Translation, Humanism and Politics in Early Modern Germany. Xenophon's Hiero translated by Adam Werner von Themar

The translations of ancient Greek and Latin texts into Early Modern German elaborated by humanists at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries fit into the overall context of their cultural activities which aimed at the so-called translatio studiorum (‘transfer of learnig’) to Germany and were often sponsored by a sovereign. Through that patronage, as well as through the functionalisation of literary writing, translation at that time gained a political dimension, which is often concretely expressed in its dedication to a ruler. This contribution discusses the dialogue Hieron, written by the Greek philosopher Xenophon in the fourth century B.C. and translated in 1502 by the Heidelberg humanist Adam Werner von Themar for Philip the Upright, Count Palatine of the Rhine. A comparison of the translation and its source text (which was not the Greek original, but a Latin translation by the Florentine humanist Leonardo Bruni) reveals target-culture-oriented strategies with the adaptation of the text by actualisation of realia and by a pragmatic use of the political lexis regarding the concept of tyranny. The translation served the humanist’s self-portrayal as a scholar, offering at the same time the recipient identification possibilities and thus clues for his political behaviour.