The historicist school held its sway until the Armenian philologist Grigor Grigoryan first in an article (1981), then in a book (1989) argued following an incisive analysis of the epic, "it is indisputable that the roots of the epic go back deep into the centuries, and they reach not only the cuneiform times when monarchy was underway in Armenia, but even the prehistoric era."

This recital of the legendary deeds of four generations of strongmen in a warrior community in the Armenian Highlands is in the tradition of heroic folktales that dramatise the story of a whole nation and voice its deepest sentiments and aspirations, but unlike such well-known epics as the Iliad and the Odyssey (Homeric Greek), Epic of Gilgamesh (Akkadian epic based on Sumerian tales), Beowulf (Old English), The Song of Roland (Old French), Cantar de mio Cid (Old Spanish) and others, it has survived solely by word of mouth, transmitted from one generation to another by village bards.

[2][3] Sasna is a genitive form of Sasun, a region located in Western Armenia in the rugged mountain country southwest of Lake Van in what is currently Batman Province, eastern Turkey.

[citation needed] The written literature of Armenia goes back to the fifth century,[4] its Golden Age, when the Bible was translated into Classical Armenian directly from Koine Greek and Syriac language manuscripts.

[4] Plato and Aristotle were studied in Armenian schools and many original works of great interest to the modern specialist were produced by native historians, philosophers and poets.

[6] Songs celebrating memorable events have retained their hold in the popular imagination and it could be said that Armenians are a nation whose cultural identity has been formed from both the written and oral traditions, though little has survived of the latter due to its perishable nature and fluctuation of Armenia's historical borders.

[citation needed] The story of Sasun was "discovered" in 1873 by a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Garegin Srvandztiants, who had exceptionally close contacts with the peasantry in the more remote inaccessible parts of Western Armenia.

I learned that his master had two pupils who also knew the tale by heart, singing verses in it, although Gurbo himself had not recited it for so long that he had forgotten a good deal of it.

Nevertheless, I kept him with me for three days, I begged him, cajoled him, honored him, rewarded him, and when he felt better and was in the proper mood, he recited the tale for me in his own village dialect, and I wrote it all down in his own words.

[6]The tale told by Gurbo was published in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1874 under the title David of Sasun or Meherr's Sword.

The entire story is a record of courage, of domestic virtue, of piety, and of simple, open-hearted relations with his beloved woman as well as with his enemies.

The publication of this tale would be of interest to the understanding reader, but I suppose there will also be those who will express their contempt for it and abuse both the story and my own person.

In 1902, the prominent Armenian poet and writer Hovhannes Tumanyan penned a poem telling the story of the David of Sassoun in a more modern language.

In 1939 a collated text weaving most of the important episodes together was published for popular reading under the title "David of Sasun".

[citation needed] In 1964 Leon Zaven Surmelian, an Armenian-American poet, survivor, and memoirist of the Armenian genocide, chose a narrative from within all recorded versions, translated the epic into English, and published it under the name Daredevils of Sassoun.

Surmelian denounced, among many other things, the fact that, due to both State Atheism and Censorship in the Soviet Union, "The religious element is played down.

"[11] Divisions of the book per Surmelian: The water makes Sanasar a real giant that even his brother does not recognize him.

Tempted by the power of that water, Sanasar and Baghdasar find the beginning of the streamflow, building a fortress on the latter's huge rocks.

Thus, from a mythological point of view, this is the story of the founding of the city of Sasun “Sason” (Batman Province former Muş district in Turkey).

Sanasar dies and Sassoun is invaded by Misra Melik, the warlike Lord of Egypt, who begins to exact annual tributes.

Mher killed a lion, that had invaded Sasun, blocking the road leading to the wells and almost starving people, with his bare hands.

For a long time, Little Mher wandered in the Sasna Mountains with his faithful friend, the fiery Kurkik Jalali.

In 2010, an animated film was produced called Sasna Tsrer, directed by Arman Manaryan, covering the first three cycles of Daredevils of Sassoun.