A
pan-national epic is a lengthy work of
poetry or
prose that is widely taken to be representative of the pan-national character of a large cultural grouping that exceeds the bounds of a single
nation-state or even a specific language or
language group. Pan-national epics can be subdivided into supranational epics, which are epics held dear to several national groups speaking more than one language, and language epics, which are more narrowly restricted to nations sharing the same language. A nation can have its own distinct
national epic in addition to a supranational and/or a language epic. Examples of pan-national epics follow:
Supranational Epics