得奖旅游作家Nicholas Jubber游历整个欧洲，探索欧洲最伟大的史诗，从Odyssey到Beowulf，从Song of Roland到NIbelungenlied，思考这些史诗对于当时人们自我认知的影响。从土耳其一路到冰岛，作者带着读着一起发现时代如何塑造史诗，史诗同时如何塑造时代。
 
这本书不只是一个探讨伟大史诗的书，同时也是一个旅游历史书。史诗里这些故事拿出来看其实跟现今许多社会现象一样，时间似乎没有让人们成长或从历史学习。透过这些史诗，我們可以看到当时人民对于荣誉、迁移、边界、亲情、性爱、社会阶级以及政治的态度。这些史诗是关于人性的经典故事，同时也是让我們透视历史以及其他文化的窗口。这些充满火与血，关于神与帝王、龙与水怪、骑士与公主的故事是创造今天的欧洲的故事。
 
关于作者：
Nicholas Jubber 毕业于牛津大学后搬到耶路撒冷，之后开始旅游中东以及东非洲。他写过三本书：The Timbuktu School for Nomads、The Prester Quest （本书获得 Dolman奖）以及Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah’s Beard（本书提名Dolman 奖）。他常为《卫报》、Observer、The Globe以及Daily Mail贡献文章。
 
 
 
 
Contents
 
Timeline
Prologue                                                                                    
Part One: The War that Launched a Thousand Ships    
Part Two: Elegies for an Everlasting Wound                                    
Part Three: A Song for Europe                                                           
Part Four: The Taste of Gӧtterdammerung                              
Part Five: How to Kill a Monster                                                      
Part Six: A Wasteland of Equals                                                       
Epilogue                                                                                     
 

 
   Timeline[1]
 
Historical                                            Literary
1188BC:  Troy is sacked by the Greeks and Odysseus sails back towards Ithaca.
1178BC:                       Odysseus returns to Ithaca.
8^th century BC:   The Odyssey is composed.
 
437AD:   The Burgundian Kingdom is sacked and King Gunther is killed (see Nibelungenlied).
451AD:   Burgundian troops fight against Attila the Hun.
516AD:   Hygelac, chief of the Geats (and Beowulf’s overlord), falls in a raid against the Frisians.
778AD: Roland dies in the ambush at Roncesvalles.
990AD:  Gunnar of Hlidarendi is killed by his enemies in Iceland.
                                                1000AD:  The manuscript of Beowulf is written down.
1010AD:  Njal the lawyer’s farmhouse is burned in Iceland. 
                                                Mid-11^th century:  The Song of Roland is composed.
Late 12^th/early 13^th century:  The Nibelungenlied is composed.
                                                1280AD:  Njal’s Saga is composed.
1389AD:  The Battle of Kosovo and death of Prince Lazar of the Serbs.
                                                15^th century:  The first songs of the Kosovo Cycle are composed.
1488AD:  Publication of first Western edition of the Odyssey.
 
1755:  The Nibelungenlied is rediscovered.
1772:  First printed edition of Njal’s Saga.
1787:  Beowulf is rediscovered.
1814-15:  Publication of Serbian Folk Songs, edited by Vuk Karadžić, containing songs of the Kosovo Cycle.
1835:  The Song of Roland is rediscovered.