Heliodorus

The ancient novel has long been recognised as a key example of fiction in the ancient world, but the implications of this identification have not yet been fully explored. Although in the modern world fiction is widely accepted as neutral and intrinsic to the novel, the lack of equivalent terminology for either ‘fiction’ or ‘novel’ in antiquity challenges any automatic assumption that fiction was a generically conventional and unproblematic part of the ancient novelistic reading experience. By situating the ancient novel within traditions of ancient fiction in theory and practice, as this thesis does, it becomes clear not only that ancient novelistic texts actively explore their own fictional potential, but also that this fictional awareness invites their audiences to consciously consider the effect of fiction upon their reading experience. Consequently, this thesis argues that ancient novelistic fiction acts as a vehicle for the novels’ and their audiences’ engagement with and situation of themselves within imperial culture.

In my BA dissertation I chose to analyse one of the most interesting characters of Heliodorus's "Aethiopica", Knemon. Beginning from the fundamental studies of Winkler, Morgan and Paulsen I have tried to give an account as detailed as possible of the various features and behaviours showed by Knemon during the story. I have split my analysis into three sections according to different roles performed by Knemon: Knemon as narrator, as narratee and as friend/helper. The first section is the largest: it includes a narratological examination of Knemon’s tale and compares his narrative techniques to those of Kalasiris. The second and the third deal mainly with Knemon’s relationships with other characters of the novel. In the conclusions there are some considerations about his leaving the “stage” of "Aethiopica" and also a final picture that briefly tries to make clear and put together all the complex shades of this character.

The Egyptian priest Kalasiris of Heliodoros’ Aithiopika is one of the most complex characters in the ancient Greek novels. While many studies have been devoted to him from the fields of classics and ancient philosophy, no in-depth analysis of Kalasiris has been pursued from the field of Egyptology so far. In this paper I analyze two passages of the Aithiopika: Kalasiris’ description of the two types of Egyptian wisdom in 3.16.3–4, and the necromantic ritual of the old woman of Bessa in 6.14–15. I compare the presentation of Egyptian magic and necromancy in these passages with two descriptions of necromancy in Demotic literature: the reanimations of the scribe of the divine book in the beginning of the Fight for the Armor of Inaros, and of the wife and son of Naneferkaptah in Setne I. By means of this comparison I demonstrate that the difference in Kalasiris’ dichotomy between the two types of Egyptian wisdom does not reside in the magical practices themselves, but in the degree of initiation of their practitioners and the nature of their motivations.

Sull’ultimo e più complesso dei romanzi
greci, le Etiopiche di Eliodoro, mancava
ancora uno studio che facesse il punto, al-
meno in parte, sulla ricca messe di contri-
buti che ormai si sono accumulati sull’ar-
gomento. Partendo da una disamina degli
studi narratologici, fino a coinvolgere i
più recenti studi di narratologia cognitiva
e delle emozioni, con la presente ricerca
si è cercato di dare un nuovo volto a un
romanzo sorprendentemente complesso.
Sulla base dell’interpretazione del testo e
del vaglio di un’ampia letteratura, lo studio
offre riflessioni sulle caratteristiche
del romanzo, alcune delle quali finora tra-
scurate, come le narrazioni concentriche
(o racconti nei racconti), il valore dell’ek­
phrasis dell’ametista al centro dell’opera,
il valore delle emozioni nel romanzo e il
ruolo del lettore nella performance di let-
tura. Di fatto questa ricerca finisce per ri-
considerare e mettere in discussione al-
cune interpretazioni consolidate sul ro-
manzo greco in generale, ad esempio
sulla composizione del pubbblico e sulla
sua ricezione.

According to ancient aesthetics, the art of gem engraving involved a special cooperation of human and natural artistry, and was characterized by a peculiar fluidity in its relationship with the “major” arts, namely painting and sculpture. Literary sources point to the hybrid status of glyptics, which from a technical viewpoint is indeed a form of sculpture, but whose medium possesses a natural mimetic potentiality which is eminently pictorial: engravers paint with precious stones like painters with pigments, giving semantic significance to the natural colours, veins and spots of the mineral. Alongside literary sources, on the peculiar ambiguity of glyptics with respect to painting and sculpture played the engravers who signed their intaglios and cameos assuming the names of great painters and sculptors of the past. The analysis of two jaspers signed by the imperial engraver Aspasios discloses the room left to the creativity of the glyptic artist when he confronts the celebrated masterpieces of painting and sculpture.

