The Canon

To Save the Future, Hold Tight the Past

To create a better future, we must be able to imagine a better future; to imagine a better future, we must understand what brought us to a present we wish to change; and to create that change, we must learn to interpret our world differently than how we interpreted  

Maintaining Beauty

From J.R.R. Tolkien’s “On Fairy-Stories”:

“The story-maker proves a successful ‘sub-creator’. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is ‘true’: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside.

“It is at once more universal and more poignantly particular. If it speaks of bread or wine or stone or tree, it appeals to the whole of these things…yet each hearer will give to them a peculiar personal embodiment in his imagination.

“If a story says 'he climbed a hill and saw a river in the valley below', the illustrator may catch, or nearly catch, his own vision of such a scene; but every hearer of the words will have his own picture, and it will be made out of all the hills and rivers and dales he has ever seen.”

History as Heritage

Education as Identity

  • Pillar I: Literary Arts

    Aurelia seeks to provide free access to the Western literary canon for any curious soul, curating works from the public domain so that a clear picture might emerge as to what we were, are, and might one day be.

    EXPLORE

  • Pillar II: Aesthetic Arts

    Aurelia seeks to provide free access to the Western artistic canon for any curious soul, curating works from the public domain so that a clear picture might emerge as to what we were, are, and might one day be.

    UNDER DEVELOPMENT

  • Pillar III: Performative Arts

    Aurelia seeks to provide free access to the musical canon for any curious soul, curating works from the public domain so that a clear picture might emerge as to what we were, are, and might one day be.

