The aim of the present paper is to offer a generic historical overview of the nascence of translation studies as an institutionalized and a full fledged discipline. The study underscores the rudimentary approaches and concepts to translation that have come to the fore at various points in time of the western culture, starting from the work of Roman commentators (Cicero and Horace more specifically) through the second half of the twentieth century when translation studies presented itself as a new discipline. It is, without argument, James Holmes’ famous and widely cited paper, in which he delineated the scope and structure of the field of translation studies, that served as a valid reference for translation scholars to formulate translation theories, gave rise to empirical research and envisaged the future of the discipline. Establishing itself as a standalone field of scholarly study, Translation studies has been observed to gradually expand and interface with different disciplines bringing a new perspective to translation theory.