The Greatest Myths and Mythologies
The selection below is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time and further research into mythological literature acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.
It focuses on the greatest works of myth and mythologies. For more details, see "What's on this list and what isn't".
You may also be interested in The Greatest Historical Fiction or The Greatest Fantasy Fiction.
The 77 greatest works of myth and mythology
Latest update: July 8, 2026
c.2100–1200 BCE
Epic of Gilgamesh
Epic poem, also known as
Gilgamesh or
He Who Saw the Deep
It may not be the oldest story in the world, as The Epic of Gilgamesh is sometimes called. There had been other stories floating around the ancient world before the various versions of Gilgamesh, and who knows.... Critique • Quotes • Translations • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.1500–0900 B CE
The Vedas
Anonymous, India
Prose and poetry collection
c.1200 BCE–100 CE
Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
by various authors, Egypt, Israel and Babylon
Prose and poetry collection, also known as
The Jewish Bible or
Tanakh, includes books of "Genesis", "Exodus", "Leviticus", "Numbers", "Deuteronomy", "Job", "Psalms", "Song of Songs",
"Jonah", and others.
What wrecks the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament as literature is too much God. Which might prompt the response, "What did you expect? The Bible is a religious text and isn't religion mainly about gods?" But.... Critique • Other views • Quotes • Text • Biblical canons • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.750 BCE
Iliad
Epic poem
Many notable literary figures have acclaimed the Iliad as a transporting work of art. I don't entirely get it. Even after having read several different translations of the epic poem. I suspect any non-academic today who takes.... Critique • Quotes • Text • Translations • Wikipedia • Amazon
Odyssey
Epic poem
This one has it all. The Odyssey is not only a great romantic, adventure epic, but it's terribly realistic in its depiction of human nature and a brilliantly crafted narrative. Authors today could learn from studying how Homer.... Critique • Quotes • Translations • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.700 BCE
Theogony
Poem
The greatest thing about Hesiod's Theogony is that it's short. It was important to the ancient world for other reasons as well, but this does not translate into a particularly rich experience for modern readers. Unless they're.... Critique • Quotes • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.640 B CE
The Labours of Hercules
by attributed to Peisander, Greece
Epic poem, also known as The Twelve Labours of Heracles
c.600 BCE
"Theseus and the Minotaur"
Anonymous, Greece
Story
c.600–0200 BCE
Ramayana
by Valmiki, India
Long poem
467 BCE
Seven Against Thebes
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play
458 BCE
Oresteia
by Aeschylus, Greece
Play trilogy includes
Agamemnon,
The Eumenides and
The Libation Bearers.
Separately the plays in Aeschylus's house of Atreus trilogy are skimpy. Or they may seem so to the modern reader or theatregoer. In each instalment the narrative turns on a single great dramatic incident. In Agamemnon.... Critique • Quotes • Wikipedia • Amazon
Antigone
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
It's the concluding instalment of Sophocles's so-called Theban trilogy about the tragedy of Oedipus and its ramifications. But Antigone was actually the first written and produced—more than a decade before the supposed.... Critique • Quotes • Text • Wikipedia • Amazon
431 BCE
Medea
by Euripides, Greece
Play
429 BCE
Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles, Greece
Play, also known as
Oedipus,
Oedipus Tyrannus, or
Oedipus the King
For a modern reader, the ancient drama of Oedipus Rex can be startlingly accessible. There is little of the struggle through the language that one experiences with even more recent plays, such as Shakespeare's.... Critique • Quotes • Text • Wikipedia • Amazon
406 B CE
The Bacchae
by Euripides, Greece
Play, also known as The Bacchantes, originally Bakkhai
401 BCE
Oedipus at Colonus
by Sophocles, Greece
Play
c.400–CE 0400 BCE
Mahābhārata
by Vyasa, India
Long poem
c.250 BCE
Voyage of the Argonauts
by Apollonius of Rhodes, Greece
Epic poem, also known as Jason and the Argonauts, originally Argonautica
c.100 B CE
The Library of Greek Mythology
by attributed to Apollodorus, Greece
Story collection, also known as Bibliotheca, originally Bibliothēkē (Library)
c.29–0019 BCE
Aeneid
by Virgil, Rome
Epic poem
8 CE
The Book of Days
by Ovid, Rome
Long poem, also known as On the Roman Calendar, originally Fasti
c.8 CE
Metamorphoses
Poem
My first reaction to Ovid's Metamorphoses was mystification. This was one of the great books of Western culture. Ovid was said to be wickedly delightful to read compared to other ancients. And I was reading.... Critique • Quotes • Translations • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.48–110 CE
New Testament
By various authors, Israel, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Rome
Prose and poetry collection
It's often called "the greatest story ever told". But is the New Testament—or more precisely the gospel story within the New Testament—even one of our best stories? Of course, when they make that "greatest" claim.... Critique • Quotes • Text • Wikipedia • Amazon
c.79 CE
Argonautica
by Valerius Flaccus, Rome
Epic poem
c.150 CE
The Golden Ass
by Lucius Apuleius, Numidia
Novel, originally Metamorphoses
c.550 CE
Mythologies
by Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, Libya
Story collection, originally Mitologiarum libri III
c.650 CE
Qur'an
by anthology, Arabia
Prose and poetry collection, also known as Koran
The Voyage of Bran
Anonymous, Ireland
Prose and poetry collection, originally Immram Brain
c.800–1400 CE
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous, Persia
Story collection, also known as Arabian Nights, includes "Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni", "The Tale of the Three Apples", "The Barber's Tale of Himself", and others.
