3rd-century BC poems

The Mahābhārata ( ; , , ) is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Ramayana. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. It contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, Shakuntala, Pururava and

thumb|Jason and the Argonauts Arriving at Colchis, by Charles de La Fosse. The poem Argonautica was written specifically for Ptolemaic Alexandria, but it has long been a resource for other dynasties seeking to illustrate their power and ambitions. This painting is located in the Château de Versailles.

thumb|upright=1.25|Illustration from an 1878 German edition of the Batrachomyomachia.

ancient Chinese poem attributed to Qu Yuan