1.

Beowulf
- an Epic of England

Summary:

Beowulf falls into two parts. It opens in Denmark, where King Hrothgar has a splendid mead
hall known as Heorot, a place of celebration and much merriment. However, the joyous noise
angers Grendel, an evil monster living in a nearby swamp. For 12 years the creature terrorizes
Heorot with nightly visits in which he carries off Hrothgar’s warriors and devours them.

After learning of the Danes’ trouble, young Beowulf, a prince of the Geats in what is now
southern Sweden, arrives with a small band of retainers and offers to rid Heorot of its monster.
Hrothgar is astonished at the little-known hero’s daring but welcomes him. After an evening of
feasting, much courtesy, and some discourtesy—at one point, one of Hrothgar’s men insults
Beowulf—the king retires, leaving Beowulf in charge. During the night, Grendel comes from
the moors, rips open the heavy doors, and devours one of the sleeping Geats. He then
grapples with Beowulf, who refuses to use a weapon. Beowulf grips one of Grendel’s hands
with such force that the monster finally wrenches himself free only when his arm is torn off at
the shoulder. Mortally wounded, Grendel returns to his swamp and dies. Beowulf then displays
the monster’s arm in Heorot for all to see.

The next day is one of rejoicing in Heorot, and a feast is thrown in Beowulf’s honour. However,
as the warriors sleep that night, Grendel’s mother, another swamp monster, comes to avenge
her son’s death, and she kills one of Hrothgar’s men. In the morning Beowulf dives into her
mere (lake) to search for her, and she attacks him. They struggle in her dry cave at the mere’s
bottom, and Beowulf finally kills her with a sword. In the cave, Beowulf discovers Grendel’s
corpse, whose head he cuts off and takes back to Heorot. The Danes rejoice once more.
Hrothgar makes a farewell speech about the character of the true hero, and Beowulf,
enriched with honours and princely gifts, returns home to King Hygelac of the Geats.

The second part passes rapidly over Hygelac’s subsequent death in a battle (of historical
record), the death of his son, and Beowulf’s succession to the kingship and his peaceful rule
of 50 years. However, the tranquility ends when a fire-breathing dragon becomes enraged
after a man steals from its treasure-filled lair. The creature begins ravaging Geatland, and the
brave but aging Beowulf decides to engage it, despite knowing that he will likely die. The fight
is long and terrible—a painful contrast to the battles of his youth. Painful too is the desertion of
all his retainers except for his young kinsman Wiglaf, who comes to his aid. They ultimately kill
the venomous dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded from a bite in the neck. Before he
dies, he names Wiglaf his successor. Beowulf is cremated on a funeral pyre, and his remains
are buried in a barrow built by the sea. As his people mourn his death, they also express the
fear that, without Beowulf, Geatland will be invaded by nearby tribes.

2. Song of Roland
- an Epic of France

Summary:
Charlemagne's army is fighting the Muslims in Spain. The last city standing is Saragossa, held
by the Muslim king Marsilla. Terrified of the might of Charlemagne's army of Franks, Marsilla
sends out messengers to Charlemagne, promising treasure and Marsilla's conversion to
Christianity if the Franks will go back to France. Charlemagne and his men are tired of fighting
and decide to accept this peace offer. They need now to select a messenger to go back to
Marsilla's court. The bold warrior Roland nominates his stepfather Ganelon. Ganelon is
enraged; he fears that he'll die in the hands of the bloodthirsty pagans and suspects that this
is just Roland's intent. He has long hated and envied his stepson, and, riding back to Saragossa
with the Saracen messengers, he finds an opportunity for revenge. He tells the Saracens how
they could ambush the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, which will surely be led by Roland
as the Franks pick their way back to Spain through the mountain passes, and helps the
Saracens plan their attack.

