ＣＨＡＮＧＩＮＧ　ＴＨＥ　ＤＩＳＴＲＩＢＵＴＩＯＮ　ＯＦ　ＥＰＩＣＳ　ＯＦ　ＭＡＮＫＩＮＤ.docVIP

ＣＨＡＮＧＩＮＧ　ＴＨＥ　ＤＩＳＴＲＩＢＵＴＩＯＮ　ＯＦ　ＥＰＩＣＳ　ＯＦ　ＭＡＮＫＩＮＤ 　　 If we compare Gesar with the world’s five major epics, Gilgamesh of Babylon is a river epic; the Iliad and the Odyssey from ancient Greece are maritime city-state epics; and the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from ancient India are forest epics. Gesar from Tibet is a plateau epic. 　　 The discovery of Gesar not only enhanced research on the epics of mankind but will also change the geographical and cultural distribution of epics, since it’s area of reference covers almost half of the land described by the ancient epic poems. 　　 River epics, maritime city-state, forest epics and plateau epics 　　 Since the time of Aristotle, the ancient Greek epics of Homer were considered to be the first heroic epics and the model on which future epics were based. However, in the 1970’s, archaeologists discovered Gilgamesh of Babylon, which had been buried for more than 2,600 years. This poem of more than three thousand lines came to be regarded as the first epic, written at the dawn of civilization. These three, along with Mahabharata and the Ramayana have become known as the five major epics of the world. 　　 Epics are a Museum of a people’s spirit, combining history and heroes. They awaken great sleeping traditions through imposing literary form and vivid narration, showing the distinctive characteristics of national cultures and temperaments. This is true of all the ancient epics. 　　 The particular environment and life-style of the ancient Greeks engendered the nature of the ancient Greek epics. Using the special poetical meter of ancient Greece, the Homeric epics recorded the child-like naive and romanticism of mankind. Like an encyclopaedia, the two grand Homeric epics recorded the vast social life of ancient Greece, and became its cultural and educational foundation of ancient Greece for a long period. In The Republic, Plato said: homer’s epics educated the Greeks’. 　　 Since their inception, the two grand epics of ancient Ind