Chariton from Aphrodisias

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Chariton ( Greek  Χαρίτων ) from Aphrodisias in Phrygia is the author of the novel Chaireas and Kallirrhoë ( Τὰ περὶ Χαιρέαν καὶ Καλλιρρόην ) in eight books.

Life

Nothing further is known about the author, it has even been assumed that Chariton (for example: "the gifted") is a pseudonym. At the beginning of the book the author calls himself “Chariton from Aphrodisias, the secretary of the speaker Athenagoras”. After all, the names Chariton and Athenagoras are documented in Aphrodisias, so today it is assumed that the author's self-description is correct.

Content of the novel

The action takes place at the beginning of the 5th century BC. Chr. Chaireas falls madly in love with the extremely beautiful Kallirrhoë. She is the daughter of General Hermocrates of Syracuse . The novel begins with the marriage of Chaireas and Kallirrhoë, usually the happy ending of a story, but due to an intrigue of the rejected applicants, Chaireas believes Kallirrhoë to be unfaithful, knocks her down, she falls and appears to be dead. She is buried and the only seemingly dead Kallirrhoë awakes when robbers want to loot the grave. She is sold as a slave by the robbers in Miletus . Her master, Dionysius, falls in love with her and marries her. Kallirrhoë is pregnant of Chaireas, but Dionysius thinks he is the father of Kallirrhoë's son.

When Chaireas learns that Kallirrhoë is still alive, he goes on a search, but is caught himself and sold as a slave. Finally, both end up at the court of the Persian ruler Artaxerxes , who is to decide whether Chaireas or Dionysius is the rightful husband, but falls in love with Kallirrhoë himself. Finally Chaireas succeeds in regaining Kallirrhoë by force of arms: Egypt rebels against the Persian ruler, Chaireas takes the side of the rebels, conquers Tire and defeats the Persians in a sea battle. Kallirrhoë asks Dionysius to take good care of her son and to send him to Syracuse when he is an adult. Then the reunited couple return to Syracuse.

Dating

The novel was previously dated to late antiquity due to linguistic and stylistic evidence. Due to more recent papyrus finds and their palaeographic dating, however, a date before AD 200 must be assumed today. From the content itself, the latest times of writing can be deduced , since both the Ephebe Institute and the Olympic Games are assumed to be still in existence, which results in a time before the end of the 4th century. In the meantime, dates from the 1st century BC. Represented until the 2nd century AD, with a majority tending towards the 1st century AD, i.e. the early Roman Empire. Maybe is Chaereas and Kallirrhoe at the beginning of later popular genres of the romantic novel, which are to be assigned the most famous Greek novels (more representatives: Xenophon of Ephesus , Achilles Tatius , Longos , Heliodor ). In any case, Chaireas and Kallirrhoë is one of the earliest fully preserved ancient novels and the earliest representative of the historical novel genre .

expenditure

literature

  • Franz Zimmermann: On the transmission of the Chariton novel. Hermes. Vol. 63, H. 2. Berlin 1928.
  • Remy Petri: About the Chariton's novel (= contributions to classical philology. Issue 11). Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1963 (also dissertation, Erlangen 1963).
  • Walther Sontheimer: Chariton. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 1137.
  • Antōnios D. Papanikolau: Chariton studies. Studies on the language and chronology of the Greek novels. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973, ISBN 3-525-25129-7
  • Karl-Heinz Gerschmann : Chariton interpretations. Dissertation, University of Münster 1974.
  • Gareth L. Schmeling: Chariton. Twayne, New York 1974.
  • Stefan Tilg : Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chaireas and Kallirrhoë 1.1.1
  2. ^ BP Reardon: Chariton. In: Gareth Schmeling (ed.): The Novel in the Ancient World Revised ed., Brill Academic Publishers, Boston 2003. pp. 309-335. ISBN 0-391-04134-7 .
  3. ↑ Erwin Rohde : The Greek Roman. 2nd ed. 1914. pp. 520f. Note 2. Inscriptions: CIG 2846 and 2782, 2783
  4. ↑ Article in the Neue Pauly (1996-1997)
  5. ↑ Papyr. Fayum I (1900), Oxyrh. 1019 (1910) and Michaelidae I (1955). See also: Plepelits: Chariton by Aphrodisias Kallirhoe. 1976. p. 5
  6. ↑ Chaereas and Kallirrhoe 1.6.5, 8.6.11, 6.2.1
  7. ^ Stefan Tilg: "Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel." Oxford 2010, esp. Pp. 36-79
  8. ^ Stefan Tilg: "Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel." Oxford 2010.

Web links

Wikisource: Chariton of Aphrodisias  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Chariton from Aphrodisias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chariton; Χαριτων (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Writer of a Greek novel
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century or 2nd century