The Greek and the Roman Novel: Parallel ReadingsMichael Paschalis Ancient Narrative Supplementum 8 is the first volume to be dedicated entirely to parallel readings of the Greek and the Roman novel. As a rule, publications taking a comprehensive look at the ancient novel treat the Greek and the Roman novels independently of each other, or at most discuss standard thematic categories. It is intriguing that a sharp distinction between the Greek and the Latin novels should have ever existed and that it should be tacitly maintained at the present time. Of the three surviving Latin novels, Apuleius' Metamorphoses has a Greek model, Petronius' Satyrica bears distinct traces of Greekness, and the Historia Apollonii strongly resembles the Greek ideal novel, especially Xenophon's Ephesiaka. The discovery of new papyrus fragments of Greek fiction (Lollianos' Phoinikika, the Iolaos and the Tinouphis fragments) has shown that low-life, comic, and sensational features are not the exclusive province of the Latin novel. Recent chronological revisions have squeezed the dates of the earliest Greek novels into the period between 41 and 75 A. D., thus envisaging the birth of the Greek novel and that of the Roman Satyrica as contemporary or near-contemporary events. The need to re-examine the relations between the two main traditions of the ancient novel in the context of a unified Greco-Roman tradition emerges today as more urgent than ever. The portrayal on the cover page of this volume of Echo and Narcissus, of self-reflection and reduplication of sound, symbolizes a pictorial challenge to look at the dialectics of the Greek and the Latin novels and appreciate their intimate relationship.The parallel readings of the present volume explore various issues in Greco-Roman fiction: political accommodation in coming-of-age novels, the language and practice of magic, narratives of failure, textual considerations and narrative meaning, hidden authors, proposals and criteria for dating, the access to knowledge, plot structures, religion and narrative, the fortunes of Athenian Hellenism, vision and narrative, attitudes towards Roman imperial rule, and the motif of the stolen cup. |
Contents
JEAN ALVARES | 3 |
GARETH SCHMELING | 23 |
CONSUELO RUIZMONTERO | 38 |
NIALL W SLATER | 57 |
MICHAEL PASCHALIS | 70 |
JOHN MORGAN | 105 |
EWEN BOWIE | 121 |
Judging the Prolixity of the Novels | 133 |
ROMAIN BRETHES | 171 |
Apuleius Metamorphoses | 193 |
SMITH | 219 |
KIRK FREUDENBURG | 238 |
ELLEN FINKELPEARL | 263 |
Aesop the Onos The Golden Ass and a Hidden Treasure | 277 |
Abstracts | 293 |
ANDREW LAIRD | 151 |
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Common terms and phrases
Achilles Tatius adventure-time Aesop Alexander Romance Alexander’s Alvares Ancient Narrative Ancient Novel Antonius Diogenes Apul Apuleius argues Aristomenes Athenian Athens Barkhuis Callirhoe Cambridge Chaireas chapter Chariton Clitophon cultural Cupid and Psyche dead discussion divine Egyptian Encolpius episode erotic failure fiction Finkelpearl Frangoulidis goddess Golden Ass Graverini Greek novels Groningen Harrison Heliodoros hero hidden author Homer Isis Kleitophon Kori Laird Latin Leucippe and Clitophon Leukippe literary Longus Lucius magic Mal-Maeder Melite Metamorphoses Morgan Mt Taurus narrator necromancy Nectanebo Nikolaos Olympias Olympic Onos Orpheus Oxford University Press papyri Parallel Readings Paschalis Pausanias Petronius Philip Photis priests prologue protagonists reader Roman Novel Rome Ruiz-Montero Satyrica Satyricon scene Schmeling Second Sophistic sexual Socrates spear statue story structure tale temple text of recension tfig tfiv Thersandros tion truth Valerius victory Winkler witch words Xenophon Zimmerman δὲ καὶ τὴν τὸ τὸν