Ancient Global Epics & Literary Versions

Reading our Roots




The Schedule

January: 
   ✓ Deciding the #YearofWriting plans.
February/March: 
   Tale of Genji & Heike 
   ✓ Japan
   ✓ Kana Hiragana & Katakana 
April/May: 
   The Mahabharata & Bhagavad Gita 
   ✓ India, Sri Lanka
   ✓ Devanagari
June/July
   The Shahnameh & Conference of the Birds
   ✓ Greater Iran, Greater Persia 
   ✓ Persian
August
   The Odyssey & The Metamorphoses 
   ✓ Greece, Italy (Roman Empire)
   ✓ Greek
September 
   Poetic Edda & Kalevala 
   ✓ Iceland, Finnish
   ✓ Irish Ogham
October/November
   Journey to the West (Abridged as: The Monkey and the Monk)
   ✓ China
   ✓ Manchu
December
   The Mwindo Epic (Banyanga People/Congo Republic) 
   ✓ Ge'ez (from Ethiopia)

*Note: Sept-Dec. writing systems aren't a geographical match to each epic because I opted for more unique styles of writing or ones that are being restored/rejuvinated.    

You're Invited!

Feel free to adapt this in any way you like. Read only modern retellings or make it a lifer and read only the unabridged translated works!

Use #AncientGlobalEpic to participate via Blog, Booktube, Twitter, or Instagram  ... 

Whichever Floats your Bookmark!

At the bottom of this page, I'll build up links of everyone who joins in.  Comment below or email me with a link to your introduction post for this reading project.  My email is biblioatlas  at gmail dot com 

I'm a Lifer 

I've made a reading schedule with a list of the epics I'd like to read this year.  2018 will be a year of abridgements to get a sampling of what's been happening around the world regarding the masterpieces of time.



Here's the twist: I also have a crazy idea of touching on the writing systems that would accompany these epics.  So on the schedule is the writing system I'll be studying along with the epic.  

It's impossible to learn 6 different languages in a single year, so the goal of the writing system is mainly cosmetic understanding.  I'll focus my energy on learning how to write each system, not the entire language.  Or learning full, proper pronunciation of the sounds for any of the languages that use these systems.  I'll learn the rough sounds of course, but not focus on my accuracy of pronunciation, just yet.  

While learning these writing systems, it will be a fantastic incidental to slowly develop an ear for the sounds that many of these languages use. 

List of our Fellow AGE Readers:

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