Prompt C: Based on the epics and legends you have studied in this unit and other epics you have read in previous courses, why do you think epic narratives were important to ancient cultures?
Epic narratives were important to ancient culture, because it gave a theme of heroism to a certain people group (gave them pride), & is part of their history, which gives them a good background of how they came to be as a people group. For example, in "part of their history", epics were usually passed down orally, & allowed history to be passed down through generations before writing was created. After writing was created, it was used to help save the epics so that people later on can read them. Both of these were a way they can keep history & pass down stories from one generation to the next.
For example, the "Epic of Gilgamesh" talked about Gilgamesh, king of Babylon, which talks about how Gilgamesh oppressed the people of Uruk, & afterwards shows how strong he was after defeating Enkidu, a wild man sent from the gods to punish Gilgamesh. They later become friends, & kill the bull of Heaven, which leads to Enkidu dying. After witnessing Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh went on to try to discover the secret of eternal life. He learns at the end that life was "held by the hands of the gods", and that he cannot become immortal. From this epic, you can learn about what the people group valued, and what they decided was a 'good' life to live (or bad). They teach lessons from the story, and so it is passed down in generations for others to learn the truth through the stories
hope this helps