This paper aims to examine the possible influence of Achilles Tatius’s novel over Heliodorus’s work. It analyses the similarities between Achilles Tatius’s protagonist, Kleitophon, and some of the characters from Aethiopica, such as Knemon and Kalasiris. Then, it deals with a more general examination of some literary motifs shared by both novels, among which the τόπος of - to use Rush Rehm’s expression - “marriage to death” (i.e. the conflation of wedding and funeral rituals) and the Boukoloi’s digressions; moreover, the stratagem employed by these bandits to defeat the regular (Roman?) army in Achilles Tatius (4.13-4) might have given Heliodorus the starting point for the episode of Syene’s siege (9.2-12). Obviously, the results remain quite doubtful, since it is difficult to state anything certain when treating a genre so repetitive and full of τόποι like the ancient novel.

In his sonnet "En la muerte de tres hijas del duque de Feria" Luis de Góngora has combined Virgilʼs simile of the nightingaleʼs lament (Georg. 4, 511- 515) with Heliodorus of Emesaʼs simile of the snakeʼs assault to the nest (Aeth. 2, 22, 4), previously imitated by Francisco de Terrazas and by the author of an anonymous sonnet from the Cancionero sevillano de Toledo. But, in doing so, he has wittily corrected the literary tradition about the bird crying for her brood.

Novels have so much solid and monolithic bulk when they sit in a hand or on a shelf; inside, the pages are forests of symbols, as though even in books of such magnitude the sentences needed compression to fit on to pages. How different to poetic volumes, beguilingly slender, their pages brilliant with blank, white space, across which the spindly words stretch like gossamer. In terms of content, however, novels are rarely as monolithic as their physical form suggests. From earliest times since, the genre has dealt, centrally, with themes of metamorphosis, transubstantiation, the fundamentally permeable nature of the self. The solid material aspect of the novel often masks a central preoccupation with the fluidity of identity. In the compass of this article, I want to explore the central role accorded by Heliodorus, arguably the greatest of ancient novelists, to questions of perceptual deception, to seeing and seeming; and in particular, I want to explore the role of artworks within Heliodorus' narrative economy. The narrative turns, as is well known, on the amazing paradox of an Ethiopian girl born white. Charicleia's skin colour is a visual trap, an illusion. 1 Given that her freakish pigmentation is the result of her mother's glancing at an art-work at the moment of conception , Charicleia can almost be said to be a walking ekphrasis, an embodiment of the illusory traps of the unreal. Ekphrasis in Roman Greek culture has, of course, received considerable attention over the years. 2 For Heliodorus we have the fine work of Shadi Bartsch, who presents novelistic ekphrasis as a matter predominantly for formal analysis of narrative technique: her questions particularly concern the thematic relationship between the phenomenon described and the unfurling plot. 3 Others analyse the aesthetic techniques of the descriptions, taking them as synecdochic of the aspirations of the text as a whole. 4 Still others read novelistic ekphraseis in terms of a 'culture of viewing', exploring the wider ramifications of these texts' insistent visuality in terms of gender, class and cultural identity. 5 These are all important and weighty issues, which will reappear in the discussion that follows. What I want to explore here, however, is a different order of issue, which I shall call ekphrastic 'contagion': the power of the visual icon to infect its surrounding discourse with ontological and perceptual uncertainty. 6 Ekphraseis, that is to say, seep. Before turning to Heliodorus, I want to substantiate this claim by brief reference to a modern controversy. The term 'ekphrasis' has generally been used by modern scholars to denote a set-piece description of an artwork or similar, a pause in the temporal flow of the narrative. This, as Ruth Webb has underlined in an important discussion, is not what eK^paoiq meant to the Greeks, who used it rather to mean (in the words of Theon) 'descriptive language (A.6yo<;) that

This paper discusses a passage from the finale of Heliodorus' Aethiopica which has hitherto been interpreted as suggesting that Charicles, the heroine's foster-father, possesses information which he should not hold according to earlier parts of the novel. Offering two solutions to the Charicles puzzle, this article sheds light on important narratological characteristics of Heliodorus' novel: firstly, the Aethiopica opens itself to a 'completive mode of reading', which prompts the reader to speculate about unnarrated parts of the story; secondly, profound ambiguities can trigger chain reactions of alternative readings which reach far into parts of the plot that are connected with the ambiguous segment.

