It's regrettable that Japan learnt so much from Tang Dynasty China while the latter wrote down so little about the former. It's only after the 1895 War did the Chinese start to write a decent book about Japan.Although Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, written in the early 8th century, are the oldest surviving Japanese texts, there likely were even older documents than these two. It is written in Kojiki itself that there were many differing accounts of historical events and the book is meant to clear up “falsehoods” about Japanese history circling around. We know that there existed at least three texts before Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, and possibly two additional texts. Kokki and Tennôki were both written in the early 7th century, though Kokki got destroyed later while Tennôki disappeared at some point. Iki no Hakatoko no Sho was written in the late 7th century and described diplomat Iki no Hakatoko's travels in China. During the late 7th century, we also get Teiki and Kyûji, whose existence is slightly questionable however. It is quite likely that there were even more documents than these, and it is possible that there existed even competing historical accounts written by other (eventually) non-imperial clans.
Obviously, besides these larger works, there probably existed things like letters and diaries and others which were lost at some point.
It's regrettable that Japan learnt so much from Tang Dynasty China while the latter wrote down so little about the former. It's only after the 1895 War did the Chinese start to write a decent book about Japan.
Speaking of Tang Dynasty, (Chinese PoW to the Arabs) Du Huan's account about the Arab world would be interesting to read, had it been entirely preserved.
The rest of the Epic Cycle stories of the Trojan War: Cypria, the Aethiopis, the Little Iliad, thr Iliupersis, the Nostoi, and the Telegony. The Trojan War could have been the first franchise in history! Seriously though, I'm curious because the Odyssey is a favorite and the impact on Western literature would be huge.
To be fair, we have no direct evidence for Q, and it might not have actually existed in the first place.
Certainly the lost libraries cited above, particularly the first Alexandrian, which might have contained many of the lost plays and histories of the Greeks and potentially Persian and Egyptian texts as well. 99% of Hellenistic science and technology is gone.Saying Library of Alexandria kind of feels like cheating, 'cause it's not one text but thousands of them.
I always found the story of Carthage to be really fascinating, problem is most sources we have on them are Greek or Roman. We do know that there used to be some Carthaginian sources writing about the Punic wars from the Carthaginian perspective, and we know that because Polybius quotes those sources. But the sources themselves did not survive. I always really wanted to know what they thought of the Romans and how the fall of their empire felt like to them.
Somewhat less important to me are any texts that Mesoamerican peoples wrote. We do know there were a ton of them but the Spanish destroyed almost all. I'm putting this on a lower priority for me simply because I have no way of knowing what was actually in those texts, so I can't determine how much I regret the loss of those texts.
99% of Hellenistic science and technology is gone.
Also, the unknown sources used by Bede and Nennius that might have shed light on the career of Arthur, dux bellorum.
Actually Hellenistic science and technology was disproportionately likely to survive, because it was of interest to later generations.
Actually Hellenistic science and technology was disproportionately likely to survive, because it was of interest to later generations.
And the Yong Le Encyclopedia
I, am the freaking op !The Yong Le Encyclopedia was a great loss, but the OP asked about ancient texts, while the encyclopedia was from the early 15th century.
The rest of the Epic Cycle stories of the Trojan War: Cypria, the Aethiopis, the Little Iliad, thr Iliupersis, the Nostoi, and the Telegony. The Trojan War could have been the first franchise in history! Seriously though, I'm curious because the Odyssey is a favorite and the impact on Western literature would be huge.
To be fair, we have no direct evidence for Q, and it might not have actually existed in the first place.
I haven't studied the debate, but I suspect that Q was not a text but a person, viz. the verbal testimony of Peter, augmented (in Luke's case) by the verbal testimony of Mary. I don't know how well that hypothesis might fit with the evidence, though.I lean towards the Proto-Luke theory myself...