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(Χαρίτων; Charítōn). [German version] A. Life We have no direct information about the author of the earliest complete surviving novel, beyond that given by him at the beginning of the book; there he presents himself as secretary to the orator Athenagoras, originating from Aphrodisias in Caria. It has been conjectured that all these details, including the name Chariton, were invented in order to establish a symbolic link to the theme of love and to the setting (on the Syracusan Athenagoras cf. Thuc. 6…

[German version] Conventional title for a Greek prose work, known to us from a number of papyrus fragments (POxy. 1826, end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century AD; POxy. 2466 and 3319, 3rd century AD). The main character was Sesonchosis (Sesostris); the legend ascribed to him acts of pharaohs of various dynasties. The narrative exhibits analogies to the Ninus Romance, but the style of the fragments places it close to the New Testament and Apocryphal acts of the Apostles (New Testament Apocrypha). Novel Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) Bibliography S. A. Stephens, J. J. Winkler (ed.)…

[German version] The epistolary novel is a literary sub-genre, almost exclusively familiar in numerous modern examples dating from the 18th and 19th cents. (Richardson, Rousseau, Laclos, Goethe etc.), yet was already known in classical antiquity. However, ancient examples of this genre have only been critically studied in terms of their authenticity and sources, but never evaluated in terms of literary aspects. At least this was true prior to the publication of the latest works in this field. The …

[German version] A portion of the MS tradition for the work generally known today as the 'Alexander Romance' erroneously names Callisthenes [1], court historian of Alexander [4] the Great, as author. Numerous versions of the 'Alexander Romance' - a 'biography' of Alexander the Great in which historical and fantastic information are mixed - of a variety of dates have been handed down. The dating of the oldest version is uncertain; the only terminus ante quem is the Latin translation by Iulius [IV 23] Valerius ( cos. AD 338). Less disputed is the location of its composition, prob…

[German version] Term for a group of writings traditionally attributed to Clement of Rome (Clemens [1]) (1st cent. AD): the Homilíai ('Homilies'; transmitted in the original Greek version) and the Recognitiones ('Scenes of recognition'; preserved only in the Latin translation by Rufinus [II 6] of Aquileia and in a Syrian translation); both works were probably written in Syria during the 4th cent. AD. Appended to them (in Greek) were Peter's letter to John, the record of John's reply and Clement's letter to John, which is prefixed to the beginning of the Homilíai in the MSS we know today. T…

[German version] (Εὐήμερος; Euḗmeros) of Messene (it is unknown to which Messene this refers; some testimonials attest to other cities of birth). Of his work, the Ἱερὰ ἀναγραφή ( Sacra historia), the résumé in the ‘Historical Library’ of  Diodorus [18] Siculus (5,41-46 and 6,1) and various testimonies and fragments have been passed down to us. E. pretended to have gone on a number of trips on behalf of King Cassander (305-297 BC). He told particularly of his visit to an archipelago: on the biggest island, Panchaea, he saw a …

[German version] (Ἰαμβοῦλος; Iamboûlos). In his library of world history (2,55-60),  Diodorus [18] Siculus mentions a merchant I., who, while on a voyage in Arabia, was carried off to a blissful island by Ethiopians, who thereby practised a purification ritual that was more than 20 generations old. The description of the island (which might be Sri Lanka) contains all the characteristics of an ancient utopia: an ideal climate, unusual fertility and a communist social structure. There are paradoxical…

[German version] (Βαρλάαμ, Ἰωάσαφ; Barláam, Iōásaph). Greek novel from Byzantine times; there is uncertainty regarding date and author, (see below). The story of I., an Indian prince, is told; his father, king Abenner, an enemy of Christianity, was worried because of prophecies that his son would take on the new religion and ordered him to live, locked away in a magnificent palace, without learning about human suffering. Despite surveillance, the monk B. succeeds in approaching I. and initiating him …

[German version] (Χιόνη; Chiónē). A Greek novel, usually thus named after the putative female protagonist; three fragments survive, known to us only from Wilcken's summary transcription of a Coptic palimpsest, the so-called Codex Thebanus, which was subsequently lost. The meagre fragments are difficult to interpret, but seem to show Chione as protagonist, courted by many suitors and then forced into marriage against her will; with her lover, she considers how she can end her life. Clear similarities to the  Chariton novel (also contained in the Cod. Thebanus) lead to the supposit…

[German version] Name given to a Greek novel of which only two fragments are extant; one has yet to be published [3]; in the other (PSI 981, 2nd cent. AD) the female protagonist, C., enters the tent of an Eubiotos; her grief appears to have been caused by news of the fate of an Erasinus. C. thus reaches for her sword but, with prudent foresight, Eubiotos had already taken it away when he stood next to her. The name Eubiotos and the reference to the Sauromatae suggest a link with Lucian's ‘Toxaris [4]. Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) Galli, Lucia (Florence) Bibliography First edition: 1 M. Norsa, PSI…

