Paradoxically, at a time when trade between the Mediterranean and India was developing across the Indian Ocean, Greek fiction literature did not mirror it, with the exception of Xenophon of Ephesus, Lucian, and Philostratus, in the form, nevertheless, of very rare micro-narratives. It is therefore a question, in this article, of analyzing the reasons for the crossing to India and of hightlighting its stakes, in particular the representation that Greek-speaking writers give of the actors of these exchanges : Greeks, the so-called Egyptians, and Indians. It is also a question of understanding why these new routes to India did not create an imaginary that fiction could have exploited. Paradoxalement, à une époque où le commerce entre la Méditerranée et l’Inde se développait à travers l’océan Indien, la littérature grecque de fiction n’en rendait pas compte, à l’exception de Xénophon d’Éphèse, de Lucien et de Philostrate, sous la forme, néanmoins, de très rares micro-récits. Il s’agit donc, dans cet article, d’analyser les raisons de la traversée vers l’Inde et de mettre en valeur ses enjeux, en particulier la représentation que des écrivains de langue grecque donnent des acteurs de ces échanges : les Grecs, les prétendus Égyptiens et les Indiens. Il s’agit aussi de comprendre pourquoi ces nouvelles routes vers l’Inde n’ont pas créé un imaginaire que la fiction aurait pu exploiter.
The story of Cupid & Psyche in Apuleius’s Metamorphoses has long been valued for its literary qualities and philosophical implications. This study sets the story in the slave-owning culture to which it originally belonged. It pays special attention to the portrayal of Psyche as a runaway slave, and examines this construct through reference to the extensive body of Roman law that governed the treatment of fugitive slaves in real life. To support the story’s documentary potential, a comparison is drawn with a modern classic story of escape from servitude, Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
The aim of this paper is drawing attention to a passage of the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus of Emesa (9,9,3) on the divinization of the Nile borrowed from Life of Moses (2,195) by Philo of Alexandria. This textual relationship, well known to Philo’s scholars, has so far not been considered instead by most Heliodorus’ scholars. Other possible intertextual references (lexical parallels, stylisations and analogies), noticed in this paper, point to the work by Philon as deliberately exploited inspiration for some passages of Heliodorus’ novel. All this is of greater importance for the Ethiopian novel and his author.
he aim of this paper is to underline the influence of school rhetoric in two passages of Ninus and Parthenope. Ninus' speech in presence of his aunt Derkeia (frag. A of P.Berol. 6926) is analysed from the point of view of the stasis-theory and its most relevant formal features are commented. Metiochus’ refutation of the traditional mythical narrative on Eros (second column of P.Berol.7927) is dealt with the progymnasmatic theory. Moreover, the love-related motifs and the references to the previous literature are highlighted.
This paper discusses the episode of Thelyphron in the second book of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses and explores the significance of the recurring references to the bodily parts of the narrator/hero Thelyphron in the tale, pointing out their centrality, intertextual connections, and metaliterary function in the narrative. We argue that the processes of mutilation and prosthesis regarding the hero’s face correspond to the multifaceted literary character of the tale, and we discuss how the intertextual background of the above-mentioned physical change raises questions about literary composition and artistic creation.
The Greek and Latin novels of the Roman Imperial age mirror the reality that throughout the Mediterranean world in which their melodramatic stories are set slavery was a ubiquitous institution. Every extant novel takes for granted that the slave is a form of property over which rights of ownership are absolute, and that obedience to the will of the slave-owner is a normative expectation. Slave characters are seen accordingly filling an array of occupations, from the managerial to the menial; they are frequently bought and sold, and they receive rewards for meritorious behaviour and punishments for disobedience (often brutally inflicted). Slavery does not emerge consequently as an enviable condition but as the antithesis of a privileged freedom to which there is no universal claim. It is an unquestioned element of social and economic organization whose associations are entirely shameful. Given the novels’ fanciful plots, however, this summary might be said to overstate real-life circumstances, with authors exaggerating the misfortunes of slavery for the sake of the sensationalism their chosen form of literary creativity demanded. Yet as far as I can tell, it is largely borne out by historical evidence, especially the evidence of Roman law. The capital penalties of crucifixion, exposure to wild beasts, and burning alive once reserved for slaves alone were extended in the Imperial age to free persons of low status convicted of capital
The article aims to explore the ekphrastic features of the Petronian Troiae Halosis, considering some passages especially from Aelius Theon’s Progymnasmata. A narratological purpose is thus suggested for the coexistence of diegetic and ekphrastic elements in the poem. The investigation relies on a substantial re-evaluation of the Troiae Halosis’s literary quality and, consequently, of Eumolpo's poetic skills, following the path already set by Collignon (1882) e Stubbe (1933).
