Thomas Underdown, also spelled Underdowne (fl. 1566 - 1577), was a translator. He translated the Æthiopian History of Heliodorus in 1569, and the Ibis of Ovid (1577).
The Æthiopian History has been called "the ancestor in a direct line of the Novel of Adventure," and praised for anticipating every artifice of the historical novel.[1]
Underdown was an advocate for literature as a moral instrument, saying that the Æthiopian History was superior as an action story because people are punished for their misdeeds.[2] By contrast, chivalric romance permitted pointless murder and "unlawful lust."[3]
The first (1569) edition of Underdown's translation was dedicated to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. The book went on to exercise a widespread influence on Elizabethan drama and prose romance. In 1587, the year of the 2nd or 3rd edition, anti-theatrical propagandist Stephen Gosson remarked that Underdown's book had "beene thoroughly ransackt, to furnish the Playehouses in London."[4] Among the early works markedly influenced by the translation is Robert Greene's Pandosto (1588), a major source for Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, and Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1581–86). So strong was the influence of Underdown's translation on Sidney that 16th century commentator Marechel referred to Sidney as the "Heliodore d'Angleterre."[5] According to Moses Hadas, in the introduction to his translation of the Aethiopica, "in construction and a hundred details Sidney patiently follows Heliodorus, and the Arcadia was the principle model for Sidney's successors."[6]
Although the book's influence on Shakespeare is more diffuse, elements of Underdown's translation can be traced in a number of plays, prominent among them Cymbeline.[citation needed]
^Whibdley, cited in Jonni Lea Dunn, The Literary Patronage of Edward de Vere, The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, Masters Thesis, University of Texas at Arlington, 1999
^Steve Mentz, Romance for Sale in Early Modern England: The Rise of Prose Fiction (Ashgate, 2006), p. 40 online.
^Helen Moore, "Romance," in A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture (Blackwell, 2003), p. 317 online.
ThomasUnderdown, also spelled Underdowne (fl. 1566 - 1577), was a translator. He translated the Æthiopian History of Heliodorus in 1569, and the Ibis...
Underdown is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: David Edward Underdown (David Underdown) (1925–2009), English historian Charles Edward...
Charles Edward Underdown (3 December 1908 – 15 December 1989) was an English theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London and educated...
Jacques Amyot in 1547. It was first translated into English in 1569 by ThomasUnderdown, who used the 1551 Latin translation of Stanisław Warszewicki to create...
1915: William Bridgland Steer 1916: Charles Williamson Crook 1917: ThomasUnderdown 1918: Essie Conway 1919: W. P. Folland 1920: J. F. Wood 1921: G. H...
David Edward Underdown (19 August 1925 – 26 September 2009) was a historian of 17th-century English politics and culture and Professor Emeritus at Yale...
430. Peend does not have a separate entry, but is included in one on ThomasUnderdown. Charles Trice Martin, ed. Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple...
Susan Lawrence Trade union offices Preceded by William Bridgland Steer President of the National Union of Teachers 1916–1917 Succeeded by ThomasUnderdown...
Emily Underdown (1863–1947) was an English writer, novelist and poet. She is best known for popularising Dante (1265–1321) and for her children's books...
(1933), among others. In addition, he edited and partially rewrote ThomasUnderdown's Elizabethan translation of Heliodorus's Aethiopica. "71464435". viaf...
Murder Scandal (1615–1616) earlystuartlibels.net. Accessed 29 August 2022. Underdown, David. "Review of Bellany, Alastair, The Politics of Court Scandal: News...
foreknowledge to hot read in an interview on the television show Dateline. James Underdown of the Independent Investigative Group (IIG) attended a Crossing Over...
final triumph | UEFA Women's EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 20 November 2023. Underdown 2000, p. 6. Fay, Stephen (21 June 1998). "Cricket: Flaw Lord's out of...
501–16. online Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (annual): various editions Wynne-Thomas, Peter (1997)....
Altham, John Arlott, Derek Birley, Arthur Haygarth, David Underdown, Roy Webber and Peter Wynne-Thomas. Their consensus view is that the only thing that can...
exemplifies "the recrudescence of old customs in modern shapes". David Underdown, writing in his 1987 work Revel, Riot, and Rebellion, viewed Gunpowder...
Reconsideration." Journal of British Studies 13.2 (1974): 114–134. in JSTOR Underdown, David. "New ways and old in early Stuart history," in Richard Schlatter...
knows far more about the subject than an ordinary stranger could. James Underdown from Center for Inquiry and Independent Investigations Group said, "In...
Global Information