Chariton of
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from the ...
( grc-gre, Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς) was the author of an
ancient Greek novel Five ancient Greek novels survive complete from antiquity: Chariton's '' Callirhoe'' (mid 1st century), Achilles Tatius' '' Leucippe and Clitophon'' (early 2nd century), Longus' '' Daphnis and Chloe'' (2nd century), Xenophon of Ephesus' '' Ephes ...
probably titled ''
Callirhoe Callirrhoe (, grc, Καλλιρρόη; also Callirhoe) may refer to:
* Callirhoe (mythology), several figures in Greek mythology, including:
** Callirrhoe (Oceanid), daughter of Oceanus and Tethys
** Callirrhoe (daughter of Achelous)
* Callirrhoe ...
'' (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript). However, it is regularly referred to as ''Chaereas and Callirhoe'' (which more closely aligns with the title given at the head of the manuscript). Evidence of fragments of the text on
papyri suggests that the novel may have been written in the mid 1st century AD, making it the oldest surviving complete ancient
prose romance and the only one to make use of apparent historiographical features for background verisimilitude and structure, in conjunction with elements of
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
, as Callirhoe is frequently compared to
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...
and
Ariadne
Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havi ...
and Chaereas to numerous heroes, both implicitly and explicitly.
As the fiction takes place in the past, and historical figures interact with the plot, ''Callirhoe'' may be understood as the first
historical novel; it was later imitated by
Xenophon of Ephesus
Xenophon of Ephesus ( el, Ξενοφῶν ὁ Εφέσιος; fl. 2nd century – 3rd century AD) was a Greek writer.''Suda'' ξ 50 His surviving work is the '' Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes'', one of the earliest novels as well as ...
and
Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus Emesenus or Heliodorus of Emesa ( grc, Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἐμεσηνός) is the author of the ancient Greek novel called the ''Aethiopica'' () or ''Theagenes and Chariclea'' (), which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD.
Ide ...
, among others.
Dating
Nothing is securely known of Chariton beyond what he states in his novel, which introduces him as "Chariton of Aphrodisias, secretary of the ''
rhetor
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
'' Athenagoras". The name "Chariton", which means "man of graces", has been considered a
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
chosen to suit the romantic content of his writing, but both "Chariton" and "Athenagoras" occur as names on inscriptions from
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from the ...
.
The latest possible date at which Chariton could have written is attested in
papyri that contain fragments of his work, which can be dated
paleographically to about AD 200.
Analysis of Chariton's language has produced a range of proposals for dating. In the 19th century, before the discovery of the papyri, a date as late as the 6th century AD was proposed on stylistic grounds, while A. D. Papanikolaou argued in 1979 for the second half of the 1st century BC. One study of Chariton's vocabulary favours a date in the late 1st century or early 2nd century AD.
Edmund Cueva has argued
that Chariton also depended on
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
's ''
vita'' of
Theseus
Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes describ ...
for thematic material, or perhaps directly on one of Plutarch's sources, an obscure mythographer, Paion of
Amathus
Amathus or Amathous ( grc, Ἀμαθοῦς) was an ancient city and one of the ancient royal cities of Cyprus until about 300 BC. Some of its impressive remains can be seen today on the southern coast in front of Agios Tychonas, about west o ...
. If the source is Plutarch, then a date after the first quarter of the 2nd century is indicated. There is a dismissive reference, however, to a work called ''Callirhoe'' in the ''Satires'' of
Persius
Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he considered to be the stylistic abuses of his ...
, who died in AD 62; if this is Chariton's novel, then a relatively early date would be indicated.
Regardless, Chariton probably wrote before the other Greek novelists whose works survive, making either his work or
Petronius' ''
Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petr ...
'' the earliest extant European novel.
''Callirhoe''
![P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/P.Fay_1.jpg)
Chariton's novel exists in only one (somewhat unreliable) manuscript, from the 13th century. It was not published until the 18th century, and remained dismissed until the twentieth. It nevertheless gives insight into the development of ancient prose fiction.
