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Translation in Knowledge, Knowledge in Translation
Edited by Rocío G. Sumillera, Jan Surman and Katharina Kühn
[Benjamins Translation Library 154] 2020
► pp. 103–122

Chapter 5
Paratexts in sixteenth-century editions and translations of Maciej z Miechowa’s Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis

| Dresden University of Technology,
In 1517 the Cracovian scholar Maciej z Miechowa published Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis, the first work in Renaissance geography which offered detailed information about Sarmatia, the region between the Vistula and the Caspian Sea. Published in several Latin editions, the treatise initiated the humanists’ scientific exchange of geographical knowledge about Eastern Europe. Moreover, translations in German, Polish, Dutch and Italian appeared, also addressing a non-scholarly readership. Although the literature on Maciej z Miechowa notes that the Tractatus has been broadly disseminated, its translations have been understudied. This is the purpose of the present chapter, which also highlights how the various translations of the Tractatus have led to significant modifications regarding the source text and its paratexts.
Keywords: Maciej z Miechowa, Sarmatia, Renaissance geography, paratexts, translation in Eastern Europe
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation studies and paratexts
  • 3.Recharting the peripheries
  • 4.Editions of Miechowa’s treatise
  • 5.Highlighting geographical and ethnographic knowledge
    • 5.1Geographical knowledge
    • 5.2Ethnographical knowledge
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.154.05met
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