epics, religious

Long narrative stories, often poetic, dealing with gods and heroes, and regarded as foundational to the identity and world view of the people from which they come. They are not quite myths in the grandest sense, stories of creation and salvation that express in narrative form a culture's most basic religious vision, but they may contain mythic elements and do the same thing for the nation itself. Epics characteristically describe events at the beginning of a nation or civilization, perhaps leading up to its golden age; they were probably based on oral tradition but later put into literary, written form. They recall days when long stories were told to while away evenings before books or television, in the process imparting cultural perspectives important to anyone living in that society, for many epics reveal in story form virtual libraries of information about attitudes, values, RITUALS, beliefs, and styles of behavior appropriate to their world. At the same time they tell listeners about the key historical events and fi gures that ought to be common knowledge: the major battles, kings, and achievements of the people's past. The religious world is inevitably part of these stories. Examples of ancient epics with religious overtones are the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, the Aeneid of Virgil, the Mahabharata and Ramayana of ancient India (see RAMA, RAMAYANA), the Kojiki in Japan, and the great historical narrative running through much of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament and describing events from the Creation in Genesis to the death of King David (1 Kings) and the exile in Babylon. The great epics appeared as fi nished products at about the time that some people were trying to understand how one can live in a world in which so many bad things happen: wars, slaughters, plagues, suffering, and loss. Epics were one way of looking at this problem. As in all great stories, there are moments of defeat and despair in epics as well as of triumph. At these times only hope and faith sustain the heroes and their people. But in the end they prevail, or at least the very heroism of their suffering is shown to make it worthwhile. The pattern of epics suggests a guiding hand in the lives of great men and the events of history. Broadly speaking, the great age of epics, 1300 B.C.E.–700 C.E., was the time of the origin of the major religions and their founders, such as MOSES, BUDDHA, JESUS, and MUHAMMAD. Like these faiths, and often coming to work in tandem with them (as in the incorporation of the Hebrew epic into the BIBLE), epics assured people that however dark things may seem, GOD or the gods are in control and victory will come at the end.