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Old Testament:
Greek
Greek literature can be very helpful in Biblical studies, especially the NT. Most of the great literature is written in Classical Greek which is more formal than Koine Greek.
Homer is credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey probably some time before 700 BC (Oxford Classical Dictionary-OCD1949, 435). Tradition tells us that Homer was a blind bard who probably sang lays for the courts of princes for a living.
Hesiod is said by Herodotus to be contemporary with Homer, but was probably later in the 5th or 4th centuries BC. Hesiod with his father and brother, Perses migrated from Aeolis to Greece at Ascra. Hesiod wrote Work of Days in which he addresses his brother about his dispute and that every man should work for a living. He tells of the Five Ages of the World, and then gives advise on farming. Another important work by Hesiod is the Theogony which tells of the creation of the world and gods from Chaos and Gaea by procreation.
Plato lived from about 429 to 347 BC. He wrote 25 dialogues and the Apology. Most important for this study in Genesis one is Plato's dialogue called Timaeus which is about natural science. Plato describes how the creator made the world from a single spherical living thing which has body and soul made after the ideal model (OCD, 699).
Aristotle lived from about 384 to 322 BC. His father was a physician. At age 17 he entered Plato's school and stayed until Plato was succeeded by Speusippus. Later he tutored Alexander the Great and founded his own school. Two of the most important works by Aristotle for our studies are On the Heavens (De Caelo) and Meteorology (Meteorologica).