Autobiography

An autobiography is a self-written account of one's life. The word comes from the Greek stems "auto" (meaning "self"), "bio“ (meaning "life"), and "graph" (meaning "write"). 

In antiquity books written by people documenting their lives were typically entitled 'apologia' purporting to be self-justification rather than self-documentation.

Augustine of Hippo's Confessions was arguably the first Western autobiography ever written, and became an influential model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. It tells of the hedonistic lifestyle Augustine lived for a time within his youth and Christian conversion.

The first autobiographical work in Islamic society was written in the late 11th century, by Abdallah ibn Buluggin, last Zirid king of Granada.

The Boke of Margery Kempe (c. 1432–36) is the oldest known autobiography in English. It described among other things her pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visit to Rome. The book remained in manuscript and was not published until 1936.

Manuscript of The Book of Margery Kempe, chapter 18 (excerpt)

One of the first great autobiographies of the Renaissance is that of the Italian sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), written between 1556 and 1558, and entitled by him simply Vita (Italian: Life). An embellished account of Cellini’s escapades, adventures, and intrigues, this text provides a valuable portrait of daily, political, social, and ecclesiastical life in the 16th century. 

Geneva philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau' completed his Confessions, a more intimate form of autobiography, exploring the subject's emotions in November 1770. Although he did not wish to publish them at this time, though he began to read excerpts of his manuscript publicly at various salons and other meeting places. Confessions was not published until 1782, four years after Rousseau's death. The personal writings initiated the modern autobiography.

Benjamin Franklin's unfinished Autobiography is considered by many the epitome of his life and character. It was intended to serve as a model for those who came after him. It was the best seller of the year in 1794 in America.

The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical The Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid, but condemned it as "pedantic".

The word was popularized in 1809 by the English poet Robert Southey. He predicted in the Quarterly Review an "epidemical rage for autobiography". 

Giacomo Casanova started writing his epic autobiography History of My Life late in life out of sheer boredom. A Bohemian count in Duchcov, Czech Republic, protected Casanova from 1785 until Italian adventurer's death in 1798.