Epic Traditions Among the Peoples of the World: Poetics, Performance, and Cultural Memory

Epic traditions represent one of the most complex and enduring forms of verbal art in human civilization. Combining mythology, history, cosmology, and ethical philosophy, epics function as cultural archives that shape collective identity and transmit social values across generations. This study offers a comparative and theoretical examination of epic traditions among different peoples of the world. Drawing upon major epic corpora—including the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Homeric epics (Iliad, Odyssey), the Indian Mahabharata, the Turkic Manas, and the West African Epic of Sundiata—the research applies comparative literary analysis informed by oral-formulaic theory and cultural memory studies. The findings demonstrate that epic narratives share universal structural and archetypal patterns while simultaneously articulating culturally specific models of heroism, cosmology, and social order. The article argues that epic traditions should be understood not merely as literary monuments but as dynamic performative systems embedded in social practice and ideological formation.