Just as the traitor Ganelon predicted, Roland gallantly volunteers to lead the rear guard. The
wise and moderate Olivier and the fierce archbishop Turpin are among the men Roland picks
to join him. Pagans ambush them at Roncesvals, according to plan; the Christians are
overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Seeing how badly outnumbered they are, Olivier asks
Roland to blow on his oliphant, his horn made out of an elephant tusk, to call for help from the
main body of the Frankish army. Roland proudly refuses to do so, claiming that they need no
help, that the rear guard can easily take on the pagan hordes. While the Franks fight
magnificently, there's no way they can continue to hold off against the Saracens, and the
battle begins to turn clearly against them. Almost all his men are dead and Roland knows that
it's now too late for Charlemagne and his troops to save them, but he blows his oliphant
anyway, so that the emperor can see what happened to his men and avenge them. Roland
blows so hard that his temples burst. He dies a glorious martyr's death, and saints take his soul
straight to Paradise.

When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find only dead bodies. The
pagans have fled, but the Franks pursue them, chasing them into the river Ebro, where they
all drown. Meanwhile, the powerful emir of Babylon, Baligant, has arrived in Spain to help his
vassal Marsilla fend off the Frankish threat. Baligant and his enormous Muslim army ride after
Charlemagne and his Christian army, meeting them on the battlefield at Roncesvals, where
the Christians are burying and mourning their dead. Both sides fight valiantly. But when
Charlemagne kills Baligant, all the pagan army scatter and flee. Now Saragossa has no
defenders left; the Franks take the city. With Marsilla's wife Bramimonde, Charlemagne and his
men ride back to Aix, their capital in sweet France.

The Franks discovered Ganelon's betrayal some time ago and keep him in chains until it is time
for his trial. Ganelon argues that his action was legitimate revenge, openly proclaimed, not
treason. While the council of barons, which Charlemagne gathered to decide the traitor's fate
is initially swayed by this claim, one man, Thierry, argues that, because Roland was serving
Charlemagne when Ganelon delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a
betrayal of the emperor. Ganelon's friend Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat; the
two will fight a duel to see who's right. By divine intervention, Thierry, the weaker man, wins,
killing Pinabel. The Franks are convinced by this of Ganelon's villainy and sentence him to a
most painful death. The traitor is torn limb from limb by galloping horses and thirty of his relatives
are hung for good measure.
3. The Aeneid
- an Epic of Italy

Summary:

On the Mediterranean Sea, Aeneas and his fellow Trojans flee from their home city of Troy,
which has been destroyed by the Greeks. They sail for Italy, where Aeneas is destined to found
Rome. As they near their destination, a fierce storm throws them off course and lands them in
Carthage. Dido, Carthage’s founder and queen, welcomes them. Aeneas relates to Dido the
long and painful story of his group’s travels thus far.

Aeneas tells of the sack of Troy that ended the Trojan War after ten years of Greek siege. In
the final campaign, the Trojans were tricked when they accepted into their city walls a
wooden horse that, unbeknownst to them, harbored several Greek soldiers in its hollow belly.
He tells how he escaped the burning city with his father, Anchises; his son, Ascanius; and the
hearth gods that represent their fallen city. Assured by the gods that a glorious future awaited
him in Italy, he set sail with a fleet containing the surviving citizens of Troy. Aeneas relates the
ordeals they faced on their journey. Twice they attempted to build a new city, only to be
driven away by bad omens and plagues. Harpies, creatures that are part woman and part
bird, cursed them, but they also encountered friendly countrymen unexpectedly. Finally, after
the loss of Anchises and a bout of terrible weather, they made their way to Carthage.

Impressed by Aeneas’s exploits and sympathetic to his suffering, Dido, a Phoenician princess
who fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother murdered her husband, falls in
love with Aeneas. They live together as lovers for a period, until the gods remind Aeneas of his
duty to found a new city. He determines to set sail once again. Dido is devastated by his
departure, and kills herself by ordering a huge pyre to be built with Aeneas’s castaway
possessions, climbing upon it, and stabbing herself with the sword Aeneas leaves behind.

As the Trojans make for Italy, bad weather blows them to Sicily, where they hold funeral games
for the dead Anchises. The women, tired of the voyage, begin to burn the ships, but a
downpour puts the fires out. Some of the travel-weary stay behind, while Aeneas,
reinvigorated after his father visits him in a dream, takes the rest on toward Italy. Once there,
Aeneas descends into the underworld, guided by the Sibyl of Cumae, to visit his father. He is
shown a pageant of the future history and heroes of Rome, which helps him to understand the
importance of his mission. Aeneas returns from the underworld, and the Trojans continue up
the coast to the region of Latium.

