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S4: Translating the Classics –
Homer through time
Tipo Seminar Estado Not Started Fecha
Grafton, Most & Settis, The Classical Tradition, ‘Translationʼ
McCarter, ‘Rape, lost in translationʼ OR Wood, ‘What Emily Wilsonʼs Iliad missesʼ
Seminar 4 instructions: translating the classics Read the lemma ‘Translationʼ in Grafton et al., The Classical Tradition carefully. What are important changes in the practice of translating the classics over time? How do translations differ according to The different audiences they are aimed at? The degree of reverence/irreverence for the original? The degree of ‘foreignizationʼ (or its opposite ‘domesticationʼ ? Enclosed below are two passages from Latin literature and published translations thereof. Assignment: read the translations and note the differences. Can you relate some of the differences between the translations to tendencies in translating the classics as sketched in The Classical Tradition? The Latin is added for those who can read it and want to have a look, but the exercise can be done without. Read McCarter, ‘Rape, ‘Lost in translationʼ ORWood, ‘What Emily Wilsonʼs Iliadmissesʼ
McCarter: https://electricliterature.com/rape-lost-in-translation/)
8 de mayo de 2026
Wood: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/emily-wilson- iliad-translation-homer/675444/ What ideological concerns are addressed by McCarter and Wood regarding the choices made by translators? Horatius
O nata mecum consule Manlio,seu tu querelas sive geris iocosseu rixam et insanos amoresseu facilem, pia testa, somnum,quocumque lectum nomine Massicumservas, moveri digna bono die,descende, Corvino iubentepromere languidiora vina. Horatius, Ode 3.21
Your time is up, my faithful aged Margaux, contemporary, my twin– just think of it, you were vintaged The year of Supermacʼs shameless spin, That “youʼve never had it so good” guff– Oh come, descend: old friend Jim has called for smoother stuff. Heaven knows what havoc or ferment– What vehement argument Or crazy love obsession Or merciful slumping Into snores you have in store. Harry Eyres 2013 O born with me in Manliusʼ consulship, whether you bring with you reproaches or fun or quarrels and passionate love or ready sleep, o kindly jar, under whatever epithet you preserve the choice Massic, you deserve to be called forth on an auspicious day; so come down, for Corvinus urges me to bring out an especially mellow wine. Niall Rudd 2004
should do the same, so that you may have equal command of both languages. Walter Miller, 1913
CBA seminar 4 Translations through time Group assignment: Study the translations of Iliad 175 192. Each group will be assigned a century. Compare the two translations belonging to your century. The Greek text is added as a point of reference, als well as a (neutral?) text- book translation. The most important observations can be made without knowing Greek. Consider the following aspects: Reverence-irreverence towards the original Domesticating/foreignizing tendencies regarding language, style, form, rendering of personal names, cultural references, … Poetic form and ambitions Audience (who might it be aimed at) Can you connect it to the tendencies observed in The Classical Tradition? Homer Iliad 1.175 192
Τὸν δ᾿ ἠμείβετ᾿ ἔπειτα ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων·“φεῦγε μάλ᾿, εἴ τοι θυμὸς ἐπέσσυται, οὐδέ σ᾿ ἐγώ γελίσσομαι εἵνεκ᾿ ἐμεῖο μένειν· πάρ᾿ ἐμοί γε καὶ ἄλλοιοἵ κέ με τιμήσουσι, μάλιστα δὲ μητίετα Ζεύς. 175 ἔχθιστος δέ μοί ἐσσι διοτρεφέων βασιλήων·αἰεὶ γάρ τοι ἔρις τε φίλη πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε. εἰ μάλα καρτερός ἐσσι, θεός που σοὶ τό γ᾿ ἔδωκεν.οἴκαδ᾿ ἰὼν σὺν νηυσί τε σῇς καὶ σοῖς ἑτάροισιΜυρμιδόνεσσιν ἄνασσε, σέθεν δ᾿ ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀλεγίζω 180 οὐδ᾿
Then answered him Agamemnon, the lord of men: “Flee then, if your heart is set on it; I am not begging you to stay for my sake. With me are others that will do me honor, and above all Zeus, the lord of counsel. Most hateful to me are you of the kings, nurtured by Zeus, for always is strife dear to you, and wars and battles. If you are most powerful, a god, I think, gave you this. Go home with your ships and your men, and lord it over your Myrmidons; for you I care not, nor am I concerned about
ὄθομαι κοτέοντος. ἀπειλήσω δέ τοι ὧδε·ὡς ἔμ᾿ ἀφαιρεῖται Χρυσηίδα Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων,τὴν μὲν ἐγὼ σὺν νηί τ᾿ ἐμῇ καὶ ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιπέμψω, ἐγὼ δέ κ᾿ ἄγω Βρισηίδα καλλιπάρῃον αὐτὸς ἰὼν κλισίηνδε, τὸ σὸν γέρας, ὄφρ᾿ ἐὺ εἰδῇς 185 ὅσσον φέρτερός εἰμι σέθεν, στυγέῃ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοςἶσον ἐμοὶ φάσθαι καὶ ὁμοιωθήμεναι ἄντην.”
