Latin Poetry from the Medieval Mezzogiorno and the “Translation” of Greek and Arabic Language and Culture

Within the multicultural context of medieval Sicily and southern Italy, Latin was one of the several languages —alongside Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and Italian—employed in the domain of textual production. Moreover, due to the prolific activity of translators such as Henry Aristippus, Eugenius of Palermo, Michael Scot, and Bartholomew of Messina, in 12th- and 13th-century Sicily, Greek and Arabic scientific and philosophical works were made available to a Latin audience. This paper explores to what extent and how multilingualism, cross-cultural contacts, and interactions between Latin, Greek, and Arabic languages and cultures in particular are witnessed and described within Latin poems certainly or presumably written in the Italian Mezzogiorno between the late 11th and the 13th centuries, such as William of Apulia’s Gesta Roberti Wiscardi, Peter of Eboli’s De rebus Siculis carmen, the rhythmus attributed to Terrisius of Atina, and verse excerpts from the so-called Fitalia manuscript (Palermo, Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria, MS I B 25). Topics and aspects under consideration will include: references to Greek and Arabic language and culture in medieval Latin poetry from southern Italy; possible points of contact and common sources among the various literary traditions of the medieval Kingdom of Sicily; and potential connections between the writings of Latin poets and the work of translators of Greek and Arabic texts who were active in this context. Overall, the paper will attempt to determine in which ways Latin poetry emphasizes the multilingual and multicultural character of the medieval Mezzogiorno, and to what degree poets themselves engage in “translating” Greek and Arabic terms, learning, and practices into a different linguistic and cultural system.