Works like Kesh Temple Hymn
Kesh Temple Hymn is disputed and belongs to Before 1700. These works share its status, era, or form, ranked by how much they share.
- Disputed
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
The lavish 1499 Venetian dream romance whose chapter initials spell an acrostic pointing to Francesco Colonna. The identification remains likely but unproven.
- Still unknown
Beowulf
The Old English epic of the hero's fights with Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Its poet is unknown, and the single surviving manuscript names no author.
- Still unknown
Book of Dede Korkut
The epic story cycle of the Oghuz Turks, framed around the legendary bard Korkut Ata. Its compilers are unknown; the bard is the frame, not a documented author.
- Still unknown
Cantar de Mio Cid
The Castilian epic of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Cid, composed around 1200. The poet is unknown; only the copyist Per Abbat's name survives in the manuscript.
- Still unknown
Debate between bird and fish
A Sumerian disputation poem in which Bird and Fish argue their worth before the god Enki. Composed some four thousand years ago by unnamed scribes.
- Still unknown
Hurrian hymn to Nikkal
The oldest surviving notated music in the world, a hymn to the goddess Nikkal from Ugarit, around 1400 BCE. Composer unknown.
- Disputed
Josefine Mutzenbacher
The 1906 Viennese erotic novel published anonymously and commonly attributed to Felix Salten, author of Bambi. The attribution has never been confirmed.
- Still unknown
Lament for Eridu
A Sumerian city lament mourning the destruction of Eridu, the oldest of cities. Composed by unnamed scribes in the early second millennium BCE.
- Still unknown
Lament for Nippur
A Sumerian lament for the religious capital Nippur and its restoration by king Ishme-Dagan. Its composer is unnamed.
- Still unknown
Lament for Sumer and Ur
The Sumerian lament for the fall of the Ur III empire to Elamite invasion, around 2000 BCE. Composed anonymously in the scribal tradition.
- Still unknown
Lament for Ur
The masterpiece of the Sumerian city laments, mourning Ur's destruction through the voice of the goddess Ningal. Its poet is unknown.
- Still unknown
Lament for Uruk
A Sumerian city lament for Uruk, Gilgamesh's city, destroyed in the collapse around 2000 BCE. Composed by unnamed temple scribes.