Epics Retold
An epic is a narrative poem that tells the story of one or more heroes, who may have been real people, or drawn from tradition or mythology. Epics are found in almost every culture across the world; they often tell of national origins, or preserve within them myths and traditions that are central to a particular culture. Amongst the great epics of the world are included the Mahabharata and the Ramayana from ancient India, Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey from classical Greece, Virgil’s Aeneid from ancient Rome, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, the Persian Shah Namah, Le Chanson de Roland from medieval France, the Castilian Poema del Cid, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
C.S. Lewis has made a useful distinction between primary and secondary epics: primary epics, such as Beowulf and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, are those which have been composed for a society that is still very close to the conditions described in the epic; secondary epics have a structure similar to primary epics, but have been composed for a society that is substantially distant, particularly chronologically, from the world described in the epic, for example, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Today, most of the great epics have been translated into various world languages, including English.
Read on, and join the heroes on their journeys.
Ramayana
The ancient Indian story of the legendary prince, Ram, has been told again and again through the last three thousand years in countless forms and languages, making it one of the most popular and enduring stories in the world. The oldest literary telling of the story is the Sanskrit epic called the Ramayana. Attributed to the sage Valmiki, it is the first of India’s two great epics.
Mahabharata
The longest epic poem in the world, this is the second of India’s two great epics. Contained within the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita, the single most important religious text of modern Hinduism.
Shahnameh
Composed in the 11th century CE by the poet Firdausi, this tells of the mythical and historical past of the Persian empire, from Creation to its conquest by the Arabs in the 7th century CE. This is Iran’s national epic.
Iliad
Composed sometime in the 8th century BCE, this epic poem tells of the final weeks of the Trojan War. Regarded as amongst the earliest and most important works in the Western literary tradition, it has inspired writers and poets through the ages. It is attributed to the blind poet, Homer.
Odyssey
This tells of the journey of the Greek, hero Odysseus, back to his home in Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Also attributed to Homer, this is usually paired with the Iliad and, together with the Iliad, regarded as one of the great achievements of Western literature.
Aeneid
One of the most important works of Latin literature, Virgil’s great poem tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas after the Trojan War - of his flight from Troy, his wanderings across the Mediterranean and his arrival in Italy where he is destined to found Rome.
Beowulf
This is the longest poem in Old English, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. It relates the adventures of the hero Beowulf and his successive battles with the monster Grendel, with Grendel’s mother, and with a dragon guarding a hoard of treasure.
The Story of Cuchulainn
Cuchulainn is one of the greatest heroes of Celtic mythology, and the story of his exploits is spread across seventy-six tales contained in the collection of stories known as the Ulster cycle. His story, though not found in a single, comprehensive narrative, has all the features of an epic.
La Chanson de Roland
This is one of the many medieval romances that celebrate the deeds of Charlemagne. The poem, in the form available to us, was written about 1096, though it was current in other forms long before this. It is written in the Norman dialect, and its author is may have been a Norman poet called Turold, whose name is mentioned in the last line of the poem.
