Comparative mythology corpus
A cautious chronology for comparing texts, traditions, motifs, and reception layers.
The timeline is a scaffold for comparison. It keeps date uncertainty explicit so similarities can be studied without pretending every tradition has a single clean timestamp.
Old Babylonian Gilgamesh tradition - old_babylonian - The ingested text represents Old Babylonian Gilgamesh material rather than the later Standard Babylonian epic; dating refers to the approximate period of the Old Babylonian witnesses and tradition.
Old Babylonian Gilgamesh Jastrow ClayNew Kingdom Egyptian funerary spell tradition - ancient_egyptian - The Book of the Dead is a compilation of funerary spells with older antecedents and later copies; this range marks the New Kingdom period in which the collection became prominent, not a single date of authorship.
Book Of The Dead BudgeAncient Israelite Torah composition and redaction - ancient_israelite_later_biblical_reception - The Pentateuch is treated here as layered literature with debated composition and redaction histories; the range is broad and should not be read as dating every passage equally.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, DeuteronomyVedic and early philosophical Sanskrit tradition - sanskrit_vedic_later_translation - Upanishadic material is layered and internally diverse; this broad range is an orientation for major early/prose and verse Upanishadic strata, not a single date for the translated anthology.
Upanishads ParamanandaArchaic Greek poetic and hymnic tradition - archaic_greek - The ingested anthology combines Hesiodic poems, Homeric Hymns, and related material with different dates; the range covers the approximate span of these archaic/classical poetic witnesses rather than one work.
Hesiod Homeric Hymns HomericaArchaic Greek heroic epic tradition - ancient_greek_later_translation - The date range is a working orientation for the Homeric epic tradition; the ingested Pope translation is a much later public-domain English rendering.
Iliad PopeClassical Chinese Confucian teaching collection - classical_chinese - The Analects preserve sayings and traditions associated with Confucius and disciples through a layered textual history; the range marks a broad Warring States working window for formation.
Analects LeggeWarring States Daoist textual tradition - early_chinese_warring_states - The Tao Teh King has a debated compositional history; this range marks a cautious Warring States-era working window for the received textual tradition.
Tao Teh King LeggeEarly Buddhist verse collection - early_buddhist_pali_canon_later_translation - Individual verses may be older than their canonical arrangement; this range is a working estimate for early Buddhist/Pali canonical formation rather than a precise date for every verse.
Dhammapada Max MullerSanskrit epic and devotional-philosophical tradition - ancient_indian_epic_sanskrit - The Bhagavad-Gita is embedded in the Mahabharata and is usually dated within a broad late BCE to early CE window; this entry does not resolve internal layering or redaction questions.
Song Celestial Bhagavad GitaEarly Islamic revelation corpus - arabic_islamic_later_translation - This range follows the traditional period of Muhammad's revelations; the ingested Rodwell text is a public-domain English translation organized in Rodwell's order rather than a critical Arabic edition.
Koran RodwellMedieval Irish mythic and heroic material - medieval_irish_later_retelling - Lady Gregory's book is a modern public-domain literary arrangement of older Irish material; use the range as a source-tradition anchor, not the date of the English retelling.
Gods And Fighting Men GregoryOld Norse mythological and heroic poetic tradition - old_norse_icelandic - Many Eddic poems likely preserve older oral and poetic material, but the main medieval manuscript witness is much later; this range separates broad traditional formation from exact manuscript dating only imperfectly.
Poetic Edda BellowsMedieval Welsh narrative and romance tradition - medieval_welsh_later_translation - The tales have older oral and literary histories, while surviving manuscripts and translation layers are later; the range is a broad medieval orientation only.
Mabinogion GuestKiche Maya mythic and heroic tradition - mesoamerican_kiche_later_translation - The Popol Vuh preserves pre-colonial mythic material through colonial-era textual transmission and later translation; this entry dates the textual witness layer rather than the origin of all narratives.
Popol Vuh SpenceFinnish/Karelian oral-poetry epic compilation - finno_ugric - Kalevala is a 19th-century literary compilation from older oral-poetic traditions; motif comparison should distinguish compilation date from traditional age and regional performance contexts.
Kalevala Crawford