I was thinking this while reading The Canterbury Tales, which isn’t exactly the oldest I’ve read (I think that goes to Homer)
But The Canterbury Tales is just so delightful! Getting into the flow of the rhyming prose is very fun to read (I’ve just been reading the Penguin Classics Coghill translation which is fantastic)
I’ve already watched the Pasolini adaptation but I’m definitely going to revisit once I finish the book.
Beowulf fucking slaps
Probably the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, though the English translations are a lot newer than the base story!
Not the oldest I’ve read, but the oldest I’ve properly enjoyed is Jane Eyre (and it happens to be my fave of all time too)
The Epic of Gilgamesh in a modern retelling, don’t remember which one though.
Original text would be some middle high german poems and parts of The Canterbury Tales. I love their rythm and sound, read aloud it feels closer to modern german than modern english.
I studied ancient Hebrew scriptures and Buddhist writings at university, which I enjoyed a lot. Also read bits and pieces of Hindu Vedas, Gilgamesh, Inanna, the young’uns of ancient Greek literature and some other things that aren’t coming to mind. Which is oldest depends on which scholar you talk to, but it’s most likely between Inanna, Gilgamesh and Job. Of those three, I loved Inanna the most.
But also, the Tale of Genji from Heian Japan (early 11th century), written by a noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu. That’s so much later it’s basically modern ;) but it’s the one I want to point others to. Project Gutenberg has the 1st and 2nd parts of a translation into English if anyone wants to check it out. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66057