Author • Turkish literature
Azra Erhat
Azra Erhat was born in Istanbul in 1915. After graduating from Ankara University, Faculty of Languages and History-Geography, she became a research assistant in the Department of Classical Philology. She also worked as a journalist for some time. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she translated the works of ancient Greek philosophers into Turkish. Many of her translations were published in periodicals. Erhat, who together with The Fisherman of Halikarnassus (Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı) and Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, coined the literary term “Blue Cruise” is one of the precursors of the humanist philosophy in Turkey. Erhat established herself as an important intellectual with her translations from ancient Greek as well as her book İşte İnsan – Ecce Homo (1969). Erhat died in 1982.