Overview of world's major traditional epics and the characters who bring them to life, offering unique insight into the cultures from which they were born. Easy-to-use A-Z format, with more than 1,400 entries, this sweeping literary tour places all the legendary heros and heroines, courageous deeds, and phenonmenal myths in one rich and informative volume. Here are famous epics such as the Arthurian tales of the legendary ruler and his court, and the great quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon that sparked the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad. Also included are lesser-known epics, such as the the touching Chinese ballad The Orphan, about a young boy who wants to write a letter to his deceased parents "under the earth," the French chant-fable Aucassin et Nicolette originally performed by an early thirteenth-century minstrel of northeastern France, and the eleventh-century Tibetan epic saga of Gesar.

Focusing on epics rooted in oral tradition, from earliest Sumerian to present day African, this comprehensive work also includes a number of literary epics that incorporate traditional material. Each entry consists of the epic title, the original author, events, characters, gods, symbols, themes, terms, and cross-references to direct readers to related topics. Lengthier essays, examining the epics themselves, include summaries, descriptions of the culture at the time of the epic's inception, and an analysis of how the epic follows or breaks away from the basic hero tale. With epics from remote regions ranging from Java to Finland, from Mongolia to Turkestan, gathered along with more famous epics such as the Mahabharata and the Odessey, this illuminating work will delight, surprise, and inform.