Bridging Wor(l)ds: the “Grand Theme” of Greece and Japan’s Modernity

Abstract This paper explores the impact and reception of ancient Greek culture in Japan, with particular emphasis on the translation and interpretation of Greek classics by Japanese scholars in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Central to this study are Aoki Iwao and Kubo Masaaki, who translated Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War from ancient Greek into Japanese during and after the Pacific War.