This article charts the extensive textual appropriations from the Ancient Greek novels of Heliodoros and Achilles Tatius in the Homilies of Philagathos of Cerami. By setting forth new textual evidence, it reveals the much deeper homiletic intertextual relationship with the ancient novels than hitherto ascertained. The analysis aims to portray a practice of reading entirely governed by scripture. It shows that the homilist exploited the novels for describing various scriptural stories, miracle events, for maxims and arythmological speculation. The analysis reveals that these appropriations are not incidental or mechanical, but discreetly triggered by literal clues and mirroring situations in the source texts that suggest connections with scriptural contexts. In addition, it pays attention to Philagathos’ allegorical treatise of Heliodoros’ Aethiopika and his epigram to the novel which provides a framework within which to assess the incorporation of novelistic material in the sermons.

The debate over the authorship of the allegorical interpretation of Heliodorus’ novel extant in codex Marc. Gr. 410 (coll. 522) bequeathed to subsequent scholarship the assumption that the text belongs to the Neoplatonic allegorical tradition of reading Homer. This essay aims to revisit this philosophical attribution and argue that the terms and philosophical categories alluded in this allegory are characteristic of a long tradition of Patristic analysis, and more specifically of Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus Confessor’s exegesis. Setting forth new textual evidence, it argues that the exegetical practice displayed in the allegory reflects Maximus Confessor’s anagogical exegesis (i. e., the etymological and numerical speculations) and Gregory of Nyssa’s pedagogy of desire and doctrine of spiritual progress as set forth in the Homilies on the Song of Songs and The Life of Moses.

The description of the festival for Saint Demetrios in Thessaloniki in the Timarion has long been used as a source for regional and liturgical history. It is in fact a literary rewriting of a festival at Delphi in Heliodoros’ Aithiopika. This paper demonstrates how the description of the Demetria represents a moment in Byzantine humanism as well as a reflection on the process of literary composition itself. An explanation is also proposed here for why Heliodoros’ festival at Delphi in particular, out of all descriptions of festivals in ancient literature, appealed to the author of the Timarion.

Abstract: The late ancient novel by Heliodorus of Edessa, the Aethiopica, is a vivid account of identity, religion, and change, in many ways mirroring the diverse late antique cultural milieu of which it forms a part. The present article approaches the Aethiopica with the understanding that the novel, as a particular form of literature and cultural artifact, is an important medium for reading broader cultural discourses. In particular, this article explores the Aethiopica’s construction of Egyptian identity through the narrative rhetoric of religious practice. Such an approach shows not only how Egyptian-ness is constructed by Heliodorus through the portrayal of embodied religion in his narrative, but also explores why such a construction in the form of a novel, within the later Roman Empire, constitutes a significant moment of cultural discourse. By describing the Egyptian identity which Heliodorus fashions in his novel, and by discussing that identity within the context of cultural movements in late antiquity, this essay seeks to provide a framework for comprehending how the late ancient novel, and the Aethiopica in particular, can help us think about Egyptian identity as it was perceived and expressed within the social thought-world of the late ancient Mediterranean.

Résumé: Le roman ancien d’Héliodore d’Edessa, l’Aethiopica, est un témoignage saisissant de l’identité, de la religion et du changement, reflétant à bien des égards le milieu culturel de la fin de l’Antiquité dont il fait partie. Le présent article aborde l’Aethiopica en partant du principe qu’une nouvelle, en tant que forme particulière de littérature et d’artéfact culturel, est un médium permettant d’identifier des discours culturels plus larges. Cet article explore plus particulièrement la construction de l’identité égyptienne présente dans Aethiopica à travers la rhétorique narrative de la pratique religieuse. Une telle approche montre non seulement comment l’égyptianité est construite par Héliodore à travers la représentation de la religion incarnée dans son récit, mais explore aussi pourquoi une telle construction sous la forme d’un roman, dans l’Empire romain tardif, constitue un moment important du discours culturel. En décrivant l’identité égyptienne qu’Héliodore façonne dans son roman, et en discutant de celle-ci dans le contexte des mouvements culturels de l’Antiquité tardive, cet essai cherche à fournir un cadre, nécessairement imparfait, pour comprendre comment le roman ancien et l’Aethiopica en particulier, peut nous aider à réfléchir sur l’identité égyptienne telle qu’elle a été perçue et négociée dans le monde social de l’ancienne Méditerranée tardive.

