Alpamys and Odysseus: Why Does the Kazakh Epic Resemble the Ancient Greek Odyssey?

The stories of Alpamys and Odysseus emerged in entirely different cultural worlds. The Odyssey is one of the oldest works of the Greek epic tradition, while the epic of Alpamys existed for centuries in different versions among Turkic peoples, including the Kazakhs. The story of Alpamys itself belongs to the broader Turkic epic tradition.

Nevertheless, when the two works are compared, their shared motifs are difficult to overlook.

The Hero Returns Home – but Is No Longer Expected There

One of the central motifs in both stories is the hero’s return after a long absence.

Following the Trojan War, Odysseus wanders for many years before finally reaching Ithaca. During his absence, suitors gather in his home, competing for Penelope’s hand and laying claim to royal power.

In the Kazakh version of the epic, Alpamys also finds himself far away from his homeland and family. While he is gone, Ultan seizes power and the position of the hero’s family changes dramatically. When Alpamys returns, he does not immediately reveal his identity. He must first see what has happened to his home and understand who now holds power.

At this point, one of the most famous motifs in world epic literature appears: the hero returns in disguise.

Odysseus enters his home in the guise of an old beggar. Alpamys also conceals his identity, appearing as a poor shepherd.

This is more than a device used to create suspense. By becoming someone whom nobody recognises, the hero gains an opportunity to see the true nature of those around him: who has remained loyal, who has betrayed him, and who is prepared to take advantage of his absence.

The Death of Caesar

A painting created by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme between 1858 and 1867. Gérôme achieved a remarkable level of mastery in the Academic style and became a favourite of the French aristocracy.

How Do You Prove Who You Really Are?

After returning home, both heroes must undergo a test.

One of the key episodes in the Odyssey is the contest involving the bow of Odysseus. Penelope’s suitors are required to string the bow and complete a feat that had previously been possible only for Odysseus himself. None of them is able to do so. When Odysseus takes up the weapon, he completes the challenge with ease and reveals his true identity.

In Alpamys, the moment of recognition is also connected with the hero’s physical strength, military skill and accuracy. In the epic tradition of the steppe, the warrior-hero is inseparable from his horse, weapons, strength and mastery of combat.

The two heroes, however, are not identical.

Odysseus is a hero of cunning, calculation and endurance. Alpamys is a warrior whose defining qualities are strength, honour, loyalty and martial skill.

The same type of story therefore takes on a different character in each culture.

The Guest Who Might Be a God

Another, less obvious parallel concerns attitudes towards travellers and guests.

Ancient Greek culture had the concept of xenia – the sacred law of hospitality. A stranger was to be welcomed, fed and given shelter. This practice was based on more than human kindness: a traveller might be under the protection of the gods or might even be a divine guest in disguise.

Hospitality was also one of the foundations of traditional Kazakh life. This idea is reflected in the well-known saying:

“Қырықтың бірі – Қыдыр” – “One among forty may be Kydyr.”

The expression suggests that one of the travellers arriving at one’s home could be a holy or blessed person. A guest was therefore received with respect, invited to share the dastarkhan, offered food and given a place to spend the night.

This reveals an intriguing parallel: in both traditions, an unknown traveller is not simply a stranger, but someone who should be treated with particular respect.

The work was created by artist Yevgeny Sidorkin between 1959 and 1962. The Batyr’s Family was inspired by the Kazakh epic Alpamys Batyr.

Where Did the Shared Story Come From?

This is where the question becomes especially interesting.

The presence of similar motifs does not mean that one epic was created from the other. Such stories may have emerged independently. Separation, the return home, loss of power, a spouse’s loyalty and the restoration of justice are universal themes found in the epics of many peoples.

Researchers have noted, however, that Alpamys and the Odyssey share not just one motif, but an entire set of narrative elements.

Literary scholar Viktor Zhirmunsky conducted a special study of the parallels between Turkic heroic epic and the ancient Greek epic tradition. In his work on Alpamysh and the Odyssey, he examined their narrative similarities within the broader context of the Eastern epic tradition.

This gave rise to a hypothesis that some motifs may descend from a much older shared epic heritage and may have travelled between cultures through population movements, trade routes and cultural contacts.

Nevertheless, it remains impossible to prove that the two epics originated from a single identifiable source.

What Do the Cimmerians Have to Do with It?

There is another historical puzzle.

In the ancient tradition, the Cimmerians are known as an early people associated with the northern Black Sea region and the Eurasian steppes. The Cimmerians are indeed mentioned in the Odyssey. Homer, however, does not describe them as a historical steppe people in the modern sense, but as a mythical people living near the entrance to the realm of the dead.

It would therefore be too bold to connect the Cimmerians directly with the origins of the Kazakh epic.

A more interesting point is that the Odyssey and the epic traditions of the Great Steppe existed within the same vast Eurasian space, across which people, languages, images and stories moved for thousands of years.

Could stories have travelled with them?

Researchers do not rule out this possibility, but it is practically impossible to establish the exact path by which each individual motif was transmitted.

The Sirens and Ulysses

A large-scale oil-on-canvas painting by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts a scene from Homer’s Odyssey in which Ulysses resists the Sirens’ enchanting song by ordering his crew to bind him, while they are instructed to block their ears so that they cannot hear the song.

Why Are the Stories So Similar?

Perhaps the answer lies not in the question of “who borrowed from whom,” but in the way epics are created.

The hero leaves home.

The hero undergoes trials.

The hero loses his position.

The hero returns.

Nobody recognises him.

He proves who he is.

In the end, he restores justice.

This pattern is understandable to people from different cultures and historical periods.

Every culture, however, gives it its own meaning.

In the Odyssey, we find the sea, Ithaca, the Greek gods, the cunning of Odysseus and his long journey home.

In Alpamys, we find the steppe, the horse, the warrior’s strength, ancestral honour, loyalty to family and a vision of a just social order.

One story – two different worlds.

Coincidence or a Shared Origin?

There is no definitive answer.

Similar stories may have emerged independently because human ideas about home, family, loyalty and justice are universal.

It is also possible that ancient narrative connections existed and were passed between peoples long before the emergence of written sources.

Alternatively, these epics may be seen not as direct copies of one another, but as evidence of how closely the cultures of Eurasia interacted in ancient times.

This may be why the comparison between Alpamys and Odysseus is interesting not only to philologists and historians.

It encourages us to see epic literature in a new way – as part of humanity’s collective memory, in which stories may have travelled far beyond the routes that we are able to trace today.

Perhaps the most important question is not who told this story first, but why, thousands of years later, people continue to recognise themselves in heroes returning home.