The translation of ancient literature became the focus of a lively discussion in Germany around 1800. After Herder and Voss the question once more arose of just how faithfully the ancient world could and should be presented in the German language. Schleiermacher and Humboldt decided to emphasise the cultural strangeness and linguistic individuality of the texts, while subsequently various means of assimilation were developed. This volume describes the history of this theoretical discussion up to the present day.

The theory of the translation of ancient literature has to date mostly been discussed in connection with the work of translation itself, or in the context of broader questions, for example the philosophy of language. Research was generally restricted to the few texts of prominent authors such as Schleiermacher, Humboldt, Wilamowitz and Schadewaldt. This volume goes further in presenting numerous lesser-known documents, so succeeding in contextualising the canonical texts, rendering the continuity of the debate more comprehensible, and providing a sound foundation for the history of theory.

Translation presents a multi-layered process which transforms both the language and culture of the translator and the perception of the language and culture of what is translated. The discussion about the extent to which the individual form and culturally alien content of literary texts allows them to be translated took on a new quality in Germany around 1800 - particularly in connection with ancient literature; many of the questions raised at that time still influence the discourse of translation theory today. The volume presents a collection of papers examining translation as exemplars of hermeneutic problems, of mediation, of the search for equivalent form and of creative processes.