Abstract: It is generally agreed that the most direct and earliest origin of Western literature is ancient Greek literature. This origin, however, has not been truly determined. So far what we know about Greek literature are merely fragmented or lop-sided legends. Greek culture came from Cretan culture, which had originated in the East. There is no recorded literature as the script prior to Greek alphabet is either non-existent or uninterpretable. There was a kind of religious literature before the secular literature represented by Homer came into existence, but we could learn nothing about the former. Ancient Greek mythology should be considered as the root of Western literature, but its written record appeared rather late. In sum, although we admire the notion of “drink[ing] the water from the spring of literature,” it is not easy, if not impossible, to discover the real spring.

Key words: Western literature, origin, examination