Dèi e prodigi nelle traduzioni cinquecentesche del primo libro dell’“Iliade”

Abstract

This essay offers a comparative analysis of the five partial Italian translations of the Iliad printed in the sixteenth century (Gussano, La Badessa, Groto, Nevizzano, Leo da Piperno), focusing on three passages of Book I concerning the representation of the divine: Achilles’ recognition of Athena (l. 199), the epithets of Apollo, Athena and Hera, and the similes of Apollo 'like night' and Thetis 'like mist'. Read alongside the Latin versions by Valla and Divus, the comparison reveals shared tendencies and individual choices (amplification, omission, explanatory commentary, Petrarchist lyrical filters) and sets out a research protocol for studying these translations as a unified corpus.