Tim Whitmarsh (dir.), The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, coll. "Cambridge Companions to Literature", 2008. 412 page.
- ISBN-13: 9780521684880
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Recension par Yun Lee Too dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.03.47.
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Présentation de l'éditeur :
The Greek and Roman novels of Petronius, Apuleius, Longus, Heliodorus and others have been cherished for millennia, but never more so than now. The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel contains nineteen original essays by an international cast of experts in the field. The emphasis is upon the critical interpretation of the texts within historical settings, both in antiquity and in the later generations that have been and continue to be inspired by them. All the central issues of current scholarship are addressed: sexuality, cultural identity, class, religion, politics, narrative, style, readership and much more. Four sections cover cultural context of the novels, their contents, literary form, and their reception in classical antiquity and beyond. Each chapter includes guidance on further reading. This collection will be essential for scholars and students, as well as for others who want an up-to-date, accessible introduction into this exhilarating material.
Table des matières :
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Map
Introduction 1 TIM WHITMARSH
PART I: CONTEXTS
2 Literary milieux 17 EWEN BOWIE
3 The history of sexuality 39 HELEN MORALES
4 Cultural identity 56 SUSAN STEPHENS
5 Class 72 TIM WHITMARSH
PART II: THE WORLD OF THE NOVEL
6 Religion 91 FROMA ZEITLIN
7 Travel 109 JAMES ROMM
8 Body and text 127 JASON KÖNIG
9 Time 145 LAWRENCE KIM
10 Politics and spectacles 162 CATHERINE CONNORS
PART III: FORM
11 Genre 185 SIMON GOLDHILL
12 Approaching style and rhetoric 201 ANDREW LAIRD
13 Intertextuality 218 JOHN MORGAN AND STEPHEN HARRISON
14 Narrative 237 TIM WHITMARSH AND SHADI BARTSCH
PART IV: RECEPTION
15 Ancient readers 261 RICHARD HUNTER
16 Byzantine readers 272 JOAN B. BURTON
17 The re-emergence of ancient novels in western Europe, 1300–1810 282 MICHAEL REEVE
18 Novels ancient and modern 299 GERALD SANDY AND STEPHEN HARRISON
19 Modernity and post-modernity 321 MASSIMO FUSILLO
References 340
Bibliographical appendix on Pierre Huet 377
Index of Greek and Roman novelists 378
General index
INDEX OF GREEK AND ROMAN NOVELISTS
This index offers a brief guide to the surviving Greek and Roman novelists, the major fragmentary Greek works, and certain other central texts that are crucial for the study of the novel. Many issues are uncertain: questions of dating are usually vexed, particularly with the Greek material;1 titles are also uncertain in many cases;2 and biographical testimony is largely untrustworthy. For fuller critical discussions see the Introduction to this volume, and also the various essays on individual works in Schmeling (2003b). Lists of editions, commentaries and translations are not intended to be complete; they concentrate rather upon modern, accurate, accessible versions (English-language, where possible). In the case of Greek and Latin texts, as a rule the most recent is the best.
Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon One of the five Greek ‘ideal' novels, although the most scurrilous and racy; it is also the only one of the five to be (almost) entirely narrated by a character (Clitophon). The narrative begins with an unnamed narrator telling how he met Clitophon in the temple of Astarte in Sidon. Thereafter, over eight books, the latter recounts his elopement from Phoenicia to Egypt with his girlfriend Leucippe, their subsequent separation and final reunion at Ephesus. Papyri of the late second century CE are likely to have been written soon after its composition.3 The Suda (entry under ‘Achilles Statius' (sic)) records that the author also composed an astronomical work, which is probably the work that survives today among the commentaries on Aratus.4 The Suda also claims that Achilles became a Christian bishop in later life, but this testimony is widely (although not universally) suspected. More credence has been given to the Suda's claim (corroborated by the manuscript traditions) that Achilles was Alexandrian, partly on the grounds of his seemingly accurate description of Egyptian fauna; but it is possible that this springs from extrapolation on the basis of the encomiastic description of the city at the beginning of book 5. TEXT: Vilborg (1955); Gaselee (1969); Garnaud (1991). COMMENTARY: Vilborg (1962). TRANSLATION: Gaselee (1969); J. J. Winkler in Reardon (1989) 170–284; Whitmarsh (2001c).
