In Virgil's Aeneid, the Trojan warrior Aeneas leaves the aftermath of the Trojan War and spends seven years wandering the Mediterranean. Prophecy has foretold that he and his surviving people are destined to establish a great nation in Italy. Aeneas makes a brief stop in Carthage, where a short-lived romance with Queen Dido ends in her tragic suicide. Eventually, Aeneas arrives in Italy, defeats King Turnus, and founds a settlement along the Tiber River, which ultimately becomes the city of Rome. The Aeneid serves as a mythological celebration of the early Roman Empire and Emperor Augustus, also known as Octavian.

The Cattle Raid of Cooley, an Irish epic from the first century BC, recounts Queen Mebd of Connacht's assault on Ulster to seize its prized Brown Bull. This tale, part of the Ulster cycle, features the Gaelic hero Cuchulain. Known for his immense strength, Cuchulain's body and face grotesquely contort in rage before each battle. Single-handedly, Cuchulain decimates Mebd's forces, besting one warrior each day until he is ultimately felled by her deceit.

In Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, the hero Achilles refuses to fight for King Agamemnon and the Greek forces attacking Troy. Without Achilles, the Greeks face defeat. To aid them, Achilles's friend Patroclus dons his armor and joins the fray but is soon slain by the Trojan hero Hector. Overcome with sorrow and fury at his friend's death, Achilles and his warriors, the Myrmidons, reenter the battle, kill Hector, and secure victory for the Greeks.

Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485, The Death of Arthur) chronicles the exploits of Arthur, the legendary king of the Britons. Arthur, of mysterious origins, ascends to the throne after receiving the magical sword Excalibur from the mystical Lady in the Lake. He constructs a grand castle and gathers the finest knights from France and the British Isles to his Round Table at Camelot. With the aid of these knights and the wizard Merlin, Arthur combats the wicked sorceress Morgan Le Fay and his rebellious nephew, Sir Mordred.

Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince (1532) explores the strategies by which a ruler can consolidate and expand their power. Advocating the use of cunning and even betrayal, Machiavelli presents rulership as a discipline that elevates monarchs above conventional ethical norms.

The Ramayana is the second great classical Indian epic poem, likely composed around the third century BC. It narrates the life of Rama, the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu. Credited to the sage Valmiki—who also appears as a character in the poem—the Ramayana details Prince Rama's exile from Ayodhya and his quest to rescue his wife Sita from the demon Ravana. With the assistance of Hanuman and his monkey army, Rama rescues Sita, defeats Ravana, and returns home.

The poem "Song of Myself" by nineteenth-century American poet Walt Whitman, featured in his 1855 collection Leaves of Grass, celebrates the symbolic unity of all people and places.

Written around the same time as the Mahabharata, the Upanishads offer philosophical reflections on Hindu concepts of reality, reincarnation, and Brahman—the universal soul.

The 1989 novel The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor is a humorous and engaging retelling of the Mahabharata story, incorporating events and characters from twentieth-century Indian life.