This paper analyses two passages of Heliodorus (4, 8, 5 and 10, 14, 7) in which there is the belief of maternal impression, by discussing some modern translations and by emphasizing the fact that, in the first passage, it is said that the look of a painted image activates the phenomenon. Some comparisons are made with the similar testimonies, in the light of their connection with topics such as the eye, the resemblance between parents and offspring and the mimetic process of artistic production.

Divine and religious elements are an important part of Greek novels. For this reason, my paper aims to investigate the description of the sanctuary of Delphi in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica by comparing it with other literary and material sources, in order to distinguish literary elements from ones more closely related to the historical reality of the Imperial age.
The paper argues that Heliodorus’ reconstruction of the sanctuary is in line with contemporary material evidence, except for some aspects based on literary sources. Authors of the Classical era, such as Euripides and Pindar, are fruitfully placed alongside authors closer to Heliodorus’ age, such as Plutarch and Philostratus. This overlap reflects the discrepancy between the dramatic date of the novel (4th century BC), to which Heliodorus consistently tries to keep throughout the novel with the aid of his Classical sources, and the date of composition of the novel (4th century AD), which places it in the context of the ‘hellenization’ and ‘paganization’ promoted by Emperor Julian. The result is a dynamic and realistic reconstruction of Delphi that brings the idealized portrait of Classical Greece and its authors to life.

This work offers, through an analysis of literary and epigraphical sources, an overview of the use of the word periegetes since its first appearance in the first century B.C., including late interpretations and usages from the Byzantine and modern age. In particular, the problem of the use of the word to indicate the Hellinistic writers of historical and antiquarian works is addressed, considering the possibility that it was typical of the Roman Imperial period and connected to cultural phenomena widespread in this era. In addition, the use of periegetes for figures who accompany strangers during the visit of Greek cities and sanctuaries is discussed again, showing the differences among them and the difficulties in bringing together the sources, as is often done. In this context, special attention is paid to Plutarch of Chaeroneia, who mentions the word several times and in relation to different figures, so that it is possible to draw detailed profiles of these persons. The use of the term in epigraphies is also reconsidered: these are generally placed alongside literary evidence but seem indeed to give back a different image of the functions held by the mentioned characters. Finally, the relationship between periegetes and exegetes is addressed, especially in relation to Pausanias, who uses this latter word to indicate informants and written sources. Open access available at https://ledonline.it/ledonline/974-periegetai.html.

In this study, I focus on the analysis of the intertextual references identified in the seventh book of Heliodorus' Aithiopika (VII 9, 5) and Sappho's so-called Hymn to Aphrodite (1 V.). This textual relationship has so far not been considered by scholars, yet both the theme of unrequited love and the roles of the characters, as well as the structural analogy and the lexical parallels, point to the work by Sappho as deliberately exploited inspiration for the passage of Heliodorus' novel discussed here. Then, I consider the role of this intertextual relationship in the context of the broader intertextual system in the Aithiopika. This system includes the story of Demainete in the first book of the Aithiopika (I 9-17) and Euripides' Hippolytus. By comparing the story of Demainete, Arsake, Phaedra and Sappho, we gain a perspective from which the issue of problematising love becomes evident, and the reader is encouraged to a deeper reflection on this problem. This is essential because when analysing the scope and function of the love theme in the plot of the Aithiopika, one must conclude that it is surprisingly limited. Intertextual references, broadly interpreted as quotations, stylisation and various types of references to texts by previous authors 1 , constituted permanent elements in the practice of ancient writers. The fact that they are present in the texts of ancient Greek novels is therefore not surprising. In particular, references to the Iliad and the Odyssey are so numerous and explicit that Giuseppe Zanetto (2014: 400) even wonders whether the borrowing of patterns and situations from the Homeric epic should be regarded as factors defining the novel as a genre 2. Depending on 1 The way of understanding the phenomenon of intertextuality remains to some extent an open issue. Following Głowiński (1992: 102) my assumption is that, for a given reference to be considered intertextual, three conditions have to be met. First of all, the relationship between the hy-potext and hypertext must be intended by the author. Secondly, the relationship must be consciously addressed to the reader. Finally, it has to constitute the structural or semantic element of the text. A slightly different approach is presented by Morgan, Harrison (2008: 218): viewing the intention-ality of the author of the hypertext as a problem of secondary importance, it is the reader's activity that is considered constitutive for the phenomenon of intertextuality. This difference of opinions, however, is of little significance for the following discussion. 2 Yet another possibility is provided by Zanetto (2014: 401). Following his idea, literary works of the archaic period are not the points of reference for the authors of novels in the strict sense.

