Translating Virgil
A Cultural History of the Western Tradition from the Eleventh Century to the Present

The first synthesis and analysis of the translation history of Roman poet Virgil's works into European languages.

Susanna Morton Braund (Author)

9781108470612, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 June 2025

1022 pages
23.5 x 16 x 6.5 cm, 1.54 kg

Virgil remains one of the most important poets in the history of literature. This emerges in the rich translation history of his poems. Hardly a European language exists into which at least one of his poems has not been translated, from Basque to Ukrainian and Dutch to Turkish. Susanna Braund's book is the first synthesis and analysis of this history. It asks when, where, why, by whom, for whom and how Virgil's poems were translated into a range of languages. Chronologically it spans the eleventh- and twelfth-century adaptations of the Aeneid down to present-day translation activity, in which women are better represented than in earlier eras. The book makes a major contribution to western intellectual history. It challenges classicists and other literary scholars to reassess the features of Virgil's poems to which the translators respond and offers a treasure-trove of insights to translation theorists and classicists alike.

Introduction: First attempts and first principles
1. Translation, nationalism and transnationalism
2. The translator's identity
3. The economics of translating Virgil
4. Competition, retranslation and travesty
5. Poetic careers of Virgil translators
6. Partial translations of Virgil
7. Supplements and paratextual material
8. Fidelity of form: Metre matters
9. Fidelity of concepts and register
10. Equivalences and identifications.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]