List of world folk-epics - Definition and Overview

World-folk epics are those epics which are not just literary masterpieces but also an integral part of the weltanschauung of a people. They were originally oral literatures, which were later written down by either single author or several writers.

List of world folk epics

African languages

• Lianja a central African epic

• Silamaka a Western African epic

• Soundiata an African epic

American languages

• Tunkashila an American Indian epic

Asian languages

• Epic of King Gesar, a Tibetan epic, generally considered the longest in the world.

• Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest epic from Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world

• Heike monogatari a Japanese epic

• Mahabharatha an epic from Northern India, also known as Bharathayudha in Indonesia

• Manas (epic) an epic from Kyrgyzstan

• Nagarakertagama an Indonesian epic

• On Jerusalem an epic written in Greek based on the Old testament characters of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph (dreamer).

• Shahnama a Persian epic

• Silappadhikaram a South Indian epic

• Arabian Nights an epic from the Mediterranean Arabic world

• Xiyouji a Chinese epic

European languages

• Beowulf an Anglo-Saxon epic written in Old English

• Bylina a Russian epic

• Edda a Teutonic epic

• Iliad a Greek epic

• Odyssey an epic from Greece

• Kalevala a Finnish epic

• Kalevipoeg an Estonian epic

• Prince Marko a Serbian epic

• Nibelungenlied an Icelandic legend which became the source of the music of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876) and later an influence on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Njál's saga an Icelandic epic

• Táin Bó Cúailnge Irish epic

• The Tale of Igor's Campaign a Slavic epic

• Volsunga saga, a Scandinavian epic

See also

• National epic