The arrival of the Trojans in Italy begins peacefully. King Latinus, the Italian ruler, extends his
hospitality, hoping that Aeneas will prove to be the foreigner whom, according to a prophecy,
his daughter Lavinia is supposed to marry. But Latinus’s wife, Amata, has other ideas. She
means for Lavinia to marry Turnus, a local suitor. Amata and Turnus cultivate enmity toward
the newly arrived Trojans. Meanwhile, Ascanius hunts a stag that was a pet of the local
herdsmen. A fight breaks out, and several people are killed. Turnus, riding this current of anger,
begins a war.

Aeneas, at the suggestion of the river god Tiberinus, sails north up the Tiber to seek military
support among the neighboring tribes. During this voyage, his mother, Venus, descends to give
him a new set of weapons, wrought by Vulcan. While the Trojan leader is away, Turnus attacks.
Aeneas returns to find his countrymen embroiled in battle. Pallas, the son of Aeneas’s new ally
Evander, is killed by Turnus. Aeneas flies into a violent fury, and many more are slain by the
day’s end.

The two sides agree to a truce so that they can bury the dead, and the Latin leaders discuss
whether to continue the battle. They decide to spare any further unnecessary carnage by
proposing a hand-to-hand duel between Aeneas and Turnus. When the two leaders face off,
however, the other men begin to quarrel, and full-scale battle resumes. Aeneas is wounded
in the thigh, but eventually the Trojans threaten the enemy city. Turnus rushes out to meet
Aeneas, who wounds Turnus badly. Aeneas nearly spares Turnus but, remembering the slain
Pallas, slays him instead.

4. Nibelungenlied
- an Epic of Germany

Summary:

In Burgundy lives a maiden princess named Kriemhild who is known far and wide for her beauty
and charm. Kriemhild is the sister of renowned kings Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher, who rule
from Worms beside the Rhine and are served by many proud knights. As a girl, Kriemhild
decides to foreswear love, since it usually brings sorrow along with happiness.

Farther down the Rhine, in the Netherlands city of Xanten, a handsome, valorous prince
named Siegfried has recently been knighted. Siegfried hears about Kriemhild and decides he
wants to woo her. He also wants to gain lands and castles for himself. He travels to Worms with
a band of stalwart companions. When Siegfried arrives in Burgundy, Gunther’s vassal, Hagen,
recognizes him as the mighty slayer of the Nibelung princes and possessor of their massive
treasure. Siegfried is also virtually invincible, having bathed in a dragon’s blood.

When the Burgundian kings and their warriors greet Siegfried, he announces his intention to
wrest all their possessions from them. The kings persuade him to settle the matter honorably,
sharing their riches in common. Siegfried spends the next year in the Burgundian court, secretly
pining for Kriemhild, although he has yet to lay eyes on her.

When foreign kings threaten to invade Burgundy, Siegfried offers to go to war on Gunther’s
behalf. He leads the Burgundian forces to an overwhelming victory and takes many prisoners.
Kriemhild, who harbors secret affection for Siegfried, is delighted to learn he is unharmed and
victorious. Six weeks after the battle, a massive victory festival ensues, and Kriemhild’s brothers,
desiring an alliance, arrange for the two to finally meet. Siegfried and Kriemhild spend time
together in public throughout the festival, and their love for one another grows.

Meanwhile, Gunther begins to pine for an Icelandic queen named Brunhild, who is both
beautiful and incredibly strong—to win her love, a knight must defeat her in three athletic
contests, or else lose his head. In exchange for Siegfried’s help in these contests, Gunther
swears to give him Kriemhild’s hand in marriage. The men sail to Iceland, along with Hagen
and his brother and fellow vassal, Dancwart. Before they disembark, Siegfried cautions the
group that they must let Brunhild believe that he is Gunther’s vassal.
Brunhild proves to be a formidable opponent. While Gunther merely goes through the motions,
Siegfried puts on his magical invisibility cloak, which gives him extra strength to hurl a javelin,
throw a boulder, and leap even farther than Brunhild does. When she thinks Gunther defeats
her (not knowing it was Siegfried who accomplished all of those feats), Brunhild is furious, but
she agrees to marry him.