Alexander Romance Numerous stories about Alexander the Great survive from antiquity; the work that modern scholars call the Alexander Romance presents the most flamboyantly fantastical, centring on a heroic central character whose (entirely fictitious) acts include descending to the bottom of the sea in a diving bell and a ‘romance' with queen Candauce of Ethiopia. The text has an Egyptian-nationalist feel: Alexander is presented as the son of Nectanebo, the last pharaoh. The Romance survives in numerous different Greek versions (‘recensions'), all different; it was also translated into at least twenty-four languages, generating in total eighty versions. It is composed of numerous strata, some probably dating back to the second century BCE; but the text as a whole probably achieved its current form in the third century CE. TEXT: Van Thiel (1974); Merkelbach (1977). An up-to-date edition by Richard Stoneman is in preparation. TRANSLATION: Dowden in Reardon (1989) 650–735.
Anthia and Habrocomes see Xenophon of Ephesus, Anthia and Habrocomes.
Antonius Diogenes, Wonders beyond Thule. A Greek work in twenty-four books, preserved in fragments and summary form in Photius, The Library codex 166. The focus is upon the marvellous features, and stories, encountered by one Dinias during his travels in the Arctic regions (Thule being a mythical island north-west of Britain). The erotic aspect is not as prominent as in the ‘ideal' Greek novels, although Dinias (who is already a father when the narrative begins) does take a mistress, Dercyllis. It was clearly a narratological extravaganza, containing at least seven levels of embedded narration. The dating is uncertain, although the author's Roman first name suggests an imperial date. The latest possible date for the work is the middle of the third century CE, when the philosopher Porphyry cites it. TEXT, COMMENTARY AND TRANSLATION: Fusillo (1990a, in Greek and Italian); Stephens and Winkler (1995) 101–72. TRANSLATION of Photius' summary: G. N. Sandy in Reardon (1989) 775–82.
Apollonius, King of Tyre A story composed in simple Latin, probably in the fifth or sixth century CE, but often thought to be a translation of an earlier Greek original (probably of imperial date). The narrative is composed of two phases. In the first, Apollonius seeks the hand of the daughter of King Antiochus of Antioch; he discovers the solution to a riddle posed him by the king, namely that the latter has raped his daughter. Fleeing Antiochus' rage, he is shipwrecked. In phase two, he marries the daughter of the king of Cyrene. Believing her dead, he leaves his daughter in safe-keeping and travels abroad. Upon his return he rescues the latter from a brothel and discovers his wife was not dead. TEXT: Kortekaas (1984); Schmeling (1989). TRANSLATION: G. N. Sandy in Reardon (1989) 736–72.
Apuleius, Metamorphoses A Latin novel in eleven books narrated by one Lucius, transformed into an ass thanks to his inquisitive prying into magic in Thessaly. In the eleventh book he returns to human form after eating roses in a procession in honour of Isis, and converts to the goddess' cult. A number of other stories are embedded in the narrative, most notably the central fable of Cupid and Psyche (books 4–6). The title of the whole work is transmitted as Metamorphoses in the manuscript tradition, but St Augustine calls it The Golden Ass.5 Biographically speaking, Apuleius is the best known of the novelists, thanks in no small part to his own writings (particularly the Apology, a stylised defence of his supposed trial for witchcraft). Born to a wealthy family in second-century Madaurus, Apuleius became one of the prominent intellectuals of north Africa, with a reputation as a philosopher and orator (works transmitted under his name included a version of the Aristotelian On the Cosmos, On Plato, On Interpretation, On Socrates' God, and the Florida, selections from his orations). Philosophical elements can arguably be glimpsed through the scurrility throughout the Metamorphoses, particularly in the Cupid and Psyche episode. TEXT: Helm (1907); Robertson (1972); Hanson (1989). COMMENTARY: The first ten books, at the time of writing, are covered individually by the series Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius; for book 11 see Griffiths (1975). Also Kenney (1990a), on Cupid and Psyche. TRANSLATION: Hanson (1989); Walsh (1994).
