We study universality properties of the Epstein zeta function En(L,s) for lattices L of large dimension n and suitable regions of complex numbers s . Our main result is that, as n→∞ , En(L,s) is universal in the right half of the critical strip as L varies over all n -dimensional lattices L . The proof uses an approximation result for Dirichlet polynomials together with a recent result on the distribution of lengths of lattice vectors in a random lattice of large dimension and a strong uniform estimate for the error term in the generalized circle problem. Using the same basic approach we also prove that, as n→∞ , En(L1,s)−En(L2,s) is universal in the full half-plane to the right of the critical line as (L1,L2) varies over all pairs of n -dimensional lattices. Finally, we prove a more classical universality result for En(L,s) in the s -variable valid for almost all lattices L of dimension n . As part of the proof we obtain a strong bound of En(L,s) on the critical line that is subconvex for n≥5 and almost all n -dimensional lattices L.