    UNDER DEVELOPMENT

The Works

European Literature

Canons for distinctive European ethnic groups

    1. The Iliad, Homer, 750 BC

    2. The Odyssey, Homer, 740 BC

    3. The Theogony, Hesiod, 700 BC

    4. Oresteia & Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus, 458 BC

    5. Theban Cycle, Sophocles 400 BC

    1. Bellum Civile, Caesar, 40s BC

    2. Metamorphoses, Ovid, 8

    3. Aeneid, Virgil, 19

    4. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, 161

    5. Confessions, St. Augustine, 397

    1. Mythological Cycle, N/A, 700s

    2. Ulster Cycle (Táin Bó Cúailnge), N/A, 750

    3. The Voyage of Saint Brendand, N/A, 800

    4. The Book of the Taking of Ireland, N/A, 1000s

    5. War of the Irish with the Foreigners, N/A, 1000s

    6. Tristan and Iseult, N/A, 1100s

    7. The Fenian Cycle (Tales of the Elders) N/A, 1200

    1. History of the English People, Bede, 731

    2. Beowulf, N/A, 800s

    3. The Brut, Layaman,

    4. Le Morte d’Arthur, Thomas Malory,

    5. Piers Plowman, William Langland, 1370

    6. Historia regum Britanniae, Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1136

    7. Poetry, Pearl Poet, 1300s

    1. Song of Roland, N/A, 1000s

    2. Arthurian Romances, Chretien de Troyes, 1100s

    3. Letters of Abélard and Héloïse, Abélard, 1133

    4. Chronicles of the Crusades, Jean Joinville, 1212

    5. Romance of the Rose, Lorris & Meung, 1230-75

    1. Poem of the Cid, N/A, 1207

    2. Tales of Count Lucanor, Juan Manuel, 1335

    3. Prison of Love, Diego de San Pedro, 1485

    4. Tirant Lo Blanc, N/A, 1490a

    5. La Celestina, Fernando de Rojas, 1499

    1. Onega Bylinas, Giljferding, 1871

    2. The Primary Chronicle, N/A 1115

    3. Kievan Chronicle, N/A, 1200s

    4. Galician-Volhynian Chronicle, N/A, 1200s

    5. Dynastic Chronicle of Romanovichi, N/A 1400s

    6. Tale of Igor's Campaign, N/A, 1400s

    7. The Bronze Horseman & Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin, 1830s

    1. Amadis of Gaul, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, 1508

    2. The Lusiad, Luís Vaz Camões, 1572

    3. Cancioneiro Geral, Garcia de Resende, 1500s

    4. Book of Yearnings, Bernardim Ribeiro, 1520s

    5. Palmeirim de Inglaterra, Francisco de Moraes, 1500s

    1. Hildebrandslied, N/A, 830

    2. The Song of the Nibelungs, N/A, 1200

    3. Parzival, Wolfram Eschenbach, 1200

    4. Weisskunnig, Maximilian I, 1501

    5. Book of Heroes (Heldenbuch), N/A, 1500s

    6. Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1808

    1. Travels, Marco Polo, 1300

    2. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, 1321

    3. Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio, 1349

    4. Poetry, Petrarch, 1300s

    5. Morgante, Luigi Pulci, 1478

    6. Orlando in Love & Orlando Furioso, Matteo Boiardo & Ldovico Ariosto, 1495-1516

    1. Kalevala & Kanteletar, Elias Lönnrot, 1835, 1840

    2. The Tales of Ensign Stål, Johan Runeberg, 1848

    3. The Song of the Blood-Red Flower, Johannes Linnankoski, 1869

    4. Seven Brothers, Aleksis Kivi, 1870

    5. Meek Heritage, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, 1888

    1. The Tale About the Horse, Olof von Dalin, 1740

    2. The People of Hemsö, August Strindberg, 1887

    3. The Charles Men, Verner Heidenstam, 1897

    4. The Red Room, August Strindberg, 1879

    5. Gösta Berling's Saga, Selma Lagerlöf, 1891

    1. Ynglingatal, Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, 800s

    2. Hákonarmál & Háleygjatal, Eyvindr Finnsson, 900s

    3. Passion and miracles of Blessed Olaf, N/A, 1120

    4. The saga of Þiðrekr of Bern, 1250

    5. Arnljot Gelline, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, 1800s

    1. The Saga of the Volsungs, N/A, 1000

    2. Heimskringla, N/A, 1200s

    3. The Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson, 1220

    4. Laxdæla Saga, N/A, 1245

    5. The Poetic Edda, N/A, 1270

    6. Njal’s Saga, N/A 1280

    1. Reynard the Fox, Willem, 1250

    2. The Flower of Nature, Jacob van Maerlant, 1263

    3. Beatrijs

    4. Charlamagne and Elbegast, N/A, 1200s

    5. Seven Ways of Holy Love, Beatrice of Nazareth, 1200s

    1. History of Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of M., 1136

    2. The Life of Merlin, Geoffrey of M., 1150

    3. Dream of Rhonabwy, N/A, 1200s

    4. Y Gododdin, N/A, 1200s

    5. The Mabinogion, N/A, 1400s

    1. Lion of Flanders, Hendrik Conscience, 1838

    2. Legend of Thyl, Charles De Coster, 1867

    3. The Belgian, Camille Lemonnier, 1888

    4. Under the Robe, Eugène Demolder, 1897

    5. Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson, 1835

    6. Pallieter, Felix Timmermans, 1916

    1. White Book of Sarnen (William Tell), Hans Schriber, 1474

    2. The Short Chronicle, Jeanne de Jussie, 1500s

    3. Genève Délivrée, Samuel Chappuzeau, 1701

    4. Green Henry, Gottfried Keller, 1855

    5. The King of Bernina, Jakob Heer, 1900

    1. The Brus, John Barbour 1375

    2. Liber Pluscardensis, N/A, 1461

    3. Deeds of William Wallace, Harry, 1476

    4. Ane Godlie Dream, Elizabeth Melville, 1603

    5. Poems of Ossian, James Macpherson, 1772

World Literature

Canons for distinctive ethnic groups around the world

    1. Art of War, Sun Tzu, 400s BC

    2. Analects, Confucius, 300s BC

    3. Tao de Ching, Lao Tzu, 200s

    4. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guanzhong Luo, 1300s

    5. The Water Margin, Shi Naian, 1370

    6. Journey to the West, Wu Cheng’en, 1592

    1. Kojiki; or, Records of Ancient Matters, Ō no Yasumaro, 711

    2. Japanese Chronicles, Prince Toneri, 720

    3. Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, N/A, 900

    4. The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu, 1001

    5. The Tale of the Heike, N/A, 1200s

    6. Essays in Idleness, Urabe Kenkō, 1330

    1. History of the Three Kingdoms, Kim Pusik, 1145

    2. Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, Ilyon, 1281

    3. Songs of Flying Dragons, Chong Inji, An Chi, Kwon Chae, 1447

    4. The Cloud Dream of the Nine, Kim Man-Jung, 1687

    5. The Tale of Chunhyang, N/A, 1600s

    1. The Life of Lam-ang, Pedro Bukaneg, 1720

    2. Ifugao Epic Chant, N/A, 500s

    3. Darangen, Panggaga Mohammad, 1930

    4. Tales from the Mouth of the Halawod River, Hugan-an, 1957

    5. Florante at Laura, Francisco Balagtas, 1861

    6. Noli Me Tangere, Jose Rizal, 1887

    1. Ramakien, King Rama I, 1700s

    2. Three Worlds According to King Ruang, King Lithai of Sukhothai, 1300s

    3. Lilit Phra Lo, N/A 1500s

    4. Phra Aphai Mani, Sunthorn Phu, 1800s

    5. Khun Chang Khun Phaen, N/A, 1900s

    1. Bhagavad Gita, N/A 500s BC

    2. Mahābhārata, Vyasa, 400s BC

    3. Meghadūta, Kālidāsa, 400sBC

    4. Ramayana, Valmiki, 200s BC

    5. Kumārasambhava, Kālidāsa, 400s

    6. Tales from Kathasaritsagara, Somadeva, 1070

  • Avesta, Zoroaster, 1000sBC

    The Book of Kings, Ferdowsi, 1010BC

    The Book of the Deeds of Ardashir, Son of Pabag, N/A 200s

    Bundahishn, N/A, 700s

    Vis o Ramin, Fakhruddin As’ad Gurgani, 1000s

    1. The Suspended Odes, N/A, 500s

    2. The Qur’an, Muhammad, 600s

    3. The Biography of the Prophet, Ibn Ishaq, 700s

    4. The Misers, Al-Jahiz, 800s

    5. The Book of Songs, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, 900s

    6. The Epistle of Forgiveness, Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri, 1000s

    7. One Thousand and One Nights, N/A, 1300s

    1. Wisdom of Royal Glory, Yusuf Khass Hajib, 1000s

    2. Divan-i Hikmet, Ahmad Yasawi, 1100s

    3. The Book of Dede Korkut, 1400s

    4. Osman's Dream, N/A 1400s

    5. Epic of Koroghlu, N/A 1700s

    6. Manas Epic, N/A 1800s

    1. The Tanakh, N/A,

    2. The Jewish War, Flavius Josephus, 75

    3. Commentary, Rashi, 1000s

    4. Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides, 1100s

    5. Babylonian Talmud, N/A, 770

    6. Sefer Hasidim, Rabbi Judah of Regensburg 1200s

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  • Popol Vuh, 1500s

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