Fiction is rich with various forms of presentation of that material which the writer bears to the readers. It is possible to carry to them also the epos – the genre kind of literature existing since homeric "Odyssey".
The epos in translation from Greek means "word". It is a fiction sort (along with the drama and lyrics), the narration of which the image of events external in relation to the author is characteristic. If to consider the epos in narrower sense of the word, then it is possible to characterize this concept as the national epos, a specific national and poetic kind of narrative works of verses and prose. The epos in the form of oral creativity is inseparable with performing art of the singer of which skill following to traditions is the cornerstone. In the epos all phenomena of reality are displayed in their subject and sensual shape and vital completeness, in their development and the movement. The nature of epic figurativeness, subject and composite creation, style of statement is defined by it. The epos on the structure is divided into several versions. The archaic epos – the narration about events of an extreme antiquity. Legends and mythical legends belong to this type. The historical and heroic epos – classical type which sample is "Illiad". Unlike archaic, the historical and heroic epos is historically concrete and in an idealized monumental form narrates about heroic behavior of the person. ""Illiad"" and ""Odyssey"" – two epic poems, the known literary monuments to Ancient Greece and the arising Europe, are a classical example of this sort of literature. Their authorship is attributed to the blind poet Homer – the ancestor of all poets, the elect of gods and the pupil Muz - goddesses of art and poetry. ""To Homer we did not know anybody's epic poem of this sort, - the famous Greek thinker Aristotle wrote, - though, there were many poets"". Last century studying the epos as cultural language heritage many scientists among whom there was A.F. Gilferding, V.M. Zhirmunsky, V.Ya. Propp, Milmann Parry, etc. were engaged. Modern scientists-researchers also address a research of a phenomenon of the homeric epos (V. Dneprov, L. Timofeev, etc.), and writers contemporaries of the different countries create works in this narrative genre.