Abstract
Heroic hexameter poetry after the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (8th-6th c. BCE) has a long history of translation into major European languages, starting with Latin in the 1st c. BCE, and increasing after the introduction of printed books in the 15th c. CE. Works by Apollonius of Rhodes, Quintus of Smyrna, Nonnus, Musaeus, and (pseudo) Homer are traced through their transformations over the centuries.
Turning the massive and influential Iliad and Odyssey into comprehensible, effective verse is a perennial task. More thorny is…