ABSTRACT
There is an erroneous opinion among some present scholars that translation theories are a modern invention, or at the most going back no further than John Dryden (1631–1700). Apparently, conflicts between so-called literal translations, free translations, and paraphrastic translations go back to Roman times. I am indebted for much of the following brief historical overview to Douglas Robinson (1997) (henceforward cited as WTT) who cited extracts from some 90 authors over more than 2,000 years who were at times engaged in translation, or had strong opinions on how a translation should be done. I am also indebted to Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997) (henceforward cited as DTS) for a comprehensive guide to numerous translation theories.
