A note on important historical texts

There was something in my short essay during my exam that I wanted to talk about but I couldn't due to the nature of the question. I would like to talk about the importance of literature and early forms of performing arts in early history and its effects on people at the time as well as today. To the Mesopotamians, It was incredibly important to become civilized and in order to push this ideology, the Epic of Gilgamesh was created. This book, to a historian, illustrated how important becoming civilized was. It was the first epic story, and from what I know from the study of ancient theater, many people were unable to read, therefore stories were told around campfires and performed for others. I have reason to believe that after this was written, this story was told orally all over ancient Mesopotamia and it most likely spread out from there to Rome after the Romans controlled that area. Another incredibly important early text that had a profound impact on the civilization it was created in was the Bhagavad Gita. This text set up the foundation for India for the next several thousand years. Its truly remarkable how 1 text describing the caste system was able to stay the predominant cultural belief and way of doing things for nearly two thousand years. The other thing is that it was also created by many people rather than just one person. Besides the past two texts, the Bible, the Analects and several other early texts have had a lasting effect on people for two thousand years. I just find it fascinating how these different texts were created and spread around. It just goes to show how important written and oral traditions are in civilizations.