So Answer this- What is the oldest Book Written that is understood by all cultures?

Question

socities through out history? and what language was it wrttien in and who wrote it?

What was the oldest book you yourself have read?

Answer 1

Epic of Gilgamesh.
Sumerian, I believe.

I've read it. In translation, I'm afraid.
The Epic of Gilgamesh , trans. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990

The oldest book I've read NOT in translation was the Iliad, although my version was itself a translation into Attic Greek, more than 1000 years ago.

Unless by book you mean codices, as opposed to scrolls, in which case I have no idea.

Answer 2

The oldest written "book" that is understood by all cultures are drawings by cavemen. They are interpretable by people of different cultures without much difficulty. They are not in a language but in pictures, which perhaps adds to the ease of interpretation.

The oldest book I've read is the Iliad. If I remember correctly, it's over 2,500 years old and still very understandable.

Answer 3

I'm not convinced that there has been a book written that is understood by ALL cultures. There are still isolated pockets of people with distinct cultures that only understand their own language.

Oldest book that I've read? Gilgamesh, written around 1000 BCE. Second oldest is probably the Mahabharata and Ramayana, 4th to 5th century BCE.

Answer 4

The oldest books I've read were the Odyssey and the Iliad (obviously translated into high school World History class text bookish format).

Answer 5

I've read The Iliad by Homer, dated about the same period as the Old Testament...that wasn't too difficult...I've read parts of the Epic of Gilgamesh...that was kind of tough, but enlightening...that's dated WELL before anything in the bible. Geez, though, Crimmson, any book I've read that was written more than 30 years ago is not 100% understandable in it's contemparariness...(is that a word?...is now!)

Answer 6

The Book of Job, oldest written copies in Hebrew and Aramaic. Job probably lived way before the Bible patriarchs, 4000 BC?, and probably resided around the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, in what is today Iraq, the cradle of civilization.

Answer 7

I believe the Epic of Gilgamesh is universally accepted as the oldest piece of literature. I think it was written in Ancient Babylonian.

BTW:The Original Testament was not written until around 200 BCE, before that it was mostly oral, with only some short written books.
In fact the reason why the Christian "laws" from the OT were so cruel is because the REST of the laws were not in writing when Christians branched of from the Jews.
Luther himself admitted this and included the Talmud in his version of the Bible (not that anyone prints it that way anymore).

EDIT: Thank you , I could not remember what language Gilgamesh was in.

Answer 8

ok being close by American my self (no longer the Cherokee, i swear they're each and every the place even the main whitest individual will say horhorhor haha daaaahhh im section indian, lol uhhh no your no longer or Cherokee lol no offence) i do no longer discover it offensive in any respect, i'm from a small tribe all maximum never heard of. it may be comparable to a black individual writing a pair of white individual, shouldnt be offensive and in spite of the fact that if it relatively is that individual has been injury in some way by that race. some ought to declare specific it relatively is and dont do it, yet whilst your showing this plenty subject approximately it you may desire to be high-quality, oh and make sure your data are awesome (which could make allot of folk disillusioned) make sure and placed that section on your e book approximately you haven't any longer have been given any purpose of offending all people.

Answer 9

lol... its always so funny when people ask this...

The oldest written thing understood by all cultures would actually probably be greek or some such. Its much older than your implication of the bible being the oldest understood in the world.

Answer 10

The only books I know of available to all cultures are the various translations of the New Testament and, possibly, the Book of Mormon.