Ass see Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Lucius, Metamorphoses and Greek Ass.
Callirhoe see Chariton, Callirhoe.
Charicleia and Theagenes see Heliodorus, Charicleia and Theagenes.
Chariton, Callirhoe One of the five Greek ‘ideal' novels, focusing on the adventures of a young Sicilian woman, set in the aftermath of the Athenian campaigns of 416 BCE. Having been attacked by her husband Chaereas in a jealous pique, presumed dead, and buried, she is abducted by tomb-robbers, then pursued by Chaereas ultimately to Babylon; they are finally reunited, and return together to Sicily. It is widely assumed to be the earliest of the extant Greek novels, primarily on the grounds that it avoids the Attic dialect current from the early to mid-second century CE. A reference in the Satires of the Neronian poet Persius to a literary work called Calliroe (1.134) is often claimed to refer to our text, but discussion remains open. Four papyri dated to the end of the second century CE mark the latest possible date.6 TEXT: Molinié (1979); Goold (1994); Reardon (2004). TRANSLATION: Reardon in Reardon (1989) 17–124; Goold (1994).
Cupid and Psyche A love story embedded in Apuleius, Metamorphoses, told by an old woman to console a young girl Charite who has been captured by robbers. In the story, the god Cupid (‘Desire' ∼ the Greek Eros) prevails upon his wife Psyche not to look at him, but she is provoked by her jealous sisters into doing so; after a period of wandering and suffering in penance, she is finally reunited with him. The narrative has been variously read as a Platonic allegory (Greek psykhē = ‘soul'), a parable about curiosity (one of the central themes of the novel as a whole), and an allusion to the Greek ‘ideal' romance.
Daphnis and Chloe see Longus.
Dinner at Trimalchio's The largest surviving complete episode of Petronius, Satyrica. Trimalchio is a freedman (i.e. a manumitted slave) who has acquired a massive fortune. As presented by the narrator Encolpius, Trimalchio is pretentious but ignorant, and the dinner party he throws ostentatious and vulgar.
Greek Ass The Greek Ass-narrative is substantially the same as the central plot of Apuleius, Metamorphoses, without the Isiac conversion at the end. Following Photius, most critics believe these versions all derive from Lucius of Patrae, Metamorphoses. An apparently complete version, presented as first-person narrative, is transmitted among the works of Lucian, although his authorship has been debated. TEXT: Macleod (1967); Van Thiel (1972); Macleod (1974); TRANSLATION: Macleod (1967); Sullivan in Reardon (1989) 589–618. A fragmentary papyrus from Oxyrhynchus gives a different version, a third-person account, featuring a mixture of prose and verse: see P. Oxy. 4762, where D. Obbink gives a translation and commentary.
Heliodorus, Charicleia and Theagenes More fully The Ethiopian Affairs concerning Charicleia and Theagenes: the longest (ten books), latest and most intellectually ambitious of the surviving Greek ideal novels. Blending neo-Platonic, Homeric and Herodotean elements, Heliodorus narrates the journey of the eponymous lovers up the Nile from Alexandria to Meroe. Scholars usually place this text in the third or fourth centuries CE (occasionally as early as the second). According to certain ancient sources,7 Heliodorus became a Christian bishop, but (as with Achilles Tatius) this is not widely accepted. Heliodorus was among the most widely read of the novelists in the renaissance and early modern period. TEXT: Colonna (1938); Rattenbury and Lumb (1960). TRANSLATION: J. R. Morgan in Reardon (1989) 349–588.