977–1010 CE
The Book of Kings
by Abolgasem Ferdowski, Persia
Epic poem, originally Shahnameh
c.1000–1300 CE
The Poetic Edda
Anonymous, Iceland
Epic poem
c.1100 CE
The Song of Roland
Anonymous, France
Epic poem, originally La chanson de Roland
Mabinogion
Anonymous, Wales
Story collection
c.1100–1250 CE
Volsunga Saga
Anonymous, Iceland
Epic prose and poetry, also known as Saga of the Völsungs
c.1136 CE
The History of the Kings of Britain
by Geoffrey of Monmouth, England
Prose narrative, originally De gestis Britonum or Historia Regum Britanniae
c.1150 CE
Epic of King Gesar
Anonymous, China
Prose and poetry collection
c.1200 CE
Nibelungenlied
Anonymous, Germany
Epic poem, also known as The Song of the Nibelungs, originally Der Nibelunge liet or Der Nibelunge nôt
c.1200 CE
Yngvars saga víðförla
by Oddr Snorrason, Iceland
Prose collection, also known as Sagan om Ingwar Widtfarne och hans Son Swen
1210 CE
Tristan und Isolde
by Gottfied von Strassburg, Germany
Epic poem
c.1240 CE
Egil's Saga
Anonymous, Iceland
Novel, also known as Egla
c.1250 CE
The Saga of Burnt Njal
Anonymous, Iceland
Epic prose and poetry, also known as Njal's Saga
c.1382–1386 CE
Troilus and Criseyde
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Long poem
1387 CE
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Anonymous, England
Long poem
1485 CE
Le Morte d'Arthur
by Thomas Malory, England
Prose narrative, also known as The Death of Arturo, originally le morte Darthur
c.1500 CE
A Gest of Robyn Hode
Anonymous, England
Poetry collection
1567 CE
Mythologiae
by Natalis Comes, Italy
Prose and poetry collection
1589 CE
The Faerie Queene
by Edmund Spenser, England
Long poem
1592 CE
Journey to the West
by Wu Cheng'en, China
Novel
1594 CE
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Play
1605 CE
Investiture of the Gods
by Xu Zhonglin, China
Novel, also known as The Creation of the Gods or Tales of the Teahouse Retold, originally Fengshen Yanyi
1609 CE
Troilus and Cressida
Play
c.1616 CE
The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest
attrributed to TIrso de Molina, Spain
Play, also known as The Seducer of Seville and the Stone Guest and The Playboy of Seville and the Stone Guest
1667 CE
Paradise Lost
by John Milton, England
Long poem
1699 CE
The Adventures of Telemachus, Son of Ulysses
by François Fénelon, France
Novel, originally Les Aventures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse
c.1792 CE
Epic of Manas
Anonymous, Kyrgyzstan
Long poem
1819–1824 CE
Don Juan
by George Gordon Byron, England
Epic poem
1820 CE
Melmoth the Wanderer
by Charles Maturin, Ireland
Novel, originally boof-e Koor
1876 CE
The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs
by William Morris, England
Epic poem
1919–1936 CE
The Cthulhu Mythos
by H.P. Lovecraft, United States
Novel and story series
1937 CE
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien, England
Novel
1942 CE
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton, United States
Story collection, subtitled Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
1954–1955 CE
The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien, England
Novel
1961–2023 CE
The Elric Saga
by Michael Moorcock, England
Novel and story series
1983 CE
The Mists of Avalon
by Marion Zimmer Bradley, United States
Novel
1995–1997 CE
The Warlord Chronicles
by Bernard Cornwell, United States
Novel series, includes The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur
2001 CE
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novel
2005 CE
The Penelopiad
Novel
The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan, United States
Novel, first in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
2011 CE
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller, United States
Novel
2017 CE
Mythos
by Stephen Fry, England
Story collection
Norse Mythology
by Neil Gaiman, England
Story collection
2018 CE
The Silence of the Girls
by Pat Barker, England
Novel
Circe
by Madeline Miller, United States
Novel
2019 CE
Gods of Jade and Shadow
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Canada
Novel
A Thousand Ships
by Nathalie Haynes, England
Novel