Esta obra, que agora se apresenta, tem, na sua base, um projecto de investigação intitulado “Dramaturgia e Recepção: elaboração e registro de audiocenas a partir da obra As Etiópicas, de Heliodoro”, que foi levado a cabo pelo autor, Marcus Mota, no âmbito de um estágio pós-doutoral realizado na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, durante o ano académico de 2014-2015.

El principal objectiu del present treball és descriure les característiques lingüístiques de l'obra d'aquest autor, mitjançant l'anàlisi filològica dels aticismes i dels trets de la koiné -ús real de la llengua en l'època del nostre novel•lista-, en els tres primers llibres de les Etiòpiques d'Heliodor. L'estudi de la llengua d'aquest gènere literari ha de tenir en compte, simultàniament, la tradició literària en què aquesta cerca els models per a una llengua elaborada, digna d'un gènere que esdevindrà gairebé hegemònic dins la cultura grega tardana, com ho demostra la nombrosa circulació de les obres a jutjar per les troballes papiràcies, i l'evolució de la llengua com a sistema al període de la baixa koiné, on s'ubica Heliodor d'Èmesa, autor de les Etiòpiques. Volem oferir una panoràmica de com ha quedat configurada la llengua d'aquesta novel•la i establir els seus trets més importants. Així ubiquem i definim amb major coneixement aquest autor no només dins del gènere que li és propi, la novel•la, sinó també al conjunt de la història de la literatura grega. Altre objectiu és comparar el registre lingüístic d'Heliodor amb el de la resta de novel•listes l'obra dels quals ha perdurat sencera (Caritó, Xenfont d'Efes, Longus i Aquil•les Taci), figures que precediren cronològicament el nostre, i definir l'evolució lingüística i literària del gènere. També ens interessa oferir una visió diacrònica en la història de la llengua grega, comparant els usos contemporanis a l'autor (segle III o IV) amb els registres que tracta d'imitar, pertanyents a l'època clàssica (segles V i IV a. C.). El nostre treball se centra en les similituds i divergències d'aquests dos models. Estudiem també en quina mesura Heliodor rep l'herència tant lingüística (i també literària) anterior i la reelabora a la seua obra, configurant alguns aspectes realment novedosos i originals juntament amb altres que ja consten al bagatge dels autors grecs clàssics. D'aquesta manera queda perfilat un important ingredient que forma part de les característiques fonamentals de l'estil d'Heliodor: la intertextualitat. Malgrat que Heliodor presenta gran nombre d'aticismes amb els quals tracta de dignificar la seua obra, d'atorgar-li una qualitat literària que l'equipare a les obres clàssiques, inclou també koinismes que defineixen les Etiòpiques amb característiques del grec postclàssic. El nostre autor no és totalment metòdic en el seu ús dels aticismes i, molt sovint, no es pot ni es deu establir una separació radical entre aticisme i κοινή en les Etiòpiques, ja que la pròpia evolució de la llengua grega va paral•lela amb la del gènere, i, a més dels trets compartits per aticisme i κοινή, en aquest cas l'obra d'Heliodor presenta aquests koinismes en major mesura que altres de les novel•les. Creiem que un dels grans mèrits del d'Èmesa ha sigut integrar aquest nivell alt de llengua que imita els clàssics, l'aticisme, amb el grec hel•lenístic que ja apareix en aquests mateixos autors al segle IV a. C., la κοινή. Finalment, la nostra aportació, que cap estudiós havia treballat de forma sistemàtica, és la d'un autor que encara no s'ha tractat amb rigor filològic i del que considerem que mereix una atenció manifesta per ser l'últim de l'antiguitat i culminació del gènere novel•lístic.

