Late antique literature is literature that was composed during the period of late antiquity, a period of time that spans from the third to seventh centuries AD. This literature was written in many languages including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Pahlavi, Arabic, and more.
Despite twentieth-century prejudices about the era as one of a period of decline, literature in late antiquity was highly productive and innovative and brought about new genres of texts, new avenues for literary productions, new textual functions, and new reading practices. The most important force causing change in literature during this time was the political and cultural rise of Christianity, which remade traditional genres in the classical canon and interweaved them with a new group of scriptural texts and liturgy. Furthermore, the end of Late antiquity saw the last major representatives of Greek and Latin poetry, whereas poetry in other languages (e.g. Syriac poetry) began to flourish. [1]