The 1st decades of the 18th century were marked by an unbearable terror imposed on the Ukrainian people by Peter 1. With the enthroning of Catherine II Ukrainian nation was completely enslaved. The official Russian language eventually took the upper hand. As a result, even the great philosopher Skovoroda had to perform his essentially free translations more in Russian than in bookish Ukrainian. His best known translations were an ode of the Flemish poet Hosiy, excerpts from Cicero’s book On Old Age. Another translator in KMA – Kondratovych who translated Ovid’s elegies, 12 speeches of Cicero, Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey and some works by Greek and Roman authors.
The very first translations are supposed to have been made when the Kievan Rus’ Prince Oleg signed a treaty with Byzantium in two languages (Greek and Ukrainian). According to the Nestor the Chronicler the Great Prince Yaroslav the Wise gathered together many translators in the St Sophia Cathedral to translate books from Greek into Slavonic language. In the 10th-11th century only the materials necessary for the church services were translated, but soon the Bible began to appear in different cities of Kyivan Rus’. Among the fully preserved Bibles of those timed today are the Reims Bible, the Ostomyr’ Bible, the Mstyslaw’s Bible, Halych Bible.
The period of 11-13th centuries are known for the translation of ecclesiastic and secular works generally in Old Slavonic and Old Ukrainian. The Tatar and Mongol invasion in 1240, the downfall of Ukraine Rus’ considerably slowed the progress of translation in Ukraine-rus’. The attention of Ukrainian translators during the 14-15th centuries turned to numerous apocrypha, aesthetic, philosophic works of Byzantine authors Sirin, Palama. Several historical works were translated, such as The Trojan History. From the literary works which were translated were A Story of the Indian Kingdom, the Passions of Christ. New translation of ecclesiastic works included The Four Bibles, The Psalm-Book, the Apostle.