This paper presents initial results from a research based on audiovisual recreation of Heliodorus'Aithiopika. After discussion of the context of the research, the focus is directed to the assumptions and processes of construction of the initial stage of the project, based on an early morning sound representation.

Este artículo analiza la influencia de los Progymnásmata en las Etiópicas de Heliodoro y señala cómo la mayoría de los tópicos o motivos literarios que el autor utiliza en la composición de su obra proceden de una singular asimilación de lecturas y tareas de impronta escolar. Las fuentes y los procedimientos literarios estarían de esta manera en buena medida condicionados u orientados por la tradición escolar griega y su repertorio de formas literarias, jerarquizadas y organizadas según su relevancia estructural en el conjunto de la novela.

Compte rendu du volume le plus récent d’une série des colloques sur l’ancien roman. Ce colloque a eu lieu à Nice, 21-22 mars 2013. Le volume est magnifique, analysant tous les aspects des liens des romans grecs et de la poésie, y compris les sources, les citations et les allusions, le rythme, la prosodie, les métaphores, les comparaisons et les images, l’assonance et l’allitération, et l’usage des mots grecs considerés comme spécialement poétiques. Les auteurs sont superbes sur l’intertextualité et les allusions. Ces savants achèvent même la poésie avec ses propres métaphores et images. Je trouve la phrase initiale de la contribution par Magdeleine Clo, par exemple, très poétique: << Lire les romans grecs, c’est aussi entendre la musique qui accompagne chaque moment de la vie publique et privée des Grecs >>. En conclusion, ce colloque analyse en profondeur les rapports du roman grec avec la poésie épique, dramatique, lyrique, pastorale, épinicique, ekphrastique, et oraculaire, ainsi qu’avec des chansons populaires. Le volume même donne les exemples faisant allusion à l’ïambe archaïque.

The maxims (gnomai) in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica are analysed according to the rules of the progymnasma. It is highlighted that they are used as a way for characterization because they show the nature and morality of the person who pronounces them. In order to establish their meaning and function, it is very important to take into account who pronounces them and whom they are referred to.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC, is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. Located in Georgetown and bequeathed by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes scholars to consult its books, images, and objects, and the public to visit its garden, museum, and historic house for lectures and concerts.

Vidiśā saw the flowering of a civilization in which intellect and emotion, manly strength and ineffable grace came together, and enjoyment was seen as the gateway to renunciation. Kalidasa hailed it in the Meghadutam, as the capital where the cloud messenger would fulfill itself in a plenitude of sensual splendor. This is a preface to a volume of essays about the art and architecture of Vidisa, which was a center of art activity through Maurya, Shunga, Gupta and Paramara times in Madhya Pradesh. Remains from the time of Maurya King Asoka, Heliodorus pillar, dedicated by a Greek devotee, flowering of Gupta style at Udayagiri, the bhumija sikhara of Paramara temples, were witnessed by this ancient city.

This article demonstrates that Cnemon’s story in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica intertexts with the novella of Deinias in Lucian’s Toxaris. The closeness of three textual parallels, along with a subtle use of characters’ names, proves that Heliodorus is deliberately recalling Toxaris. The focus of this intertextuality is Chariclea, the courtesan of Deinias’ story. This immoral figure is a striking counterpart to the lustful Demaenete, the main charac- ter of Cnemon’s story and the first immoral lover of the Aethiopica. At the same time, the evocation by Heliodorus of a lustful woman who has the same name as the protago- nist Chariclea, paradoxically enriches the characterization of the latter as chaste. Furthermore, this subtle evocation of Chariclea seems to have metaliterary implica- tions as well. In the Aethiopica Chariclea stands for the entire novel: Heliodorus appears to define the nature of his text in opposition to Lucian’s Toxaris and to the different kind of fiction it represents. Heliodorus’ definition of his own novel by means of establishing a contrast with other texts is an important function of his intertextuality with Imperial literature and possibly sheds new light on the status of ancient fiction as a whole.