Iamblichus, Babylonian Affairs A Greek novel, surviving only in fragments and the summary in Photius, The Library codex 94. Photius implies that the complete work had sixteen books, the Suda (entry under the first ‘Iamblichus') less plausibly that it had thirty-nine. Set in the Middle East (and apparently containing no ethnic Greeks), it tells of the travels of two young lovers, Rhodanes and Sinonis. Photius tells us that he was a Babylonian, but an ancient marginal note8 (apparently working from Iamblichus' own account in the text) reports that he was a Syrian, who learned Babylonian and later Greek. TEXT: Habrich (1960). TEXT, COMMENTARY AND TRANSLATION: Stephens and Winkler (1995) 179–245. TRANSLATION of Photius' summary and select fragments by G. N. Sandy at Reardon (1989) 783–97.
Leucippe and Clitophon see Achilles Tatius.
Lollianus, Phoenician Affairs A Greek novel surviving in papyrus fragments (where, exceptionally, the title and author are identified). It appears to have been at the salacious end of the scale, beyond even Achilles Tatius: one of the surviving episodes details a gory human sacrifice, and there seems also to be graphic sexual content (perhaps including pederasty). To judge from the ‘Attic' style, it would seem to have been composed in the second or third century CE; it is possible that the author was one of the three sophists by this name who flourished in the period.9 text and commentary: Henrichs (1972, in German). TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY: Stephens and Winkler (1995) 314–57. TRANSLATION: G. N. Sandy at Reardon (1989) 809–12.
Longus, Daphnis and Chloe A hybrid between the Greek ‘ideal' novel and Theocritean pastoral, this four-book narrative tells of a girl and a boy born in the city but exposed and reared in the countryside of Lesbos. The plot is built around their naive attempts to recognise and satisfy their feelings for each other; they are finally reunited with their parents, and married to each other. Nothing is known of the author; even ‘Longus' may be a corruption of logos (‘story'), although it is a bona fide name, attested on Lesbos (among other places). The text is composed in stylised and sophisticated Greek, and usually dated to the second or third centuries CE. There are no certain allusions to the text in antiquity.10 TEXT: Edmonds (1916); Vieillefond (1987); Reeve (1994); Morgan (2004, based on Reeve). COMMENTARY: Morgan (2004). TRANSLATION: Edmonds (1916); C. J. Gill in Reardon (1989) 285–348; McCail (2002); Morgan (2004).
Lucius of Patrae, Metamorphoses The lost original Greek text that apparently lies behind Apuleius, Metamorphoses and the Greek Ass stories (see also Lucian). This work is only known from the summary in Photius, The Library codex 129. Photius takes it as straight-faced and credulous.
Metamorphoses see Apuleius, Metamorphoses and Lucius of Patrae, Metamorphoses.
Metiochus and Parthenope A Greek novel of great popularity in antiquity, but surviving now only in fragments. Its wide circulation is attested to by five papyrus fragments, two depictions on mosaic floors in Syrian households, influence upon other literary forms (notably the Christian martyrdom of St Parthenope), and the ultimate transformation of the story, in the eleventh century CE, into the Persian VƂmiq u ‘AdhrƂ (perhaps via Arabic).11 The story is based in the court of the historical tyrant Polycrates of Samos, whose daughter is mentioned in Herodotus (3.124), and is based upon a standard ‘ideal' paradigm of separation of two lovers followed by reunion; it may, however, have had an unhappy ending. The date is uncertain, but stylistic analysis suggests the first century CE. TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY: Stephens and Winkler (1995) 72–100; Hägg and Utas (2003, also containing VƂmiq u ‘AdhrƂ). TRANSLATION: of the two substantial Greek fragments, G. N. Sandy at Reardon (1989) 813–15.