When the party arrives back in Burgundy, Siegfried reminds Gunther of his oath, and Siegfried
and Kriemhild are duly married. During the marriage feast, Brunhild weeps when she sees
Kriemhild sitting next to Siegfried in the seat of honor. When Gunther asks Brunhild what is the
matter, she explains that she is grieved to see Kriemhild degraded by marriage to a mere
liegeman. Gunther evades the issue, and Brunhild says she won’t consummate her marriage
with Gunther until she knows the full story. Accordingly, when Gunther tries to take her virginity
that night, she flies into a rage, ties him up, and suspends him from a nail on the wall. When
Gunther confides his humiliation to Siegfried the next day, Siegfried promises to subdue
Gunther’s formidable wife for him. Wearing his invisibility cloak, he wrestles Brunhild into
submission, though they nearly kill one another in the process. Gunther finally sleeps with his
wife, after which Brunhild’s vast strength leaves her, and she’s just like any ordinary woman.
Not long after, Siegfried and Kriemhild return to Siegfried’s native Netherlands, where he rules
as king for ten years.

All this time, Brunhild continues to fret over Siegfried’s marriage to Kriemhild. She begs Gunther
to invite them to a midsummer festival, so he dispatches messengers to Xanten. When the
messengers return with news of their acceptance, they show off the generous gifts Siegfried
gave them, prompting Hagen to jealousy of the Nibelung treasure.

The summer festival starts off happily enough, but one evening, Kriemhild provokes Brunhild
with remarks about Siegfried’s equality to Gunther, and the two queens begin fighting. Later,
she pointedly enters the cathedral before Brunhild, which would be taboo for a liegewoman.
In the crowning insult, Kriemhild calls Brunhild Siegfried’s paramour, alleging that Siegfried took
her virginity, not Gunther. When Brunhild tells Gunther of this charge, he is evasive and lets
Siegfried off the hook without a formal oath. Later, when Hagen and the other vassals learn of
this, they begin plotting to kill Siegfried, with Hagen arguing that Brunhild’s honor is at stake.
Gunther reluctantly goes along with them.

After learning offhandedly from Kriemhild that Siegfried has a vulnerable spot between his
shoulder-blades, Hagen suggests that the men go on a hunting trip. After an enjoyable day of
sport, Siegfried stoops at a spring to take a drink, and Hagen seizes the opportunity to stab him
through the vulnerable spot. Siegfried quickly dies.

Back in Worms, Hagen has Siegfried’s corpse placed on the threshold of Kriemhild’s
apartment. When Kriemhild discovers his body, she immediately plunges into wild lament, and,
suspecting the truth about what’s happened, begins to think of vengeance. At the funeral,
Hagen’s guilt is proven when he stands next to the bier, causing Siegfried’s wounds to
miraculously bleed anew.

Three and a half years later, Kriemhild has still not spoken to Gunther because of his role in
Hagen’s plot, and she refuses to see Hagen. Hagen encourages Gunther to make peace with
his sister, suggesting that she might agree to bring the Nibelung treasure, her inheritance, back
to Burgundy. He does so, and soon the massive treasure is transported to Worms. When
Kriemhild lavishes her treasure on rich and poor, native and foreigner alike, Hagen jealously
seizes possession of it and dumps the remainder into the Rhine for safekeeping. The kings let
this slide, but Kriemhild nurses resentment all the more.

Thirteen years later, a pagan, widowed, Hungarian king named Etzel becomes interested in
taking Kriemhild as his wife. His vassal, Rüdiger, margrave of Pöchlarn in Austria, offers to
journey to Worms as Etzel’s envoy. When Rüdiger relays the king’s proposal, Kriemhild refuses,
saying she cannot love another man and would be disgraced by marriage to a heathen. She
can’t help coveting Etzel’s riches, however, and realizes she might have the power to exact
vengeance on Hagen at last. She finally consents and departs Burgundy for foreign lands.

