Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
Born lame to a hunchbacked second wife, the son of a Mande king spends his childhood on the ground while the court laughs and a rival queen works against him. Driven into exile with his mother, he grows into a soldier and turns back toward a Mali now held by a sorcerer-king. Kept in the mouths of griots for eight centuries; the text most English readers meet is Djibril Tamsir Niane's 1960 recension from the griot Mamoudou Kouyaté, whose title this entry carries.
Open Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.
Lineage
- prefigures ↓ The Lion King
- ↓ The Guardian of the Word
Attributes
Genre
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Plot structure
Hero's Journey (Campbell)
Emotional arc (story shape)
Quest object (Greimas)
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Culture / tradition
Closest analogues
- 67% · 19 shared
- 55% · 16 shared
- 55% · 16 shared
- 49% · 15 shared
- 45% · 14 shared
- 44% · 11 shared