Bronze Age

Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2500 to 1800 BC) approximate dates shown
2400 BC Egyptian Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn (in parts likely composed from as early as 3000 BC)
2350 BC The Maxims of Ptahhotep
2270 BC Sumerian Enheduanna tablet hymns
2050 BC Sumerian Ur-Nammu codex
2000 BC Egyptian Coffin Texts in????ions
2000 BC Sumerian Lament for Ur
1900 BC Egyptian Westcar Papyrus; assumed age of the text, the surviving papyrus copy dates to ca. 1700 BC.
1950-1750 BC Kultepe texts
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumerian version)
The Story of Sinuhe
Enûma Elish
Atrahasis Epic

Late Bronze Age (ca. 1800 to 1000 BC)
1780 BC Babylonian Code of Hammurabi stele
1750 BC Hittite Anitta tablets
1650 BC Egyptian Ipuwer papyrus
1500 BC Hittite military oath
1400 BC Hurrian & Ugaritic Amarna Letters
1700-1200 BC archaic Sanskrit Rigveda (estimates as early as 3000 BC; redaction likely around 800 BC)
1550 BC Egyptian Book of the Dead
1330 BC Great Hymn to the Aten
1078 BC Egyptian Story of Wenamun
the Babylonian Poor Man of Nippur
the Epic of Gilgamesh (Akkadian version)

Iron Age

undated or controversial, ca. 12th to 7th century BC
Yajurveda
Atharvaveda
Brahmanas
Torah
Book of Joshua
Book of Isaiah
700 BC Chinese Classic of History (or earlier)
600 BC Chinese Tao Te Ching (or earlier)
Sanskrit Epics, roughly between 6th and 2nd centuries BC:
The Ramayana
The Mahabharata (includes the Bhagavad Gita)