your anger. And this will be my threat to you: since Phoebus Apollo takes from me the daughter of Chryses, her with a ship of mine and men of mine I will send back, but I will myself come to your hut and take the fair-cheeked Briseïs, that prize of yours, so that you may well know how much mightier I am than you, and another too may shrink from declaring himself my equal and likening himself to me to my face. Loeb Classical Library, transl. Murray 1924
Alexander Pope 1715
By the author of the Songs of Ossian. Translated into prose with features of the novel: note the difference in the way the speech is introduced; note the absence of epithets. Much shorter, focus on the narrative feature, but complete loss of the poetic elements. Also love for Briseis
James Macpherson, 1773
Translated into dactylic hexameters (imitating the original metrical form of the Homeric epics). Romantic idea of the authenticity of the original creation of new poetical forms in English (and Dutch, German) to imitate the ancient forms. Result: poetic forms of translation were more and more different from the poetic forms used in contemporary poetry. Translation practice alienated from literary developments in the target language. Translations felt more and more archaic and artificial.
J. H. Dart 1865
Search for a new compromise fit both for students and for readers in search for an enjoyable text. Poetic form is not so strict 6 beats per line but no fixed rhythm), feels more modern (not deliberately archaic) and easy to read. At the same time effort to be as faithful as possible to the Greek 1 line in Greek = 1 line in the translation). Still considered to be one of the best translations currently available. Hear Agamemnon, Lord of lords, Autarch of Argos, Whose eminent domain includes all southern Greece: "Many will say Good riddance to bad rubbish. I shall not. I am your King. God called. God raised. God recognized. Nestor, Odysseus, Ajax, Cretan Idomeneo, Diomed, Thoal of Macedon, Jica of Thessaly, Stand at my name. Look at them, boy. They are not muck. They have been here nine years.
Lattimore 1951
When you were what - a bubble on a dam? Likewise the thousands in whose sight we stand. They honour me. And I am popular. God made you fast. Some say the fastest. And some say More beautiful than any other man. Indubitably He made you strong and brave. So tell me this: who made you sour? For you are sour, boy Achilles, sour. Go home. Go now. The time has come for you to see More of your family. And I am confident that he will find - And we shall hear that he has found - More honour in the cuckoo woods of Pythia Than he has won at Troy." Then to them all: "Here is the news. Before world-class Achilles sails, As God has taken Cryzia from me I shall take his best she, Briseis, from him. More. Her confiscation shows, once and for all, My absolute superiority, Not just to you, retiring boy, but anyone Stupid enough to challenge me In word or deed." Christopher Logue 1991 Experimental translation (or rather adaptation). Return to the idea of the belles infidèles. Connects to modernistic poetic form (free verse), takes
Zeus,ever since the day that those two quarreled – inkosi Agamemnon and godlike Akhilleus. Which god made them clash in strife? The sonof Zeus and Leto. Angry with the chief,he drove plague on the impis – people died because Atreusʼ son dishonoured the priest,Khryses. He came to the Akhaian shipsto free his daughter, offering rich ransom,holding in his hands Apolloʼs ribbonsaround a golden staff, and begged the Akhaians,above all Atreusʼ two sons, their leaders:‘Sons of Atreus, all well- greaved Akhaians,may the Olympian gods grant that you sackthe town of Priam and come safely home.Take this ransom and release my daughter; respect Apollo the Archer, Zeusʼs son.ʼ The other Akhaians shouted their assent:he should respect the priest and take the splendid ransom.This failed to please the heart of Agamemnon;he harshly dismissed Khryses, saying roughly:‘Kehla, donʼt let me find you hangingaround the ships, now or in the future – the godʼs staff and ribbons wonʼt protect you. Postcolonial idea. Translation in South African English idiom with use of Zulu and Xhosa words for specific terms such as “chief”, “healer” or “priest”. Argues that these African languages have words that are closer to the original Greek terms. Implicitly connects African and Ancient Greek culture. 8 de mayo de 2026
