How is the work an epic? How does this work depart from other epics we've read?
The work Sunjata is an epic for several reasons, the first being that when he was a baby he was born before his brothers were, however, the other servants reached his father with the news of their birth first, due to this he was kind of cheated out of the thrown. He was helpful and just to the griots even though all they wanted to prove was that he was a failure. When the sorcerers encountered him on his way back from a hunting trip he was generous and gave them one of the elephants he killed also proving that by killing the elephant he was a mighty hunter, not only that but later in the epic we see that he killed a terrible beast. When the sorcerers told him he was in danger he wouldn't leave without his mother and sister, along with a couple other things but mostly his mother and sister, showing his virtue, a characteristic all epic heros must have. The sorcerers, who were originally supposed to harm Sunjata actually warned him about returning to the city shows that people liked him, like in all epics the hero is liked by the people. Sunjata had to leave the city that he was once enthroned to behind and travel somewhere that he would be safe. This meet the qualifications of a epic in that he is going on a journey. This epic differs from previous epics we have read because he was supposed to have the crown but something interfered like in the case of Rama, however Gilgamesh didn't have this problem. He was also sent away from his city because he wasn't welcome at home just as it was for Rama, again however Gilgamesh didn't face this he went on his own.
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