From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Fiction, Science Fiction, Drama, Poetry Outline

The Epic of Gilgamesh
(Circa 1,300 BCE – 1,000 BCE)

Standardization of the Homeric Texts Begins
(Circa 750 BCE)

The "Fatal Letter" in the Iliad
(Circa 750 BCE)

The Beginnings of Philology
(Circa 280 BCE)

A "Wild" or "Eccentric" Papyrus of the Iliad
(Circa 275 BCE)

The Writings of Virgil
(42 BCE – 19 BCE)

A Rare Manuscript Example of Roman Square Capitals
(Circa 300 CE)

The Oldest Surviving Manuscript of the Comedies of Terence
(Circa 350 CE – 450 CE)

Herald of Christianity and Magus
(Circa 400 CE)

The Only Illustrated Homer from Antiquity
(493 CE – 508)

Beowulf
(700 – 1000)

The Earliest Known Example of an Historiated Initial and the Earliest Witnesses to Bede's Text
(Circa 750)

Partial Inventory of the Court Library of Charlemagne at Aachen
(Circa 790)

Charlemagne Renews Book and Library Culture
(800 – 877)

Carmina Figurata Word Pictures
(Circa 810)

The Fables of Phaedrus
(Circa 850)

The Earliest-Known Manuscript of the Arabian Nights
(October 20, 879)

The Oldest Manuscript of Ovid's Ars Amatoria
(Circa 880)

The Most Famous Manuscript of the Iliad
(Circa 950)

The Palatine Anthology of Greek Poetry
(Circa 950)

Written and Illuminated by the Nun Herrad of Landsberg
(1167 – 1185)

Le Roman de la Rose: A Medieval Best Seller
(Circa 1230 – 1275)

The Song of the Nibelungs
(Circa 1230)

The Planudean Anthology as Basis for the Anthologia Graeca
(1299 – 1301)

Both of the Earliest and Most Authoritative Manuscripts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Were Written by the Same Scribe
(Circa 1380)

The Largest and Finest Collection of Greek Texts before Bessarion's
(December 15, 1423)

The First Printed Editions of Virgil
(1469 – 1470)

First Book Completely Printed in Italic Type and the First of Aldus's Pocket Editions of the Classics
(April 1501)

First Publication of Shakespeare's Sonnets
(May 20, 1609)

Possibly the Earliest References to a Fictional Device that Resembles a Modern Computer
(1726)

The Beginning of Serious Discussion of "the Homeric Question"
(1795)

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
(1884)

Earliest Fictional Account of a Universal Library
(1901)

An Early Sci-Fi View of the Internet and Virtual Reality
(November 1909)

Robot
(1920)

Predictor of the Electronic Book
(1930)

Mass Hysteria Induced by Electronic Media
(October 30, 1938)

Borges' Universe as a Library, or Universal Library
(1941)

Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1949)

Fahrenheit 451
(1953)

One of the Earliest Surviving British Television Dramas
(December 12 – December 14, 1954)

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" Filmed
(1956)

Satirizing the Role of Automation in Eliminating Jobs, and Librarians
(1957)

"Dial F for Frankenstein"
(1961)

Spacewar, the First Computer Game for a Commercially Available Computer
(1962)

"2001: A Space Odyssey"
(1968)

Replicants
(1968)

The Name of the Rose
(1980)

Blade Runner
(1982)

William Gibson Coins the Word Cyberspace
(1982)

Cyberspace
(1984)

Probably the Best Book History and Library Film Set in the Middle Ages
(1986)

Visions of a Metaverse
(June 1992)

The Electronic Beowulf
(1993)

Jurassic Park
(1993)

The Matrix
(1999)

Minority Report
(2002)

The First Cell Phone Novel
(2003)

The Film Avatar and Our Vision of Virtual Reality
(December 10, 2009)