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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
List of contents
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 MahAbhArata 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
Kurt A. Raaflaub is David Herlihy University Professor and Professor of Classics and History, Royce Family Professor in Teaching Excellence (2005-8) and Director of the Program in Ancient Studies at Brown University.
Summary
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.
Report
"I would recommend this volume both for scholars of epic and heroic literature (especially if they have interests in comparative literature or in questions of orality and historicity), who will no doubt enjoy its generally succinct essays with pertinent bibliography for each tradition." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 9 February 2011)
"Essential. Graduate students and researchers." (Choice, October 2010)
