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'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.

Contents

List of world folk-epics

African languages

American languages

Asian languages

European languages

See also

List of world folk-epics

African languages

★ Lianja a central African epic

★ Silamaka a Western African epic

★ Sundiata an African epic

American languages

★ Tunkashila an American Indian epic

Asian languages

★ Alpamysh; all of Central Asia

★ Annanmar Kathai the story of the brothers, a Tamil epic of the Kongu Nadu region

★ Bidasari a Malay epic

★ Biag ni Lam-Ang(Life of Lam-Ang) an epic of the Ilocanos of Northern Luzon,Philippines

★ Darangen an epic from the Maranao people of Mindanao, Philippines

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

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

★ Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), a Japanese epic

★ Hinilawod an epic of the Panay-Bukidnons of the Visayas, Central Philippines.

★ Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic from India; known as Bharathayudha in Indonesia

★ Manas an epic from Kyrgyzstan

★ Book of Dede Korkut an epic from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turcomans of Iraq and other Turkic nations

★ Koroglu an epic from Azerbaijan and Turkey

★ Oghuz-nameh, an epic from Oghuz Turkic nations (Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, as well as Turcomans of Iraq)

★ Kutadgu Bilig an epic from Central Asia, Uighurs and other Turkic nations

★ Nagarakertagama an Indonesian epic

★ On Jerusalem an epic written in Greek based on the Old Testament characters of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph

★ Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic from India

★ Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a Chinese novel

★ Sepha Khun Chang Khun Phaen, a Thai epic

★ Shahnama a Persian epic

★ Silappadhikaram a South Indian epic

★ Siri epic in Tulu language from Karnataka, India

★ The Book of One Thousand and One Nights a collection of stories from the Middle eastern Literature(including Persian and Arabic)

★ Journey to the West (also known as "Monkey"), a Chinese novel

★ Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative --Texas Tech University; contains several full-text epics in their native languages and dialects

European languages

★ The Aeneid, a Roman epic

★ Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic written in Old English

★ Bylina, a Russian epic. A bylina is analogous to a short saga, not an epic. Furthermore it the word for a kind of story rather than a title.

★ Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire an Irish lament

★ Davit of Sassoun,Armenian Language/ Armenian national epic about war for freedom against Arabs in 9th century

★ Edda, a collection of Icelandic poems

★ Y Gododdin, a Welsh epic

★ Iliad, a Greek epic

★ Kalevala, a Finnish epic

★ Kalevipoeg, an Estonian epic

★ Lāčplēsis, a Latvian epic

★ Nibelungenlied, a German epic poem

★ Njál's saga, an Icelandic saga

★ The Odyssey, an epic from Greece

★ Prince Marko, a Serbian epic

★ Táin Bó Cúailnge, an Irish epic

★ The Tale of Igor's Campaign, a Slavic epic

★ Zoraje, a Slovene epic

★ Volsunga saga, a Scandinavian saga

See also

★ Epic poetry

★ National epic

★ National myth

★ Founding myth