Kriemhild and Etzel celebrate a lavish wedding in Vienna before settling in Etzel’s fortress at
Etzelnburg. Though she finds him to be even richer than Siegfried, Kriemhild continues to grieve
in private for her fallen first husband. Seven years later, she has amassed much power and
renown in Hungary and also given birth to a son, Ortlieb. Despite all this, her desire for revenge
is unabated, and she still resents being put in a position to marry a heathen. She easily
persuades Etzel to invite her kinsmen to a midsummer festival, giving her the opportunity she
has desired for many years.

When Gunther’s court receives the invitation, Hagen senses a trap, but Giselher shames him
into making the journey anyway. During the journey, Hagen encounters some water-fairies
who predict the doom of virtually the entire Burgundian entourage in Hungary. The party
enjoys the warm hospitality of Rüdiger in Pöchlarn, and he escorts them to Etzelnburg as well.

As soon as the Burgundians enter Etzel’s lands, Lord Dietrich rides out to warn them that
Kriemhild is still grieving Siegfried’s death and means to harm them. Kriemhild welcomes the
Burgundians coldly, refuses to greet Hagen, and demands to know the location of the
Nibelung treasure. Twice that day, she sends her vassals to attack Hagen, but both times they
are intimidated by Hagen and Volker. The next day, Etzel’s brother, Lord Bloedelin, instigates
savage fighting among the knights. Meanwhile, Kriemhild has Ortlieb brought to the festal
table, and when Hagen hears that the Burgundians have been attacked, he swiftly beheads
the young boy. A terrible battle ensues, and the Hunnish knights are slaughtered. By evening,
20,000 more Huns have been killed, and the Burgundians ask Etzel for a truce. Kriemhild
intervenes, saying she can’t show mercy as long as Hagen remains alive. Her brothers refuse
to surrender Hagen, so Kriemhild drives them all back inside the hall and sets the building on
fire. Six hundred men survive a horrifying night trapped in the hall.

Rüdiger surveys the massacre that has been perpetrated on all sides and finds himself caught
between his vow of service to Kriemhild and the ties of hospitality by which he has bound
himself to Gunther and his men. With greatest reluctance, he finally takes up his sword against
the Burgundians, and after fierce fighting, he and Gernot cut one another down at almost the
same moment. Everyone is grief-stricken. When Dietrich hears of it, he sends Hildebrand and
his other men to investigate, and Volker provokes them to fight—a battle that ends up taking
the lives of all but Hildebrand, Hagen, and Gunther. A grieving Dietrich goes to face Hagen
and successfully wounds him, then takes him bound to Kriemhild, who is happy at last. He soon
does the same with Gunther, though he advises Kriemhild to spare both warriors’ lives.
Kriemhild, however, gets her vengeance at last. She gives Hagen one last chance to return
her treasure, then has Gunther beheaded and finally strikes down Hagen with her own hand.
Before she can revel in her triumph, she is slain in turn by Hildebrand. Only he, Dietrich, and
Etzel remain alive, weeping for their slain kinsmen and vassals, “as joy must ever turn to sorrow
in the end.”

5. Epic of Gilgamesh
- an Epic of Babylon

Summary:
The epic’s prelude offers a general introduction to Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who was two-thirds
god and one-third man. He built magnificent ziggurats, or temple towers, surrounded his city
with high walls, and laid out its orchards and fields. He was physically beautiful, immensely
strong, and very wise. Although Gilgamesh was godlike in body and mind, he began his
kingship as a cruel despot. He lorded over his subjects, raping any woman who struck his fancy,
whether she was the wife of one of his warriors or the daughter of a nobleman. He
accomplished his building projects with forced labor, and his exhausted subjects groaned
under his oppression. The gods heard his subjects’ pleas and decided to keep Gilgamesh in
check by creating a wild man named Enkidu, who was as magnificent as Gilgamesh. Enkidu
became Gilgamesh’s great friend, and Gilgamesh’s heart was shattered when Enkidu died of
an illness inflicted by the gods. Gilgamesh then traveled to the edge of the world and learned
about the days before the deluge and other secrets of the gods, and he recorded them on
stone tablets.

