There are much finer examples of ancient literature, surviving versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh can be as old as the Code of Hammurabi, some Old Babylonian tab

There are much finer examples of ancient literature, surviving versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh can be as old as the Code of Hammurabi, some Old Babylonian tablets from 1800 BCE survive though the version Sîn-lēqi-unninni compiled in Akkadian is a relative latecomer at 1200 BCE. While I have only read it in translations, I find that it deals with concepts of personal death, friendship, loss, jealousy, love and sexuality in ways that are remarkably erudite and sophisticated. "The Lament for Ur" is utterly stunning to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament_for_Ur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament_for_Ur and "The Debate between Bird and Fish" or "The Debate between Winter and Summer" are incredibly creative works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_bird_and_fish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_bird_and_fish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_Winter_and_Summer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_between_Winter_and_Summe... Some of the Pyramid Texts of the 5th and 6th Dynasties (about 2400 BCE) --especially Utterance 373 for the Pharaoh Teti-- are quite beautiful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts#Examples http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts#Examples And if legal codes and injunctions are your thing "The Instructions of Shuruppak" or "The Maxims of Ptahhotep" are probably 700-900 years older than The Code of Hammurabi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxims_of_Ptahhotep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxims_of_Ptahhotep