Is Song of Roland an epic?

[navoda]

Why is Song of Roland considered an epic? Many refer to it as an epic but I was wondering why that would be. It does have a heroic character but can we pinpoint what characteristics make it an epic. Can we compare it to epics like the Epic of Gilgamesh?

[Eiseabhal]

Well it's long. It was a cultural artefact long before it was written down. It's violently dramatic. It presents a cultural ideal. It presents types who are to be admired by the readers as they sacrifice themselves for others or illustrate the principles on which the Frankish state thought itself founded. There is a clear enemy who is faced down. The vice of treason is exposed and punished. Knightly virtues are upheld. And so on and so forth...

[Pompey Bum]

Right, it presents a self-contained worldview. That's what makes anything an epic.