The epic begins with Enkidu. He lives with the animals, suckling at their breasts, grazing in the
meadows, and drinking at their watering places. A hunter discovers him and sends a temple
prostitute into the wilderness to tame him. In that time, people considered women and sex
calming forces that could domesticate wild men like Enkidu and bring them into the civilized
world. When Enkidu sleeps with the woman, the animals reject him since he is no longer one
of them. Now, he is part of the human world. Then the harlot teaches him everything he needs
to know to be a man. Enkidu is outraged by what he hears about Gilgamesh’s excesses, so he
travels to Uruk to challenge him. When he arrives, Gilgamesh is about to force his way into a
bride’s wedding chamber. Enkidu steps into the doorway and blocks his passage. The two
men wrestle fiercely for a long time, and Gilgamesh finally prevails. After that, they become
friends and set about looking for an adventure to share.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to steal trees from a distant cedar forest forbidden to mortals.
A terrifying demon named Humbaba, the devoted servant of Enlil, the god of earth, wind, and
air, guards it. The two heroes make the perilous journey to the forest, and, standing side by
side, fight with the monster. With assistance from Shamash the sun god, they kill him. Then they
cut down the forbidden trees, fashion the tallest into an enormous gate, make the rest into a
raft, and float on it back to Uruk. Upon their return, Ishtar, the goddess of love, is overcome
with lust for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh spurns her. Enraged, the goddess asks her father, Anu, the
god of the sky, to send the Bull of Heaven to punish him. The bull comes down from the sky,
bringing with him seven years of famine. Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle with the bull and kill it.
The gods meet in council and agree that one of the two friends must be punished for their
transgression, and they decide Enkidu is going to die. He takes ill, suffers immensely, and shares
his visions of the underworld with Gilgamesh. When he finally dies, Gilgamesh is heartbroken.

Gilgamesh can’t stop grieving for Enkidu, and he can’t stop brooding about the prospect of
his own death. Exchanging his kingly garments for animal skins as a way of mourning Enkidu,
he sets off into the wilderness, determined to find Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. After
the flood, the gods had granted Utnapishtim eternal life, and Gilgamesh hopes that
Utnapishtim can tell him how he might avoid death too. Gilgamesh’s journey takes him to the
twin-peaked mountain called Mashu, where the sun sets into one side of the mountain at night
and rises out of the other side in the morning. Utnapishtim lives beyond the mountain, but the
two scorpion monsters that guard its entrance refuse to allow Gilgamesh into the tunnel that
passes through it. Gilgamesh pleads with them, and they relent.

After a harrowing passage through total darkness, Gilgamesh emerges into a beautiful garden
by the sea. There he meets Siduri, a veiled tavern keeper, and tells her about his quest. She
warns him that seeking immortality is futile and that he should be satisfied with the pleasures
of this world. However, when she can’t turn him away from his purpose, she directs him to
Urshanabi, the ferryman. Urshanabi takes Gilgamesh on the boat journey across the sea and
through the Waters of Death to Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the
flood—how the gods met in council and decided to destroy humankind. Ea, the god of
wisdom, warned Utnapishtim about the gods’ plans and told him how to fashion a gigantic
boat in which his family and the seed of every living creature might escape. When the waters
finally receded, the gods regretted what they’d done and agreed that they would never try
to destroy humankind again. Utnapishtim was rewarded with eternal life. Men would die, but
humankind would continue.

When Gilgamesh insists that he be allowed to live forever, Utnapishtim gives him a test. If you
think you can stay alive for eternity, he says, surely you can stay awake for a week. Gilgamesh
tries and immediately fails. So Utnapishtim orders him to clean himself up, put on his royal
garments again, and return to Uruk where he belongs. Just as Gilgamesh is departing,
however, Utnapishtim’s wife convinces him to tell Gilgamesh about a miraculous plant that
restores youth. Gilgamesh finds the plant and takes it with him, planning to share it with the
elders of Uruk. But a snake steals the plant one night while they are camping. As the serpent
slithers away, it sheds its skin and becomes young again.

When Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, he is empty-handed but reconciled at last to his mortality. He
knows that he can’t live forever but that humankind will. Now he sees that the city he had
repudiated in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring achievement—the closest thing to
immortality to which a mortal can aspire.