The episode of Apollonius among the Indian ascetics, described by Philostratus, testifies to a good knowledge of Buddhist beliefs and customs. The magical bowl producing food and drink automatically is the pivotal element of different well-known accounts concerning Buddha. A Buddhist text, the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, provides us with a series of details also recurring in Philostratus. The magical bowl not only issues liquids as from a spring, but also does not let the liquid overflow and reach the rim. Tantalus should have been interpreted as a Buddhist philanthropic hero in the cultural milieu of the Indo-Greeks. A cup including a little statue of Tantalus who cannot touch the liquid surrounding him has been found in Vinkovci (Croatia). The wondrous cup of Tantalus explains a miracle performed by Septimius Severus in a desert and the mechanics of some spells and amulets for either stopping or producing hemorrhages.
This article argues that reading Heliodorus’ Aethiopica alongside post-Nicene Patristic texts sheds new light on its place within the multifaceted religious world of Late Antiquity. Through an analysis of three discrete test cases, this article brings to light the complexities of the Aethiopica’s incorporation of ideas which are prominent in contemporary Christian thought. In so doing, it presents new evidence for the fourth-century context in which Heliodorus produced his work.
The aim of this study is to contextualize the fragments of the The Wonders beyond Thule in the set of lost Greek novels that have come to us in papyri paying special attention to the treatment of hiatus. The literary ambitions of Callirrhoe, Ninus, Parthenope, and The wonders beyond are similar and their ‘implicit readers’ would have belonged to the educated elite known by the term of pepaideumenoi and pepaideumenai. Other conclusion is that hiatus is a license that depends on the style of the author, but it can sometimes be attributed to an error by the scribe or a decision of the modern editor. The study includes value information about novel fragments since 1998 (edition by López-Martínez) and a hypothesis regarding archaeological materials (papyri and inscriptions) found in a Hellenistic city on the Banks of the Oxus River in Afghanistan, Ai Khanoum, which offer us tantalizing paralells for the fictional mise en scène of Diogenes’ novel.
This paper deals with the naming of Persian characters in two Greek novels, Chariton’s Callirhoe and Heliodorus’ Aithiopika. It is an attempt to consider how each novelist chooses Persian names. If Persian names are well-known, they give an impression of historical reality ; if they are new, they induce readers to look for their meaning. The part played by homonymy and intertextuality is pivotal. In Heliodorus, complexity is very great : Ethiopian characters have Persian names, as if Ethiopians were in fact Persians, that is to say descendants from the hero Perseus, who is also the ancestor of Persian people through his son Perses. It is significant that the queen of Ethiopia is called Persinna. Ethnic identities are therefore to be redefined.
Two disease-descriptions featured in ancient literature (skolekosis and phthiriasis) have long been interpreted as evidence of medical illness, but this paper argues that they should be understood as strictly literary phenomena; they do not describe any diseases that occurred in the ancient Mediterranean world. The lack of correspondence between narrative literature and ancient medical writings controverts the dominant scholarly assumption that these diseases had some basis in history/medicine. Instead, this paper argues that four relatively distinct conceptions of skolekosis and phthiriasis were at play in ancient literature, despite their shared use of worms and lice. With a clearer understanding of this typology, we are better positioned to understand the normative function of narratives depicting skolekosis and phthiriasis.
