There is no region more central to the ancient Greek romance novel than the thousand or so miles stretching from Alexandria to ancient Ethiopia that comprise the Nile River Valley. Yet, for all its importance, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel: Between Representation and Resistance is the first book-length study of how this region is depicted in a literary genre whose fictional tales of love, travel, separation, and reunion flourished during the Roman imperial period. Employing approaches from Literary Studies, Classics, and Egyptology, Robert Cioffi explores the Nile River Valley in the ancient Greek romance novel through two fundamentally related concepts: representation and resistance. On the one hand, these novels develop an image of Egypt and Ethiopia that is in close dialogue with the Greco-Roman ethnographic tradition, characterized by extraordinary marvels such as grand cities, ancient religious rites, and a dizzying array of animals—some real, some imaginary, and some so incredible as to seem make-believe. On the other hand, this depiction often figures Egypt and Ethiopia as sites of resistance, revolt, and rebellion against—or political, cultural, and religious alternatives to—an array of dominant imperial powers in the region, from the Persians to the Romans. This dual reading enriches our understanding of these texts' relationship with the real and imagined frontiers of Roman political, military, and intellectual power. It also raises a broader set of questions—some literary, some cultural-historical—about the interrelation of humans, their environment, and the topographies of cultural identity in the Roman empire.

The papers assembled in this volume explore a relatively new area in scholarship on the ancient novel: the relationship between an ostensibly non-philosophical genre and philosophy. This approach opens up several original themes for further research and debate. Platonising fiction was popular in the Second Sophistic and it took a variety of forms, ranging from the intertextual to the allegorical, and discussions of the origins of the novel-genre in antiquity have centred on the role of Socratic dialogue in general and Plato’s dialogues in particular as important precursors. The papers in this collection cover a variety of genres, ranging from the Greek and Roman novels to utopian narratives and fictional biographies, and seek by diverse methods to detect philosophical resonances in these texts.

This translation of the ancient Greek novel Aethiopica by Heliodorus was produced in 1897 by the scholars of antiquity belonging to the Athenian Society in Athens. For many centuries this novel was very obscure to readers in Western Europe. However, copies had always circulated around the Byzantine Empire, and it was during the Renaissance in the 14th century that burgeoning interest in classical Greece led to the Aethiopica being recognized and read by Western European scholars. Various translations occurred through subsequent centuries; this translation to English was brought to fruition by academics of classics based in Athens in the late 19th century. We are introduced to Chariclea, who was born to King Hydaspes and Queen Persinna, of ancient Ethiopia. The girl is said to have been conceived when her mother fixed eyes upon a marble statue; a point crucial to the story later on. The young woman is romanced by Theagenes, a man of nobility from the northerly lands of Thessaly, and in eloping the pair endures many dangerous encounters with wild creatures and roaming bandits. Together with the translated text, we find a scholarly introduction which explains the historical significance of this work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea (c. 3rd-4th century C.E.) is an ancient Greek romance novel by Heliodorus of Emesa. Rediscovered in manuscript form in the sixteenth century, the novel is written in the tradition of Homer and Euripides, and has since been recognized as foundational to the development of the novel as a literary form. When she is born with white skin, Chariclea, the daughter of King Hydaspes and Queen Persinna of Ethiopia, threatens to bring scandal to the royal family. Fearful of being accused of adultery, the queen makes the tragic decision to give her newborn to a philosopher named Sisimithras, a philosopher. In his care, Chariclea is taken to Egypt to be raised by a Pythian priest named Charicles. One day, a Thessalian hero named Theagenes arrives in Delphi, where he meets Chariclea, now a renowned priestess. The two fall in love and embark on a journey that will bring them face to face with pirates, bandits, and the royal parents of Chariclea themselves. A classic work of romance and adventure, The Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea was influential for Byzantine Greek writers and was read, adapted, and admired by such novelists as Miguel Cervantes and Aphra Behn. As an object of classical scholarship, it has proved instrumental not only for divining a link between the poets and dramatists of the ancient world and the writers of the early modern era, but for understanding the development of the novel as a cultural product and popular form of literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Heliodorus of Emesa’s The Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea is a classic of ancient Greek literature reimagined for modern readers.