[in this article abbreviated to
SPI; translated into English as:
The Tale of Igor's Campaign;
The Song of Igor's Campaign;
The Lay of Igor's Campaign;
The Lay of the Host of Igor;
Lay Of The Warfare Waged By Igor, Son Of Svyatoslav, Grandson Of Oleg;
The Tale Of the Armament of Igor] is an anonymous epic poem of about 3,000 words in length that describes the unsuccessful campaign of 1185 undertaken for ambitious reasons by Prince Igor of Novgorod-Seversky (Novgorod Siversky – nowadays is a small town in the Chernihiv region in Ukraine) against the Polovtsy (or Polovtsians; also known as Cumans or Kipchaks). The
SPIis not only the most famous work of medieval Eastern Slavonic literature, but after nearly two hundred years of study it also remains among the most…
2366 words
Citation: Rogatchevskaia, Ekaterina. "Slovo o polku Igoreve". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24338, accessed 02 December 2024.]