The Jewish literary production of Hellenistic and early imperial times includes a substantial number of short narratives displaying novelistic features. Most of these texts are in Greek, with novelistic trends also appearing in Hebrew and Aramaic works (Esther, Daniel). While this stylistic shift is undeniable, the present article questions the social and cultural implications that a number of scholars seek to read into it. Because of their shared stylistic innovations, these works are often treated as a homogeneous group, regardless of whether or not they were eventually included in the biblical canon (the Septuagint), and contrasted with the traditional narrative genres represented in the Hebrew biblical corpus. The transition to the novelistic is further taken to indicate a shift in the social context in which these works were produced, and correlatively, in their social function. Thus, in contrast with the earlier narrative literature written by temple scribes, these early novels supposedly emerged in the urban environment, where they catered to the tastes of a wider segment of the Jewish population. Furthermore, it is alleged that like their Greek counterparts, the Jewish novels had no institutionalized social use but were performed or read purely for entertainment, explaining the prominent thematization of eroticism, chastity, and marriage. In contrast with this approach, it is argued that when it comes to works that were eventually canonized, the issue of the social environment in which they were produced and that of their social function need to be decoupled from style and tone. To bolster this stance, the discussion draws extensively on a comparison with the social context in which the contemporary Demotic literature was produced, which is archaeologically documented, and on a comparison with Demotic texts themselves in both form and content. As a starting point, it is noted that the model associating novelization and urbanization crystallized at a time when indigenous temples—not least the one in Jerusalem—were held as bastions of conservatism, and it was speculated that that Hellenization in Judea was promoted by new, secular elites. Since then, this assumption has been proven wrong. Both in Egypt and Judea, the indigenous elites who manned the royal administrations were fielded from among the local temple personnel, meaning that the temple literati were familiar with their own traditions and Greek literature alike. On this basis, it is argued that the novelization of the works was first and foremost a matter of the reception of Greek literature by temple literati. Given that most if not all the narrative texts were aimed for oral performance, those were eager to borrow any literary devices that would make the stories livelier. In terms of their social function, however, these novelized works were no different from pre-Hellenistic narrative genres. Like their Demotic counterparts, biblical narratives provided a tool for exploring virtually all the aspects of knowledge that were of interest to their authors and audience, including the nature of the relationship between human beings and deity, history, law, prophecy, political, social, and religious matters. Their diverting tone assisted in the inculcation knowledge. In this way, the reappraisal of the biblical narratives as serious literature proposed in this article goes much further than simply stressing their connections with sapiential literature.
Our aim is to provide a new edition with translation and commentary of the second column of P. Berol. 7927 + 9588 + 21179, corresponding to the so-called Parthenope’s Novel. The first column was also edited by us in The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 28(2016), pp. 235–50. The original, perhaps one of the first Greek novels, produced a long and complex tradition with versions in prose and verse and a Christian martyrology, and was translated into different languages (Greek, Arab, Persian and Coptic). Although our text is badly preserved and difficult to read, we offer new proposals of reading that allow a better understanding of the novel and its rich literary context.
Ancient readers were highly attuned to etymologically and allusively significant character names, which helped shape their experience and understanding of narratives in a variety of ways. Authors frequently exploited that fact in their compositions. This paper capitalizes on that state of affairs by utilizing a literarily attuned onomastic analysis to explore two themes in Xenophon’s Ephesiaca. Specifically, I argue that Xenophon deploys several character names in interpretively important and sometimes sophisticated ways to serve the construction of themes relating to erotic andreia and lasting beauty. Regarding erotic andreia, this study largely supplements and corroborates conclusions that have been emerging in recent scholarship and offers a few fresh proposals for consideration. Xenophon’s interest in lasting beauty has not received much attention in contemporary scholarship outside of David Konstan’s Sexual Symmetry. The results of this study suggest that the theme deserves further examination. I offer a brief sketch, informed by onomastic analysis, of where the theme occurs and why it matters in the story Xenophon is telling.
Este artículo propone una nueva perspectiva sobre la ficción bizantina en el período bizantino temprano y parte del medio (hasta el s. X-XI), poniendo el acento en la narratividad antes que en la ficcionalidad de los textos. Metodológicamente, combina la narratología según el modelo de Monika Fludernik, más apto para textos bizantinos que el de Gérard Genette, con la poética histórica y tipológico-comparativa de Eleazar Meletinskij. Su disparador inmediato es un artículo del profesor Anthony Kaldellis, en el que se acepta irrestrictamente la válidez de la antítesis ficcion / no ficción para Bizancio.
This article addresses some issues relating to the life of Trimalchio, the well-known freedman of Petronius' Satyricon. In particular, it focuses on the modalities of self-representation of the freedman through two ekphrasis, the one painted in the frescoes of the porticus, and the other represented by the monumental complex of his tomb. The two descriptions are interpreted not only in the light of literary references, both internal and external to the Petronian novel, but also trying to find precise archaeological counterparts that would help to insert literary fiction in a realistic context. From the comparison with the literary and archaeological data some details emerge that highlight the complex and multifaceted Trimalchio’s desire for self-representation, which denotes a deep and lucid consciousness of himself and of his own condition beyond the well-known cliché of the rich upstart.