Ninus The romance between Ninus (the mythical founder of Nineveh) and Semiramis (a historical Syrian queen) was, apparently, first introduced to the Greek tradition from Persia by the bilingual historian Ctesias, writing at the turn of the fifth and fourth centuries; the story subsequently became widely disseminated, with versions transmitted by e.g. Cornelius Alexander ‘Polyhistor'12 and Plutarch.13 The novelistic version, representing the dashing national heroes as young lovers, survives in three substantial papyrus fragments; the text was, probably, originally composed in the first century BCE or CE. TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY: Stephens and Winkler (1995) 23–71. TRANSLATION: G. N. Sandy at Reardon (1989) 803–8.
Petronius, Satyrica A Latin comic story narrated by one Encolpius, telling of his sexual and other adventures alongside his accomplice Ascyltus and their boyfriend Giton. It survives in disconnected fragments, the longest of which is Dinner at Trimalchio's. The author is usually assumed to be Petronius Arbiter, the courtier of Nero who killed himself in 66 CE.14 The transmitted title is Satyricon, which most scholars believe to be a transliteration of the Greek genitive -ikōn often found in book-titles; hence the use in this volume of the nominative form form Satyrica (∼ Greek Saturika). TEXT: Heseltine (1951, accessible but outdated now); Müller (1995). COMMENTARY: Courtney (2001) offers a concise running commentary; Smith (1975) focuses on Dinner at Trimalchio's. TRANSLATION: Heseltine (1951); and especially Walsh (1996), Kinney and Branham (1996).
Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana An account in eight books of Greek of the life, travels and teachings of the first-century CE Cappadocian sage and miracle-worker. Flavius Philostratus, the author, is the well-attested polymath of the early to mid-third century CE. According to his own account, Philostratus was commissioned by Julia Domna (the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus) to polish up an original account written by Damis, Apollonius' companion. Although the text has also been taken extremely seriously as a religious work (the Christian Eusebius vigorously attacked Hierocles for drawing comparisons with the Gospels; Apollonius also resurfaces in the early Islamic tradition as Bālīnās), a number of modern scholars have detected novelistic elements in it. TEXT AND TRANSLATION: Jones (2005).
Phoenician Affairs, see Lollianus, Phoenician Affairs.
Photius, The Library Photius, the ninth-century bishop of Constantinople, was, as well as an important theologian, an avid consumer of Greek literature, pagan as well as Christian. His record of his voracious reading, the Library, contains summaries of Achilles Tatius and Heliodorus, as well as of the novels (now largely lost) of Antonius Diogenes and Iamblichus. TEXT: Henry (1959–91). TRANSLATION: selections in Wilson (1994).
Satyrica see Petronius, Satyrica.
Suda A massive, alphabetical, Greek encyclopaedia compiled in the tenth century CE. It contains entries on Achilles Tatius, Iamblichus and Xenophon of Ephesus – much of it historically unreliable, vague or inaccurate, but nevertheless interesting evidence for the traditions clustering around the novelists.
Xenophon of Ephesus, Anthia and Habrocomes More fully The Ephesian Affairs concerning Anthia and Habrocomes. One of the five surviving ‘ideal' Greek romances: a young man and woman of Ephesus meet and marry; are commanded to travel abroad by an oracle; undergo trials and sufferings; and are finally reunited in Ephesus. The five-book novel is written in strikingly simple Greek; arguments have been advanced that it is epitomised, partly at least,15 or an originally oral text.16 The Suda (under ‘Xenophon of Ephesus') reports that, in addition to Anthia and Habrocomes, Xenophon also composed a work ‘On the city of Ephesus' (unless that is a descriptive gloss on the title of the novel), and other works. Xenophon was probably writing in the late first or early second century CE, although it is impossible to be absolutely confident. TEXT: Dalmeyda (1926); O'Sullivan (2005). TRANSLATION: D. Konstan in Reardon (1989) 125–69.