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The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. The Kalevala was instrumental in the development of the Finnish national identity and the sense of nationality that led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. Beginning with the traditional Finnish creation myth, the Kalevala branches out into stories of the creation of the earth, plants, creatures, and the sky. There are many stories of, romance, kidnapping, seduction, and magical spell casting and singing.

Oscar Wilde's Salome was originally published in French in 1891 and translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas. This one-act play, a sinister tale of a woman scorned and her vengeance, has become a landmark of Decadent literature. The play tells the biblical story of Salome, stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils.

Nathan the Wise, a play published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches Theatre in Berlin. The narrative is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade and describes how the wise Jewish merchant Nathan, the enlightened sultan Saladin, and a Templar Knight bridge the differences between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Its major themes are friendship, tolerance, the relativism of God, a rejection of miracles and a need for communication.

The Nature of Things was written in the 1st century BC by Roman polymath Lucretius. It is written as a didactic poem, and explains Epicurean physics.

The Cherry Orchard (1903) is the final play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It is considered as one of four outstanding plays by Chekhov, along with The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. The narrative recounts an aristocratic landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. It dramatizes the socio-economic developments in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom and the waning power of the aristocracy.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56 to c. 120 AD) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire, and considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians. Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived. The surviving portions of his two major works, the Annals and the Histories span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus, in 14 AD, to the years of the First Jewish-Roman War, in 70 AD.

The Satires comprises a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the second century CE. Juvenal wrote in the Roman tradition of “satura”, a formal literary genre composed in dactylic hexameter rather than just witty criticism in any format. In a tone and manner that ranges from irony to rage, Juvenal criticizes the actions and beliefs of his contemporaries.

Aristotle was the first philosopher to write ethical treatises. His best-known work in this field, The Nicomachean Ethics, consists of 10 books addressing the question of how the individual should best live. For Aristotle, ethics seeks to determine what makes a virtuous character possible, which is essential for a state of well-being. He describes a sequence of necessary steps to achieve this, such as righteous actions that promote the development of the right habits. He examines the moral virtues and their corresponding vices, like courage versus fear.

Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. In it, the two characters, Meno and Socrates, discuss "arete", or virtue. This dialogue is also famous for introducing "Meno's Paradox".

The Book of Enoch describes the fall of a group of angels called the Watchers, who married the daughters of men and fathered the Nephilim (Genesis 6: 1-2). The Book of Jubilees, also known as The Little Genesis and The Apocalypse of Moses, reveals heaven's viewpoint of history. The Book of Jasher deals with the antediluvian patriarchs, angels, watchers, the flood, the tower of Babel and other events mentioned in the Bible.

An Enemy of the People is an 1882 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, who wrote it in response to the public outcry against his previous play, Ghosts, which challenged the hypocrisy of 19th-century morality. An Enemy of the People tells the story of a man who dares to speak an unpalatable truth and is punished for it. Ibsen uses the language of comic exaggeration through the mouth of his spokesman, the idealist Doctor Thomas Stockmann, who rejects all absolute principles of either wisdom or morality.

The Conferences summarizes important conversations that Cassian had with elders from the monastery at Scetis (Wadi en Natrun in the western Nile delta) about spiritual and ascetic principles. Cassian shares the wisdom and insights of the venerable abbots Abraham, Chaeremon, Moses, Paphnutios, Serapion, Daniel, Theodor, Serenus, and Piamon, among others. The topics of these conversations ranged from divine gifts, perfection, prayer, and promises to mortification, lust, penitence, friendship, and renunciation.

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov was published in 1840. Set in the Russian Caucasus in the 1830s, the novel relates a series of adventures by the military officer Pechorin during his travels in the Caucasus. He kidnaps the daughter of a Circassian tribesman, becomes entangled with a group of smugglers, and tries to win the affection of a Muscovite princess while having on an affair with his former lover Vera.

The author of the Book of Nonsense, Edward Lear, was an English artist, musician, and poet. Today, he is best known for his "gibberish" poetry and especially limericks, such as those contained herein.

The Campaigns of Alexander, also titled The Anabasis of Alexander, is a history of Alexander the Great of Macedon, focusing on his conquest of the Persian Empire. Composed by Arrian of Nicomedia in the second century AD, the work comprises seven books providing a broadly chronological account of the reign and campaigns of Alexander with a particular focus on military matters. Book One begins with Alexander's accession to the Macedonian throne in 336 BCE, and Book Seven recounts the events of Alexander's final year and his death.

Sappho ( c. 630-c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. In ancient times, Sappho was widely considered one of the greatest lyric poets and was given titles such as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess". Her estimated date of birth places her sometime after the composition of the works of the Homeric poets, which are preserved in the epics known as the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is claimed that her work filled nine papyrus rolls in the famous library of Alexandria some 500 years after her death.

The Phaedrus by Plato, is a dialogue between Plato's protagonist, Socrates, and Phaedrus, an interlocutor in several dialogues. It was probably written around 370 BC, at about the same time as Plato's Republic and Symposium. Ostensibly about love, the discussion in the dialogue focuses on the art of rhetoric and how it ought to be practiced. The dialogue appears in the direct words of Socrates and Phaedrus, without an introduction.

Ancient Art and Ritual is a book by Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928), who was a student of anthropology and a classical scholar by training. The book shows how mankind has always used rituals to celebrate new life or rites of passage and examines the way that these rituals evolved into art forms. The author also shows how rituals and rites of passage developed into visual and dramatic art, dance, and sculpture as a way of expressing the religious urge. She identifies intense emotional energy as the driving force behind all artistic expression.

The Gospel of Barnabas is not to be confused with the Epistle of Barnabas or with the Acts of Barnabas. The book depicts the life of Jesus and claims to be written by the biblical Barnabas who is one of the 12 apostles. Barnabas is about the same length as the four canonical gospels put together, with the bulk being devoted to an account of Jesus' ministry. The text of this Gospel is pseudepigraphical, but some scholars suggest that it may contain remnants of an earlier, apocryphal work from the Gnostic, Ebionite, or Diatessaronic traditions.

The Enchiridion is a collection of the most profound teachings of Epictetus (c. 55-135 AD), who taught that philosophy is a way of life and not just a matter of theory. The Enchiridion is a canonical text of Stoic philosophy, and contains all the fundamentals. Among them is the principle of not being concerned with that which is out of one’s control. Misfortune should not disturb the individual at all, and should not be perceived negatively.