Aethiopica
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Heliodorus has been ridiculed by Gabriel Gueret, the author of Le Parnasse Reformé, for having attributed to his hero such excessive modesty, that he gave his mistress a box on the ear when she approached to embrace him. These railleries, however, are founded on misrepresentation. Theagenes met Chariclea at Memphis, but mistaking both her person and character from her wretched dress and appearance, he inflicted a blow to get rid of her importunities — an unhandsome reception, no doubt, to any woman, but which proves nothing as to his sentiments concerning Chariclea."--History of Fiction (1814) by John Colin Dunlop |
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Aethiopica (the Ethiopian story) or Theagenes and Chariclea is an ancient Greek romance or novel, the only known work of Heliodorus of Emesa. It is supposed that the work was written in his early years before he became a Christian and that, when forced either to disown it or resign his bishopric, he preferred resignation. But it is now generally agreed that the real author was a sophist of the 3rd century of the Common Era.
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Rediscovery
The Aethiopica was first brought to light during Renaissance times in a manuscript from the library of Matthias Corvinus, found at the sack of Buda (today the western part of Budapest) in 1526, and printed at Basel in 1534. Other codices have since been discovered. It was first translated into French by the celebrated Jacques Amyot in 1547. It was first translated into English in 1569 by Thomas Underdowne, who used the 1551 Latin translation of Stanislaus Warschewiczki to create his Aethiopian Historie.
Style
The "Aethiopica" is indebted to the works of Homer and Euripides. The title is taken from the fact that the action of the beginning and end of the story takes place in Ethiopia.
The work is notable for its rapid succession of events, the variety of its characters, its vivid descriptions of manners and of scenery, and its simple, elegant writing style. But what has been regarded as most remarkable is that the novel opens in the middle of the story ("in medias res"), and the plot is resolved by having various characters describe their prior adventures in retrospective narratives or dialogues, which eventually tie together. This feature makes the Aethiopica stand out from all the other ancient Greek romances.
Plot introduction
Chariclea, the daughter of King Hydaspes and Queen Porsine of Ethiopia, was born white because her mother gazed upon a marble statue while pregnant. Fearing an accusation of adultery, Porsine gives her baby daughter to the care of Sisimithras, a gymnosophist, who carries her to Egypt and places her in charge of Charicles, a Pythian priest. She is then taken to Delphi, and made a priestess of Apollo. Theagenes, a noble Thessalian, comes to Delphi and the two fall in love with each other. He carries off Chariclea with the help of Calasiris, an Egyptian, employed by Porsine to seek for her daughter. Then follow many perils from pirates, bandits, and others, but the chief personages ultimately meet at Meroe at the very moment when Chariclea is about to be sacrificed to the gods by her own father. Her birth is made known, and the lovers are happily married.
Influences
Heliodorus' novel was immensely influential and was imitated by Byzantine Greeks and by French, Italian, and Spanish writers. The structure, events, and themes of the European adventure novel of the first half of the seventeenth century—Mlle de Scudéry, Marin le Roy de Gomberville, Miguel de Cervantes's Persiles y Sigismunda, and likely Aphra Behn's Oroonoko—were directly modeled on Heliodorus's work. His influence continued to be felt in the eighteenth century novel (especially in those having a "tale within a tale" structure).
The English dramatist John Gough based his tragicomedy The Strange Discovery (published 1640) on the Aethiopica."
The 17th century French dramatist Jean Racine claimed that Heliodorus' novel was his favorite book and when, after the author had joined the ascetic Jansenist retreat Port-Royal and the book had been repeatedly taken away from him, Racine is reported to have said that the loss of the book no longer mattered, as he had already memorized it.
The early life of Clorinda in Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (canto xii. 21 sqq.) is almost identical with that of Chariclea.
See also
Other ancient Greek novelists:
- Chariton - The Loves of Chaereas and Callirhoe
- Xenophon of Ephesus - The Ephesian Tale
- Achilles Tatius - Leucippe and Clitophon
- Longus - Daphnis and Chloe
