The Poem of the Cid

One of the greatest works of Spanish literature, this eight-hundred-year-old epic details the legendary exploits of the soldier-adventurer Ruy Díaz of Bivar, El Cid, and of his part in the long struggle between Christianity and Islam. The epic poem recounts the adventures of the Cid; of his peerless steed, Babieca, and of his two famous swords, Colada and Tizón; of his wife, Doña Ximena, and his two daughters, Doña Elvira and Doña Sol, who found sanctuary with Abbot Don Sancho in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña during the Cid's exile; and of the despicable and black-hearted princes of Carrión, Diego and Fernando González. It is a powerful epic that sings of universal human values and failures, of loyalty and betrayal.