Authors

The Ancient period covers the earliest beginnings of written literature (ca 2000 BCE) to the year 500 CE, including:

• Ancient Middle Eastern literature (Epic of Gilgamesh)

• Ancient Jewish literature (Hebrew Scriptures)

• Archaic Greek literature (Homer)

• Classical Greek literature and philosophy (Aeschylus to Aristotle)

• Hellenistic Greek literature and philosophy (Menander, Zeno)

• Early Latin literature (Plautus)

• Literature and philosophy of the Latin Golden Age (Virgil, Cicero)

• Latin literature and philosophy of the Silver Age (Marcus Aurelius, Lucan), and

• The earliest Christian writings (New Testament)

The Medieval period covers Latin literature and philosophy of the Silver Age (Marcus Aurelius, Lucan), the earliest Christian writings (New Testament), and the literature and philosophy of the Middle Ages (from Augustine to Chaucer).

The Modern period is marked by a fundamental revolution in thinking that abandons the classical search for an ultimate purpose (telos) to all things. The period covers Renaissance literature and philosophy (Shakespeare, Bacon) to contemporary writers and thinkers (Derrida, Kundera).

I follow Leo Strauss in sub-dividing the Modern period into "Three Waves of Modernity":

• First Wave (1500 - 1780)

• Second Wave (1780 - 1880)

• Third Wave (1880 - PRESENT)