 Very early examples include "Epic of Gilgamesh", in its Sumerian version predating 2000 BC, and the "Egyptian Book of the Dead" written down in the "Papyrus of Ani" in approximately 1250 BC but probably dates from about the 18th century BC.Ancient Egyptian literature was not included in early studies of the history of literature because the writings of Ancient Egypt were not translated into European languages until the 19th century when the Rosetta stone was deciphered.Many texts handed down by oral tradition over several centuries before they were fixed in written form are difficult or impossible to date.