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Papers by Adam Foley
The figure of Homer in Raphael's “Parnassus” is singular for the combination of blindness, divine... more The figure of Homer in Raphael's “Parnassus” is singular for the combination of blindness, divine inspiration, improvisational song, and an amanuensis to immortalize the performance. This article examines humanist biographies of Homer to identify the pre-text of Raphael's Homer and to determine if it reflects the political influence of Julius II. Though no one source can be asked to bear such responsibility, the article gestures to the doctrine of divine madness in Laurentian Florence, in which vatic authority derives from Apollo. Raphael may have therefore conceived of Homer as Apollo's priest to give visual endorsement to Julius's Apollinian ideology.
Investigating the Translation Process in Humanistic Latin Translations of Greek Texts. Proceedings of an International Conference, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini 28-19 April, 2017. Edited by Ioannis Deligiannis [Mediterranean Chronicle]. , 2017
Around 1453-1454 the humanist poet Basinio da Parma composed a metrical letter declining Pope Nic... more Around 1453-1454 the humanist poet Basinio da Parma composed a metrical letter declining Pope Nicholas V's request to translate Homer into Latin hexameters. Among his reasons for refusing this lucrative offer was Basinio's belief that he lacked both the ability and the desire (neque vis neque tanta cupido) to translate Homer. Taking this letter as a sincere admission of inadequacy on the part of the poet, scholars have interpreted this letter as another indication that humanists of the Italian Renaissance failed in their project to translate Homer because they were either ill-equipped or lacked sufficient interest. This article puts forth a corrective to this scholarly consensus -- the "failure thesis" -- by proposing that Basinio's letter should be read not as a sincere admission of inadequacy but as a recusatio, the generic constraints of which forced the poet to devalue the poetic enterprise he was declining. Further evidence, in fact, suggests that Basinio held Homeric poetry in such high esteem that, instead of translating Homer, he wanted to compose his own poetry in a Homeric style.
This essay considers the 15th-century context for Lorenzo Valla's Latin translation of Herodotus ... more This essay considers the 15th-century context for Lorenzo Valla's Latin translation of Herodotus and in doing so reassesses Momigliano's explanation for Herodotus' ambiguous reception in the Renaissance. Deep critical engagement with the subject matter of the Histories is difficult to find in the 15th century. Prior to Valla's translation, "criticism" of Herodotus was largely confined to reproducing pronouncements made by Latin writers such as Cicero and Quintilian. This essay sheds light on the background of Valla's translation, situating it within its broader context of Valla's language-based cultural reform and Pope Nicholas V's initiatives to reform the church and restore the infrastructure of the city to its original Romanitas. It was within this broader context that Herodotus was initially appropriated and understood. Only subsequently, in the 16th century, would Herodotus be separated from Valla's cultural product and treated as a historian in his own right
Thesis Chapters by Adam Foley
The period known as the Italian Renaissance witnessed a rebirth of Greek learning and, along with... more The period known as the Italian Renaissance witnessed a rebirth of Greek learning and, along with it, a renewed impetus to translate the two epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, attributed to Homer in antiquity. During the course of one century (1362-1460s) there were more than a dozen attempts to translate Homer from Greek into Latin. These Latin versions were the first to be printed in the fifteenth century and in turn offered a template for the first vernacular translations well into the seventeenth century. In addition to translation practice, humanists also began to develop increasingly more sophisticated ways of thinking about the task of the translator and thus did much to advance the field of translation theory. Despite this decisive contribution to the history of Homer's reception and interpretation, critical commentary on the period as a whole has been largely negative. The argument of this dissertation is that much of the scholarship on Homer's reception in the Renaissance is still beholden to aesthetic assumptions inherited from the period in question. Chief among them is the assumption that translation can only take place between two texts (source and target) and that one of the most important features of a good translation is its fidelity to the source text, whether that be in word or sense. Additionally, scholars often expect a translation to stand alone as a piece of literature in its own right. Many humanists of the day and scholars thereafter held Homeric translations up to these standards and judged them a "failure." By applying a historical-contextualist methodology, I put pressure on the "failure thesis" by arguing that there was never any consensus about the standards to which translators ought to hold themselves; these standards changed over time; and in many cases they were simply impossible to fulfill. These translations can be divided into three phases: Literal ("The Feather") (1362-1440s), Oratorical ("The Wing") (1438-1460s), and Verse translation ("The Flight") (1440s-1500).
Book Reviews by Adam Foley
Joseph Farrell's new book, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (Princeton and Oxford: Pri... more Joseph Farrell's new book, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2021), is a landmark in Virgilian criticism. Farrell brings to life the epic choice that Aeneas must make by putting it on our shoulders as we confront perhaps the most ancient interpretive challenge of the Aeneid from a fresh perspective.
