The Tale of Igor's Campaign

The “Song of the Cid” (Spanish), the Georgian “Knight in the Tiger’s Skin,” the Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh” … This list can go on forever. Every country in the world can boast its masterpiece of literary creativity—a true monument of culture that forms a unique artistic biography of our world. And among this list, a place of honor is also held by “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The author of this outstanding work of Old Russian poetry is unknown, but the way he tells, with bitterness and regret, about Prince Igor Svyatoslavich’s failed campaign against the Cumans—and then calls on the Russian princes to unite to defend the Russian land—leads to one conclusion: he was a real patriot, who loved his homeland without reservation.