''Rómverja saga'' (The Saga of the Romans) in an Old Norse-Icelandic translation of three

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 ...

historical texts:

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisan o ...

's ''Bellum Iugurthinum'' and '' Coniuratio Catilinae'' and

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

's ''

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'', is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Gre ...

''. It gives an account of Roman history from the

Jugurthine War The Jugurthine War ( la, Bellum Iugurthinum; 112–106 BC) was an armed conflict between the Roman Republic and king Jugurtha of Numidia, a kingdom on the north African coast approximating to modern Algeria. Jugurtha was the nephew and adopted ...

(112 BCE) to the death of

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

(14 CE). This combination of sources is unique in medieval literature. Along with ''Breta sögu''r, ''

Veraldar saga ''Veraldar saga'' (The Saga of the World) is an Old Norse, Old Norse-Icelandic work of Historiography#Middle Ages to Renaissance, universal history written in its earliest form some time in the twelfth century. It was first called ''Veraldar saga'' ...

'' and ''

Trójumanna saga Trójumanna saga (''The Saga of the Men of Troy'') is a saga in Old Norse which tells the story of the matter of Troy. It is the Old Icelandic translation of the ''Daretis Phrygii De Excidio Troiae Historia'' (''Dares Phrygius’ History of the De ...

'', it represent the earliest phase of translation of secular works into Old Norse-Icelandic. ''Rómverja saga'' exists in two versions: an older and longer, but poorly preserved version in AM 595a-b 4to; and a younger, abridged version in AM 226 fol, copied in AM 225 fol. There are close parallels between sections of ''Veraldar saga'' and ''Rómverja saga''. Hofmann proposed that ''Veraldar saga'' takes its Roman history from ''Rómverja saga''. Þorbjörg Helgadóttir instead considers that the two sagas both used the same Latin sources:

and

References

Old Norse literature Sagas {{saga-stub

Further reading

References