Western/Central Asia

“The world is fleeting, and as insubstantial /  As a breath of wind; it flings a guiltless man / Into a dungeon, lifts another up / To glory and a throne, but finally / The star that rules our lives lays both of them / Within the grave’s grip and beneath the dust.”

Ferdowsi, The Legend of Seyavash from the Shahnameh (trans. Dick Davis)

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Ancient World, Location, Mediterranean, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Homer, Iliad

Homer, Iliad

Ancient World, Location, Mediterranean, Southern Europe, Time Period, Western Europe, Western/Central Asia

Epic of King Gesar

Epic of King Gesar

Ancient World, East Asia, India and Southeast Asia, Location, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Ferdowsi, Shahnameh

Ferdowsi, Shahnameh

Location, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Attar, The Conference of the Birds

Attar, The Conference of the Birds

Location, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

The Book of Dede Korkut

The Book of Dede Korkut

Location, Mediterranean, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Alpamish

Alpamish

Location, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Time Period, Transcribed in the 20th and 21st century, Western/Central Asia

Epic of Köroghlu

Epic of Köroghlu

Location, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Manas

Manas

Location, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, The Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

Lakhnavi, The Adventures of Amir Hamza

Lakhnavi, The Adventures of Amir Hamza

India and Southeast Asia, Location, Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, The Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century, Time Period, Western/Central Asia

David of Sassoun (Sasna Tsrer)

David of Sassoun (Sasna Tsrer)

Location, The Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century, Time Period, Western/Central Asia