''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 languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

historical texts:

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

's '' Bellum Jugurthinum'' and '' Coniuratio Catilinae'' and

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

's ''

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'' (, neuter plural), is a Latin literature, Roman Epic poetry, epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the Caesar's civil war, civil war between Ju ...

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

Jugurthine War The Jugurthine War (; 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 son of Micipsa, ki ...

(112 BCE) to the death of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

(14 CE). This combination of sources is unique in medieval literature. Along with ''Breta sögu''r, '' Veraldar saga'' and '' Trójumanna saga'', 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 Works about ancient Rome {{saga-stub

Further reading

References