The Sumerian Empire seems to have the oldest dates out of all the items that I researched. The name "Sumer" first began to be used in the 3rd millennium BCE. Sargon 1st conquered Sumer in 2335-2279. It then became known as Akkad when Hammurvadi of Babylonia defeated the ruler of Sumer, Rim-Sin (1823-1765).
             Next in the chronology would be the composition of Gilgamesh. The approximate date for this early epic is 2000 BCE. Not even a hundred years later, 1894 BCE, Babylon became an independent state. It was then captured by Kassite who made it into the country of Babylonia, with Babylon as its capital. Around 615 BCE, Babylonia collapsed and became part of the Assyrian Empire.
             Egyptian literature had developed fully by the 16th c. BCE. This time period, called the New Kingdom (1570-1070 BCE), is but one of many high points in classical Egyptian literature. Here we see a full range of literary genres. There are extant versions of military exploits, personal autobiographies, religious texts, and even a collection of love poems. Stories that dealt with Egyptian mythology also arose. Two of these stories that we have are "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" and "The Destruction of Mankind," both which deal with interactions between the morals and gods.
             Overlapping the New Kingdom period of Egypt is the early literary period of Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit literature is divided up into two periods, the earlier being the Vedic Period. This period lasted from 1500-200 BCE, and contained mostly religious texts. Any poetic or epic legendary material was usually contained within religious texts rather than secular. One major work from this period are the Vedic Hymns as well as the epic Mahabharata.
             The Chinese have evidence of their ideographic writing dating back to the 14th c. BCE, where bones with divinic writings inscribed on them have been found in tombs. However, the culture as a whole was not predominantly literate unti...