Reading Heliodorus’ Aethiopica

Heliodorus’ Aethiopica (Ethiopian Story) is the latest, longest, and greatest of the ancient Greek romances. It was hugely admired in Byzantium, and caused a sensation when it was rediscovered and translated into French in the 16th century: its impact on later European literature (including Shakespeare and Sidney) and art is incalculable. As with all post-classical Greek literature, its popularity dived in the 19th century, thanks to the influence of romanticism. Since the 1980s, however, new generations of readers have rediscovered this extraordinary late-antique tale of adventure, travel, and love. Recent scholars have demonstrated not just the complexity and sophistication of the text’s formal aspects, but its daring experiments with the themes of race, gender, and religion. This volume brings together fifteen established experts in the ancient romance from across the world: each explores a passage or section of the text in depth, teasing out its subtleties and illustrating the rewards reaped thanks to slow, patient readings of what was arguably classical antiquity’s last classic.