hymns
Greek · c. 7th–6th c. BCE
The Orphic Hymns
Greek · c. 200 BCE – 200 CE (collection)
Hebrew
Genesis (King James Version)
Hebrew · compiled c. 6th–5th c. BCE
The Dead Sea Scrolls (introduction)
Hebrew · c. 3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE
Christian
The Holy Bible — King James Version (complete)
Christian · 1611 (translation); texts ancient
The Septuagint (LXX) — Greek Old Testament
Christian · c. 3rd–2nd c. BCE
The Apocrypha / Deuterocanon
Christian · c. 200 BCE – 100 CE
Augustine — Confessions
Christian · c. 397–400 CE
Gnostic & Hermetic
The Corpus Hermeticum
Gnostic & Hermetic · c. 100–300 CE
The Nag Hammadi Library
Gnostic & Hermetic · codices c. 350 CE; texts older
Hindu
The Rig Veda
Hindu · c. 1500–1200 BCE
The Upanishads
Hindu · c. 800–200 BCE
The Bhagavad Gita
Hindu · c. 200 BCE – 200 CE
The Mahābhārata
Hindu · c. 400 BCE – 400 CE
The Rāmāyaṇa
Hindu · c. 500–100 BCE
Buddhist
Taoist & Chinese
The Tao Te Ching
Taoist & Chinese · c. 4th c. BCE
The I Ching (Book of Changes)
Taoist & Chinese · core c. 1000 BCE; commentaries later
Zoroastrian
Norse & Germanic
Finnic
Mesoamerican
Islamic
Kabbalah
The Zohar (introduction)
Kabbalah · 13th c. CE (attributed to 2nd c.)
The Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)
Kabbalah · c. 200–600 CE