Conference Presentations by Adam Foley
The figure of Homer in Raphael's “Parnassus” is singular for the combination of blindness, divine... more The figure of Homer in Raphael's “Parnassus” is singular for the combination of blindness, divine inspiration, improvisational song, and an amanuensis to immortalize the performance. This article examines humanist biographies of Homer to identify the pre-text of Raphael's Homer and to determine if it reflects the political influence of Julius II. Though no one source can be asked to bear such responsibility, the article gestures to the doctrine of divine madness in Laurentian Florence, in which vatic authority derives from Apollo. Raphael may have therefore conceived of Homer as Apollo's priest to give visual endorsement to Julius's Apollinian ideology.
Investigating the Translation Process in Humanistic Latin Translations of Greek Texts. Proceedings of an International Conference, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini 28-19 April, 2017. Edited by Ioannis Deligiannis [Mediterranean Chronicle]. , 2017
Around 1453-1454 the humanist poet Basinio da Parma composed a metrical letter declining Pope Nic... more Around 1453-1454 the humanist poet Basinio da Parma composed a metrical letter declining Pope Nicholas V's request to translate Homer into Latin hexameters. Among his reasons for refusing this lucrative offer was Basinio's belief that he lacked both the ability and the desire (neque vis neque tanta cupido) to translate Homer. Taking this letter as a sincere admission of inadequacy on the part of the poet, scholars have interpreted this letter as another indication that humanists of the Italian Renaissance failed in their project to translate Homer because they were either ill-equipped or lacked sufficient interest. This article puts forth a corrective to this scholarly consensus -- the "failure thesis" -- by proposing that Basinio's letter should be read not as a sincere admission of inadequacy but as a recusatio, the generic constraints of which forced the poet to devalue the poetic enterprise he was declining. Further evidence, in fact, suggests that Basinio held Homeric poetry in such high esteem that, instead of translating Homer, he wanted to compose his own poetry in a Homeric style.
This essay considers the 15th-century context for Lorenzo Valla's Latin translation of Herodotus ... more This essay considers the 15th-century context for Lorenzo Valla's Latin translation of Herodotus and in doing so reassesses Momigliano's explanation for Herodotus' ambiguous reception in the Renaissance. Deep critical engagement with the subject matter of the Histories is difficult to find in the 15th century. Prior to Valla's translation, "criticism" of Herodotus was largely confined to reproducing pronouncements made by Latin writers such as Cicero and Quintilian. This essay sheds light on the background of Valla's translation, situating it within its broader context of Valla's language-based cultural reform and Pope Nicholas V's initiatives to reform the church and restore the infrastructure of the city to its original Romanitas. It was within this broader context that Herodotus was initially appropriated and understood. Only subsequently, in the 16th century, would Herodotus be separated from Valla's cultural product and treated as a historian in his own right
The period known as the Italian Renaissance witnessed a rebirth of Greek learning and, along with... more The period known as the Italian Renaissance witnessed a rebirth of Greek learning and, along with it, a renewed impetus to translate the two epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, attributed to Homer in antiquity. During the course of one century (1362-1460s) there were more than a dozen attempts to translate Homer from Greek into Latin. These Latin versions were the first to be printed in the fifteenth century and in turn offered a template for the first vernacular translations well into the seventeenth century. In addition to translation practice, humanists also began to develop increasingly more sophisticated ways of thinking about the task of the translator and thus did much to advance the field of translation theory. Despite this decisive contribution to the history of Homer's reception and interpretation, critical commentary on the period as a whole has been largely negative. The argument of this dissertation is that much of the scholarship on Homer's reception in the Renaissance is still beholden to aesthetic assumptions inherited from the period in question. Chief among them is the assumption that translation can only take place between two texts (source and target) and that one of the most important features of a good translation is its fidelity to the source text, whether that be in word or sense. Additionally, scholars often expect a translation to stand alone as a piece of literature in its own right. Many humanists of the day and scholars thereafter held Homeric translations up to these standards and judged them a "failure." By applying a historical-contextualist methodology, I put pressure on the "failure thesis" by arguing that there was never any consensus about the standards to which translators ought to hold themselves; these standards changed over time; and in many cases they were simply impossible to fulfill. These translations can be divided into three phases: Literal ("The Feather") (1362-1440s), Oratorical ("The Wing") (1438-1460s), and Verse translation ("The Flight") (1440s-1500).
Joseph Farrell's new book, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (Princeton and Oxford: Pri... more Joseph Farrell's new book, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2021), is a landmark in Virgilian criticism. Farrell brings to life the epic choice that Aeneas must make by putting it on our shoulders as we confront perhaps the most ancient interpretive challenge of the Aeneid from a fresh perspective.