The defeat of the Ottomans by the Holy League fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) was among the most celebrated international events of the sixteenth century. This volume anthologizes the work of twenty-two poets from diverse social and geographical backgrounds who composed Latin poetry, often modeled on Vergil and other Roman poets, in response to the news of the battle, the largest Mediterranean naval encounter since antiquity. Among the poems included is the two-book Austrias Carmen by the remarkable Juan Latino, a black African former slave who became a professor of Latin in Granada. The poems, including two previously unpublished, are here translated into English for the first time, along with fresh editions of the Latin texts.
Author Biography
Elizabeth R. Wright is Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Georgia. Sarah Spence is Distinguished Research Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, Emerita, at the University of Georgia. Andrew Lemons is Associate Instructor in the University Writing Program at the University of Utah.