The story is set against a historical background of c. 400 BC. In
Syracuse, Chaereas falls madly in love with the supernaturally beautiful Callirhoe. She is the daughter of Hermocrates, a hero of the
Peloponnesian War and the most important political figure of Syracuse, thus setting the narrative in time and social milieu. Her beauty (''kallos'') overawes crowds, like an earthly counterpart of Aphrodite's, as noted by Douglas Edwards. They are married, but when her many disappointed suitors successfully conspire to trick Chaereas into thinking she is unfaithful, he kicks her so hard that she falls over as if dead. There is a funeral, and she is shut up in a tomb, but then it turns out she was only in a coma, and wakes up in time to scare the pirates who have opened the tomb to rob it; they recover quickly and take her to sell as a slave in
Miletus, where her new master, Dionysius, falls in love with her and marries her, she being afraid to mention that she is already married (and pregnant by Chaereas). As a result, Dionysius believes Callirhoe's son to be his own.
Despite the liberties Chariton took with historical fact, he clearly aimed to place his story in a period well before his own lifetime. Tomas Hägg has argued that this choice of setting makes the work an important forerunner of the modern
historical novel.
The discovery of five separate fragments of Chariton's novel at
Oxyrhynchus and
Karanis
Karanis ( grc-koi, Καρανίς), located in what is now Kom Oshim, was an agricultural town in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and Roman Egypt located in the northeast corner of the Faiyum. It was roughly 60 hectares in size and its peak population is ...
in Egypt attest to the popularity of ''Callirhoe''. One fragment, carefully written on expensive parchment, suggests that some, at least, of Chariton's public were members of local elites.
[Edwards (1994), p. 700.]
Editions
* The
first printed edition. With
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
translation by Johann Jacob Reiske.
* With a reprint of Reiske's Latin translation.
*
*
* With French translation.
* With English translation.
* Reviewed i
BMCR
English translations
*
*
*
* With Greek text.
*
See also
Other ancient Greek novelists:
*
Xenophon of Ephesus
Xenophon of Ephesus ( el, Ξενοφῶν ὁ Εφέσιος; fl. 2nd century – 3rd century AD) was a Greek writer.''Suda'' ξ 50 His surviving work is the '' Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes'', one of the earliest novels as well as ...
, The ''
Ephesian Tale
The ''Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes'' ( el, Ἐφεσιακά or Τὰ κατὰ Ἀνθίαν καὶ Ἁβροκόμην) by Xenophon of Ephesus is an Ancient Greek novel written before the late 2nd century AD.
Translator Graham Ander ...
''
*
Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius ( Greek: Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος, ''Achilleus Tatios'') of Alexandria was a Roman-era Greek writer of the 2nd century AD whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel, or ''romance'', '' The Adv ...
, ''
Leucippe and Clitophon
''The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon'' ( grc, τὰ κατὰ Λευκίππην καὶ Kλειτoφῶντα, ''ta kata Leukippēn kai Kleitophōnta''), written by Achilles Tatius, is one of the five surviving Ancient Greek romances, not ...
''
*
Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus Emesenus or Heliodorus of Emesa ( grc, Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἐμεσηνός) is the author of the ancient Greek novel called the ''Aethiopica'' () or ''Theagenes and Chariclea'' (), which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD.
Ide ...
, The ''
Aethiopica
The ''Aethiopica'' (; grc, Αἰθιοπικά, , 'Ethiopian Stories') or ''Theagenes and Chariclea'' (; grc, Θεαγένης καὶ Χαρίκλεια, link=no, ) is an ancient Greek novel which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD. It was ...
''
*
Longus, ''
Daphnis and Chloe
''Daphnis and Chloe'' ( el, Δάφνις καὶ Χλόη, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is an ancient Greek novel written in the Roman Empire, the only known work of the second-century AD Greek novelist and Hellenistic romance, romance writer Longus ...
''
Notes
Further reading
*
* Helms, J., (1966) ''Character Portrayal in Chariton'' (Paris/The Hague:Mouton)
*
* Reprinted in
* Reprinted in
* James N. O'Sullivan, Xenophon of Ephesus, Berlin-New York 1995, pp. 145–170 (chapter on "Xenophon and Chariton").
* Reviewed i
BMCR* Reviewed i
External links
*
Synopsis of the novelTufts University– at the
Perseus Project
The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...
, Hercher's edition of the Greek text
{{Authority control
Ancient Greek novelists
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
People from Aphrodisias