Izbor iz starogrčke lirike

The anthology you have before you is called, simply, "Grčka lirika", and it contains Skiljan's translations that were published in previous anthologies: "Izgrčke lirike" (Zagreb, 1975) and "Izbor iz grčke lirike" (Zagreb, 1981), which he published with the publisher Ranko Horvat-Horetzkpm (and with whose permission the translations from these two editions were taken, so with these words thank you), and in the anthology »Ljubavne igre«, published in the Libellus series of the LATINA ET GRAECA library in 1985. To this corpus were added translations printed, individually or collectively, in many volumes of the magazine LA TINA ET GRAECA (from number 5 to number 38), as well as one poem that was ready for printing in number 39 of the magazine, but remained unprinted due to a change in the conception of that issue. The anthology itself is divided into two parts, because Škiljan's translations of Hellenic off-poetry were necessarily printed with his comments, and therefore form a separate whole that would be difficult to include in the basic corpus of translations. Of all of Skiljan's translations, only the translation of Parmenides' poem On Nature, which was printed in the collection H. Diels, Pre-Socratics, did not find its place in a separate book, because it would not be understandable outside the context of that collection. With this anthology, therefore, Škiljan's opus of translations of Greek lyric poetry reaches its final form and demonstrates the breadth of his interests, the range of his abilities, and the exceptional quality of translation. All translations are, of course, composed in the rhythm of the original, because Dubravko Škiljan consistently advocated that, if at all possible, this layer of poetic art be preserved. His translations have thus become a kind of poetic art in themselves. How much Škiljan's translation is inspired and how much it communicates with the audience is up to you, dear readers, to judge.