I came up with this because I learned from Tumblr that there’s apparently more than a hundred fanfics for The Epic of Gilgamesh on Ao3, and I think it’s poetic in a way how we’ve still never really gotten over the first story ever.
My answer would be Le Roman de Silence, from the early 1200s, which is about the adventures Silence, a boy who was born as a girl (that’s the author’s way of describing him)and who eventually becomes a knight. I just stumbled across it randomly but I fell in love with it after reading it the first time, and I think it’s beautiful how something 1000 years old can still be around and not have lost any of it’s capability for arousing our emotions.
For me, I suppose it would be Mallory’s The Death of Arthur. I audiobook-ed an abridged version and was surprised by just how much dramatic power it had near the end.
Also, even though I’ve lapsed as a believer, there’s a lot in The Bible that’s good on artistic grounds separate from religious significance. “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” or Psalm 23, for instance.
100% props to the translators, old and new of course. There are three languages in the original version. Three