>All these epics...have something in common: they were all written after the collapse, or apparent collapse, of the civilization they represent. A people doesn’t think to write an epic in its heyday. Rather, an epic – a true epic – comes only after a people has gone through some convulsive change, some transformation or defeat or desolation so total that they no longer know who they are, and they have to write an epic in order to recognize themselves again.

Dunno if this is true or not but it's certainly thought-provoking!