Troperville

Editing Help

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

Custom Search

The Oldest Ones In The Book

alt title(s): Oldest Ones In The Book

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

—Ecclesiastes 1:9

Any tropes that predate the election of John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Presidency (November 1960), divided by period:

Older Than Dirt - Tropes older than the Roman Republic (circa 500 BC). Aesop comes at the tail end of this era.
Older Than Feudalism - Tropes between the rise and the fall of Rome (500ish).
Older Than Print - Tropes between the fall of Rome and the printing press (1439).
Older Than Steam - Tropes between the printing press (1439) and the steam engine (1698).
Older Than Radio - Tropes between the steam engine (1698) and the radio (1890s).
Older Than Television - Tropes between radio (1890s) and television (1940s).

Classic TV - tropes originating in TV itself, before 1960:

Animal Talk
My Car Hates Me - Exact first use unknown, but the coming of the freeway age in the 50s means it certainly must have been established by then.
Space X

Video Games have a different cutoff date for being The Oldest Ones In The Book, since they're more recent than television:

Anal historical note: feudalism existed in some form in BC times; movable type in Greece about 300 BC; steam engines in the first century.