Friedrich Klopstock wrote his epic the Messias intending it to surpass John Milton's Paradise Lost in sublimity, gravity, and genius. While the discussion of the stylistic similarities and differences between these works has been exhausted, there is still much work that needs to be done in reading these texts together. The first part of my project focuses on the Messias and how its conception of the hero is translated from Milton's epics. The second part analyzes how, after Klopstock translates the hero across national borders and vernacular languages, his heroic concept is transferred to the reader through virtual means such as language, intertextuality, and Mitleid. By confronting such topics, my project aims to inform our understanding of the transmission and translation of literature and its criticism across countries, languages, and time periods.