The 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 - Predating the Greek alphabet (circa 800 BCE).
 * Older Than Feudalism - First seen between the invention of the Greek alphabet (c. 800 BCE) and the fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE).
 * Older Than Print - First seen between the end of the Western Roman Empire (476) and the invention of the printing press (1439).
 * Older Than Steam - First seen between the invention of printing press (1439) and the steam engine (1698).
 * Older Than Radio - First seen between the invention of the steam engine (1698) and the radio (1890s).
 * Older Than Television - First seen between the invention of the radio (1890s) and the television (1940s).

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


 * Space X

Video Games have a different cutoff date, since they're yet more recent than television:


 * Older Than the NES (The introduction of the NES in the U.S. in 1985)

Contrast with The Newest Ones in The Book.

Anal historical note: Several of the listed milestones in tropes existed well prior to the appended dates but either had minimal impact or were lost in later years. For example, movable type blocks existed in Greece around 300 BCE but did not have the same impact on history as the Gutenberg Press. Older Than Print is simply short-hand for the more accurate trope name as Older Than The Widespread Adoption Of Movable Type To The Point That It Had A Widespread And Irreversible Severance From The World As It Was Before is rather difficult to type.

See also The Oldest Tricks in The Book, Older Than They Think.