sea epics and journeys of early Polynesian sailors, many en-
twined with legends of the gods and deities, oft en refl ecting
s ome de g re e of v iolenc e a nd c r ue lt y. Th e strong oral traditions
in Polynesia were noted during the 19th century by many of
the early European anthropologists, who were able to com-
pare the oral literary traditions of various islands and detail
the common themes, some of which appear to date back to
the original settlement of the Pacifi c islands by the Polynesian
seafarers. Th ere is also some linguistic evidence of seafarers
from mainland Asia having arrived in some of the Pacifi c is-
lands by 2500 b.c.e. If scholars are correct about this date,
then some early Chinese literary traditions also survive in the
Pacifi c. If one rejects the concept of Mu, the “submerged sea
kingdom” of the Pacifi c, as most scholars do, the similarity in
concepts around the Pacifi c islands can be explained only by
regular contact between the various islands.
AUSTRALIA
Although there was no written literature of the Aboriginal
peoples of Australia, they have maintained a very strong oral
tradition, with stories that seek to explain the creation of the
world, the formation of land and sea, and the origins of rivers
and other land features. From the oldest continuous civiliza-
tion in the world, in the areas where it still fl ourishes, Ab-
original oral tradition has been shown to refl ect stories going
back thousands of years. Some early drawings illustrate many
of these stories, known as the “Dreamtime,” and anthropolo-
gists have worked hard to record these epics. Diff erences in
the stories refl ect the many Aboriginal tribes that exist in
Australia and provide a far more philosophical outlook than
many of the other stories of the Asia and Pacifi c region dur-
ing ancient times.
EUROPE
BY RUSSELL M. LAWSON
Th e literature of ancient Europe includes some of the fi nest
examples of oral and written expression in epic verse and po-
etry by the illiterate and literate peoples of the British Isles
and western, central, and eastern Europe. Like the early po-
etry that the Greeks created, the Germans, Gauls, Celts, Sax-
ons, and Norse of ancient Europe (before 500 c.e.) composed
stories and poems about great heroes, past events, the divine
and supernatural, nature, and human feelings. Whereas the
Greeks aft er 700 b.c.e. put into written words their oral com-
positions—for example, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Hes-
iod’s Th eogony and Works and Days—northern Europeans of
antiquity maintained their exclusive reliance on the spoken
word.
Illiterate bards made their living traveling, composing,
and reciting great epics and poems. Verse allowed for ease of
recollection. Th e basic structure of the story was tailored spe-
cifi cally to the circumstances of each telling. Bards relied on
memory as well as the creative impulse present at each per-
formance. Repetitions in poems and stories were techniques
that helped bards get their poetic bearings and helped the au-
dience not to lose track of the story. Eventually, a literate bard
recorded in writing the poem or story in its fi nal rendering.
Indeed, much of the ancient literature of Europe is known
only through medieval (aft er 500 c.e.) versions.GERMANS AND GAULS
Since ancient northern European cultures were oral and il-
literate, evidence of their eloquence and verse comes from
external sources, especially those of the Romans and Greeks,
who had much contact with the Gauls, Germans, and Celts.
Th e Roman Cato approved of the eloquence of the Gauls, as
did the fi rst century b.c.e. Greek writer Diodorus Siculus.
Th e Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, who wrote De orig-
ine et situ Germanorum, commonly known as Germania,
in Latin in the early second century c.e., described the oral
culture of the ancient German tribes. Th e Germans, accord-
ing to Tacitus, sang of the deeds and travels of heroes of the
past and of the gods of the woodlands and streams. “In the
traditional songs which form their only record of the past,”
he wrote in Germania, “the Germans celebrate an earth-
born god called Tuisto. His son Mannus is supposed to be
the fountain-head of their race and himself to have begotten
three sons who gave their names to three groups of tribes—
the Ingaevones, nearest the sea; the Herminones, in the inte-
rior; and the Istaevones, who comprise all the rest.” Tacitus
also recorded that the Germans lauded Hercules and sang
songs in his honor.
Th at the Germans and Gauls worshipped Hercules,
whom the ancient world pictured as a human of supernatural
strength, as the god of eloquence, reveals that they considered
eloquence to be as important as physical strength. Th e Gauls
were specialists in the panegyric, a formal writing of praise
for a person that was oft en used in the Roman Empire in the
third and fourth centuries c.e. Indeed, Gauls were frequently
hired as tutors to Roman students seeking to learn eloquence.
Th e Roman orator Symmachus of the fourth century c.e. was
trained in the art of rhetoric by a Gallic orator.
Th e northern European bards, like their counterparts in
the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, were possessed of
a singular, mystical gift , blessed by the gods, it was believed,
above all others with the ability to perceive and sing the truth.
Lords and kings retained bards at their great halls during
feasts, to entertain the dinner guests with songs of old. One
lord, named Lovernius, a Celt who lived in the fi rst century
b.c.e., loved his feasts and entertainments. “When at length
he fi xed a day for the ending of the feast,” wrote the Greek
observer Posidonius (ca. 135–ca. 51 b.c.e.), “a Celtic poet who
arrived too late met Lovernius and composed a song magni-
fying his greatness and lamenting his own late arrival. Lover-
nius was very pleased and asked for a bag of gold and threw it
to the poet who ran besides his chariot. Th e poet picked it up
and sang another song.” A century later the Roman satirist
Juvenal (ca. 55 or 60–ca. 127 c.e.) joked that “eloquent Gaul
has taught the Britons to plead a case.”literature: Europe 653