NCW Libraries

The rage sing, O goddess, of Achilles, the son of Peleus, the destructive anger that brought ten-thousand pains to the Achaeans and sent many brave souls of fighting men to the house of Hades and made their bodies a feast for dogs and all kinds of birds. For such was the will of Zeus. Thus begins one of the oldest and most important works in Western literature. First recorded in the eighth century BC, Homer's Iliad has captivated readers ever since,...

A prose retelling of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem about the hero Beowulf, who killed the monster Grendel.

Presents the classical epic, glorifying the heroism of Charlemagne in the 778 battle between the Franks and the Moors. The Song of Roland, as Dorothy Sayers remarks in the introduction to this fine translation, is 'the earliest, the most famous, and the greatest of those Old French epics which are called Songs of Deeds'. Writing around the end of the eleventh century, and recalling an actual disaster in 778, the anonymous poet describes in detail...

An English-language rendering of the world's oldest epic follows the journey of conquest and self-discovery by the king of Uruk, in an edition that includes an introduction that places the story in its historical and cultural context.

The sequel to The Mammoth Hunters finds Ayla and Jondalar on their long journey returning to Jondalar's family. Returning humankind's earliest days, the fourth novel in the Earth's Children series. Courageous heroine Ayla and companion Jondalar leave the Mammoth Hunters and travel into the dark, spectacular lands of an unmapped world-always driven to reach a place that they can finally call home.

Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right: a standard against which all other versions are compared.

In this thrilling re-telling of the Anglo-Saxon legend, Rosemary Sutcliff recounts Beowulf's most terrifying quests: against Grendel the man-wolf, against the hideous sea-hag and, most courageous of all - his fight to the death with the monstrous fire-drake. --Publisher

The first publication of a previously unknown narrative poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the extraordinary story of the final days of England's legendary hero, King Arthur.

Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Homer's Odyssey is the best and best loved modern translation of the greatest of all epic poems.