Nommer les personnages perses dans le roman grec : les choix de Chariton, Callirhoé, et d’Héliodore, les Éthiopiques

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.

Sobre el concepto de ficción bizantina

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.

Considerazioni sull’autorappresentazione di Trimalchione: gli affreschi della porticus e il monumento funebre

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.

The Acts of John, the Acts of Andrew and the Greek Novel

Since the 1930s, it has been observed that the Greek novel and the Christian Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (AAA) display a series of similarities. This is not surprising, as the earlier AAA all belong to about the same period of time as the latest novels, except for Heliodorus, and derive from Asia Minor, the same area in which most of the surviving novels seem to have originated. Consequently, some of the similarities may well have been determined by the fact that the authors of the novel and the AAA lived in the same world. Yet there are clearly also scenes and motifs, which the AAA derived from the novel. In this contribution, I note the impact of the novel on the Acts of John and the Acts of Andrew and identify an influence from Chariton, Xenophon’s Ephesiaca and Achilles Tatius despite the fact that the novel ends in the reunion of the couple, who will enter now a happily married life with plenty of sex, whereas the couples in the AAA ideally end up in a chaste Platonic relationship. The surprising influence of the novel on the AAA may well be explained from a similar intended readership, that is, well educated higher-class women.

Anthia and Habrocomes in Full Bloom: A Literary Onomastic Analysis of Erotic Andreia and Lasting Beauty in Xenophon’s Ephesiaca

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.

Seneca, Apokolokyntosis and fritilli

The title of the Apokolokynthosis includes clues suggesting an identification of Claudius with a fritillus, a box for throwing dice. The fritillus was also deemed the king of Saturnalia while Claudius was also described as a Saturnalicius rex. On the other hand, archaeological evidence allows us to identify the fritilli with terracotta small objects whose form is similar to that of pumpkin flowers. Therefore it seems to be reasonable to recognize a transformation of the emperor into the flower rather than the fruit of pumpkin.

Worm Food: Towards a Typology of Worm and Lice Disease-Descriptions in Graeco-Roman Narratives

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.

Novellas for Diverting Jewish Urban Businessmen or Channels of Priestly Knowledge: Redefining Judean Short Stories of Hellenistic Times

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.

Parthenope’s novel: P.Berol. 7927 + 9588 + 21179, II column revisited

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.

The Disputes between Appion and Clement in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies: A Narrative and Rhetorical Approach to the Structure of Hom. 6

First and foremost, this contribution offers (1) a structural and rhetorical reading of the debates on the third day between Clement and Appion in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (Hom. 6) and shows that there is a well-considered rhetorical ring structure in their disputes. Connected with this first point (2), the suggested reading will unravel how Clement and Appion use and manipulate their sophisticated rhetoric, linked to this particular structure. This is well worth considering since these debates deal with Greek paideia, which means culture and above all education, of which rhetorical education forms part. The rhetorical features will be displayed as a fine product of the rhetorical and even sophistic background in Late Antiquity. Clement, moreover, will present himself as a master in rhetoric against Appion, who is presented as a sophist and grammarian in the novel. Finally (3), the focus on the narrative structure of and the rhetorical dynamics in Hom. 6. will contribute to a better understanding of these disputes between Appion and Clement (Hom. 4-6) and their function in the novel generally.