The earliest known written plays date back to the 6th century BC in Ancient Greece. These plays were written by playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and were performed at festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. The earliest surviving Greek plays are from the 5th century BC, and include works such as Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex."
First Poems
The earliest known poems date back to the 3rd millennium BC in Ancient Egypt. These poems were written in hieroglyphics and were often religious in nature. The earliest surviving poems from Egypt are the "Pyramid Texts," which were written on the walls of pyramids and tombs. Other early poems include the "Epic of Gilgamesh" from ancient Mesopotamia, which dates back to the 2nd millennium BC.