L'Istoria dell'antica Grecia di William Robertson: alcune riflessioni su un'errata attribuzione

This paper aims to reflect about the identity of the History of Ancient Greece's author, in order to clarify a misunderstanding that today still exists among scholars. During the Nineteenth-Century this History, written by the Scottish Keeper of Record William Robertson, was translated into Italian, with a good success, and it was attributed to the famous historian William Robertson, one of the most important exponents of the Scottish Enlightenment. Through the reconstruction of some significant moments in the process of reception and adaptation of the text, I will describe the genesis of the incorrect attribution, focusing the attention on the role that translators and printers had to create, consciously or not, the conditions for the consolidation of misunderstanding.