The heroic epic “David of Sassun” has long become a phenomenon not only of Armenian culture, but of world culture as well. It began to be composed as early as the 10th century, during the Armenian people’s struggle for freedom and independence against the Baghdad caliph. For centuries, this magical tale was passed from mouth to mouth—based on real events, supported by historical facts, and filled with sincere feelings of goodness, loyalty, nobility, and love for the homeland.
Its stories are about not only the mountain Sassun, but the entire Armenian land. The well-known Armenian folklorist Garegin Srvandzyants devoted more than three years to searching for this cultural monument and its tellers. In Russian, “David of Sassun” was retold by the famous writer and poet, a laureate of the Marshak literary prize, Sergey Makhotin, and actor Aleksei Bagdasarov gave it a unique character.
“David of Sassun” continues the audio series of national epic tales, in which already have been released: the Sumerian epic “Gilgamesh, Son of Lugalbanda,” the Scandinavian epic “The Poetic Edda” (Elder Edda), the ancient Greek epic “The Odyssey,” the German epic “The Song of the Nibelungs,” the Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala,” and the Russian epics “Bogatyrship.”