Description:
[Epic of Manas].The first publication of the Kyrgyz epic of Manas. Published in Kirgizian language by Cyrillic-based alphabet.
Manas is probably the world's longest poem. The whole text was recorded about five hundred years ago, it's traditionally believed that the songs appeared about a thousand years ago. Manas is singing without an accompaniment of any musical instrument. For a long time it existed entirely in the oral form, the Kirgiz had no written language.
Firstly one of songs was written in 1856 by Shoqan Walikhanov, Kazakh ethnographer and participant of The Great Game. He called Manas as "The Iliad of the Steppe". Firstly this song was published in his Russian translation only in 1904.
This publication was prepared by Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff, the German scientist and orientalist. While he was studying Uralic and Altaic languages, he learned Russian, went to work in Siberia and took Russian citizenship. The results of his numerous expeditions were published in his multi-volume edition of… Read More
