A long, narrative poem praising the deeds and person of a hero, often for their efforts in either founding or saving a particular community. The epic is an extremely old form in literature. Indeed, the oldest known written text is The Epic of Gilgamesh, whose origin is put at more than 3000 years bc. Other well-known epics include: Homerâs Trojan War poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, thought to date from around 800 bc, the slightly later Indian work, MahÄbhÄrata, and the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf from ad 800. The principal defining feature of the epic is the grandness of scale and the sense that the destiny of the individual is the destiny of the whole world. In contemporary literature it is primarily the fantasy genre, typified by J. R. R. Tolkienâs work, which adheres to the epic form, in prose, though, rather than verse.