Based on the first paragraph, what is the relationship between epics and the earliest history of the societies that produced the epic?

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Literary History: The Epic and the Epic Hero, by McGraw-Hill Education.

People are living in fear as an evil force threatens to destroy the land. Then a hero appears. Brave, strong, and good, the hero defeats the evil force and saves the land and its people. You know this story well. It is one of the most widely told stories in literature, as well as one of the oldest. In times past, the deeds of the hero were told in the form of an epic—a long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a heroic figure from legend, religion, or history. Ancient epic poets and their audiences viewed their epics as records of their peoples’ early histories.

Based on the first paragraph, what is the relationship between epics and the earliest history of the societies that produced the epic?

Epic poetry serves as an early historical record of the societies that produced it.

Explanation:

The paragraph explains that epic poetry formally narrates stories of heroic figures from legends, religious ideas, and even history. Furthermore, in a succeeding paragraph the use of epics a resource for historians and anthropologists to better understand the culture of societies under study.