[German version] By convention, the title ‘Parthenope romance’ or ‘Romance of Metiochus and Parthenope’ is given to a Greek prose narrative known from a number of papyrus fragments (PBerol. 21179 + 7927 + 9588, palaeographically dated to the 2nd cent. AD; further evidence may be provided by PBodl. 2175 and POxy. 435). The love story of Metiochus and Parthenope and Parthenope's wanderings (also the inspiration for a pantomimus, see Lucian, De saltatione 2; 54) can be reconstructed with the aid of some later adaptations (the Coptic story of the martyrdom of St. Barta…

[German version] The name of a work well known because of a papyrus fragment (PDubl. inv. C3; early 2nd cent. AD), which almost [3] all scholars acknowledge to be a novel. A narrator portrays how he and a woman, after a painful separation, board two different ships. Then follows the detailed, rhetorically virtuoso description of a storm (a typical theme for a novel). The text breaks off with the appearance of St Elmo's fire. The name of the woman is usually read as Herpyllis but it has been surmis…

[German version] (Χίων; Chíōn). From Heraclea; pupil of Plato; in 353/352 BC he killed Clearchus, tyrant of Heraclea. A collection of 17 letters in his name has come down to us; they reflect C.'s life from the time he moves to Athens to visit Plato's school to the moment when, having received news of Clearchus' seizure of power, he returns to Heraclea to carry out the assassination. Although the authenticity of these letters has found defenders [1], they are in all probability spurious; they were p…

[German version] (HART) Latin  novel by an unknown author that tells of the journeys of Apollonius, King of Tyrus, up to the point when he is reunited with his wife, whom he had believed dead, and with his daughter Tarsia, and is reinstalled. The HART contains many Christian elements that are imbedded into a clearly pagan context without being completely integrated. The reconstruction of the work's creation, its dating, and the textual structure are all contested. The oldest sources on the HART go back to the 6th cent. AD (Ven. Fort. carm. 6,8,5f.: AD 566-568; De dubiis nominibus, late 6th …

[German version] (Μιλησιακά; Milēsiaká). Title of a work by one Aristides [2] with the epithet ‘of Miletus’ (his actual origin is unknown). The text is not extant; all we know for certain is that it had an obscene character. The ancient references are difficult to interpret and do not allow precise categorization: it may have been a novel [1] or, as is more widely accepted, a collection of novellas, possibly integrated into a framework structure. Modern literary studies favour the latter hypothesis, which was forcefully argued by E. Rohde [3; 4]. This is linked to a wider use of the term Milēsi…

[German version] [1] Author of 'Daphnis and Chloe' (Λόγγος; Lóngos). We have no information about the person who wrote the most famous Greek novel, ‘Daphnis and Chloe’: the name L. in the MSS is typically Roman and frequently attested on Lesbos, the island where the action of the novel takes place, but Roman names were very common among Greeks in the Imperial period. Also as far as the dating of the work is concerned, we only have few indications which leave room for doubt. The refinement of the tale con…

[German version] The discovery of the first fragments of the so-called ‘ Ninus Romance’ (NR) and their publication in 1893 by U. Wilcken mark a turning-point in the study of ancient narrative literature. The NR was the first of a large number of other Greek novels recovered from Egyptian papyri. Its early dating (not later than the 1st cent. AD) led to the rejection of  E. Rohde's thesis, widely accepted at that time, that the flowering of the Greek novel was connected with the Second Sophistic (2nd cent. AD) [1]. As well as fragments A and B of the PBerolinensis 6926 (ed. Wilcken), …

(Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος; Achilleùs Tátios). [German version] [1] Of Alexandria of Alexandria, 2nd cent. AD Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) [German version] A. Life As well as the novel ‘Leucippe and Cleitophon’ (in eight books), he wrote a treatise on the sphere of heaven, a treatise on etymology and a polygraphic work. According to the Suda lexicon (α 4695 Adler) he is said to have converted to Christianity -- a fiction like that circulating about  Heliodorus. It notes that on the whole his style is similar to that of other authors of romantic novels [1. 1710]. Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) …

[German version] The name given to a work known only through a single papyrus fragment (POxy. 3010, beginning of the 2nd cent. AD). In it someone journeys to a certain Iolaus and delivers a speech in sotadic verses, claiming that he became a Gallus, i.e. a castrated adherent of Cybele [1. 57], and is omniscient. The papyrus breaks off with an Euripidean quotation (Eur. Or. 1155-7) about the value of friendship. The fragment's significance lies in its use of the  prosimetrum (the distinction betwee…

[German version] I. Definition The term ‘novels’ and ‘romance’ are not ancient, but the latter dates from the Middle Ages, when it denoted a work written in the Romance vernacular. There was no specific term for the genre in Antiquity ( drâma was common in Greek [1], fabula, in Latin, Apul. Met. 1.1, or argumentum, Macrob. Sat. In Somn. 1,2,8). Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) II. Greek [German version] A. Overview and development of the genre In Greek literature, ‘novel’ denotes a series of texts of fiction, in prose, linked through two basic thematic features (love and a…