With contributions from leading scholars, this is a unique
cross-cultural comparison of historical epics across a wide range
of cultures and time periods, which presents crucial insights into
how history is treated in narrative poetry.
* The first book to gain new insights into the topic of
‘epic and history’ through in-depth cross-cultural
comparisons
* Covers epic traditions across the globe and across a wide range
of time periods
* Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is edited
by two internationally regarded scholars
* An important reference for scholars and students interested in
history and literature across a broad range of disciplines
Table of Content
List of Figures and Tables vii
Notes on Contributors viii
Series Editor’s Preface xiv
1 Introduction 1
David Konstan and Kurt A. Raaflaub
2 Maybe Epic: The Origins and Reception of Sumerian Heroic
Poetry 7
Piotr Michalowski
3 Historical Events and the Process of Their Transformation in
Akkadian Heroic Traditions 26
Joan Goodnick Westenholz
4 Epic and History in Hittite Anatolia: In Search of a Local
Hero 51
Amir Gilan
5 Manly Deeds: Hittite Admonitory History and Eastern
Mediterranean Didactic Epic 66
Mary R. Bachvarova
6 Epic and History in the Hebrew Bible: Definitions,
‘Ethnic Genres, ‘ and the Challenges of Cultural
Identity
in the Biblical Book of Judges 86
Susan Niditch
7 No Contest between Memory and Invention: The Invention of the
Pa08ava Heroes of the Mah Abh Arata 103
James L. Fitzgerald
8 From ‘Imperishable Glory’ to History: The Iliad
and the Trojan War 122
Jonas Grethlein
9 Historical Narrative in Archaic and Early Classical Greek
Elegy 145
Ewen Bowie
10 Fact, Fiction, and Form in Early Roman Epic 167
Sander M. Goldberg
11 The Song and the Sword: Silius’s Punica and the Crisis
of Early Imperial Epic 185
Raymond D. Marks
12 The Burden of Mortality: Alexander and the Dead in Persian
Epic and Beyond 212
Olga M. Davidson
13 Slavic Epic: Past Tales and Present Myths 223
Susana Torres Prieto
14 Historicity and Anachronism in Beowulf 243
Geoffrey Russom
15 The Nibelungenlied – Myth and History: A Middle High
German Epic Poem at the Crossroads of Past and Present, Despair and
Hope 262
Albrecht Classen
16 Medieval Epic and History in the Romance Literatures
280
Joseph J. Duggan
17 Roland’s Migration from Anglo-Norman Epic to Royal
French Chronicle History 293
Michel-André Bossy
18 A Recurrent Theme of the Spanish Medieval Epic: Complaints
and Laments by Noble Women 310
Mercedes Vaquero
19 History in Medieval Scandinavian Heroic Literature and the
Northwest European Context 328
Robert D. Fulk
20 Traditional History in South Slavic Oral Epic 347
John Miles Foley
21 Lord Five Thunder and the 12 Eagles and Jaguars of Rabinal
Meet Charlemagne and the 12 Knights of France 362
Dennis Tedlock
22 History, Myth, and Social Function in Southern African Nguni
Praise Poetry 381
Richard Whitaker
23 Epic and History in the Arabic Tradition 392
Dwight F. Reynolds
24 Comments on ‘Epic and History’ 411
Dean Miller
Index 425
About the author
David Konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University. He is the author of Friendship in the Classical World (1997), Pity Transformed (2001), The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks (2006), A Life Worthy of the Gods: The Materialist Psychology of Epicurus (2008), and Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (2010).
Kurt A. Raaflaub is the David Herlihy University Professor and Professor of Classics and History Emeritus at Brown University. His previous works include War and Peace in the Ancient World (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece (with J. Ober and R. W. Wallace, 2007), Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies (with R. J. A. Talbert, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (with J. Arnason, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), and The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy: A Politico-cultural Transformation and Its Interpretations (with J. Arnason and P. Wagner, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).
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