The ''Ilias Latina'' is a short
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...
version of the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'' of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
that gained popularity in Antiquity and remained popular through the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. It was very widely studied and read in
Medieval schools as part of the standard Latin educational
curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
. According to
Ernest Robert Curtius, it is a "crude
condensation", into 1070 lines. It is attributed to
Publius Baebius Italicus, said to be a
Roman Senator
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
, and to the decade 60 CE – 70 CE.
Book review by Eleanor Dickey
/ref> It includes at least two acrostic elements: the first lines spell out ITALICUS, while the last lines spell SCRIPSIT, taken together translating "Italicus wrote (it)."
See also
* Classical studies
References
Further reading
* Marco Scaffai, ''Baebii Italici Ilias Latina'', Bologna, 1982.
* George A. Kennedy, ''The Latin Iliad. Introduction, Text, Translation, and Notes'', 1998.
* Steven R. Perkins, ''Achilles In Rome: The Latin Iliad of Baebius Italicus'', Introduction, Latin text, English translation, 2006.
* Maria Jennifer Falcone, Christoph Schubert, (eds.) ''Ilas Latina: Text, Interpretation, and Reception'', Leiden, Brill, 2022.
External links
Online Latin text with adjustable interlinear vocabularyTranslation of this work to Portuguese
{{Authority control
1st-century poems
Iliad
Latin poems
Translations into Latin