Editing Chariton (section)

== Dating ==
Nothing is securely known of Chariton beyond what he states in his novel, which introduces him as "Chariton of Aphrodisias, secretary of the ''[[rhetor]]'' Athenagoras". The name "Chariton", which means "man of graces", has been considered a [[pseudonym]] chosen to suit the romantic content of his writing, but both "Chariton" and "Athenagoras" occur as names on inscriptions from [[Aphrodisias]].<ref name=schmeling>{{cite book |author=B. P. Reardon |editor=Gareth Schmeling|title=The Novel in the Ancient World |orig-year=1996 |edition=revised |year=2003 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |location=Boston |isbn=0-391-04134-7 |pages=312–317 |chapter=Chariton }}</ref>

The latest possible date at which Chariton could have written is attested in [[papyrus|papyri]] that contain fragments of his work, which can be dated [[Palaeography|paleographically]] to about AD 200.<ref name=schmeling /> A variety of dating suggestions have been generated by analyzing Chariton's words. A date as late as the sixth century AD was suggested in the 19th century, before the discovery of the papyri, based on stylistic considerations, while A. D. Papanikolaou argued for the second half of the first century BC in 1979. One study of Chariton's vocabulary favours a date in the late 1st century or early 2nd century AD.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Consuelo Ruiz-Montero |year=1991 |title=Aspects of the Vocabulary of Chariton of Aphrodisias |journal=Classical Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=484–489 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800004614 |s2cid=170993327 }}</ref>

Edmund Cueva has argued<ref name=cueva /> that Chariton also depended on [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Biography|vita]]'' of [[Theseus]] for thematic material, or perhaps directly on one of Plutarch's sources, an obscure mythographer, Paion of [[Amathus]]. If the source is Plutarch, then a date after the first quarter of the 2nd century is indicated. There is a dismissive reference, however, to a work called ''Callirhoe'' in the ''Satires'' of [[Aulus Persius Flaccus|Persius]],<ref>Persius (Aules Persius Flaccus). "Satire 1." ''Horace: Satires and Epistles; Persius: Satires.'' Trans. [[Niall Rudd]]. London: Penguin Classics, 2005. Print.  In Satire 1 (lines 124-134), Persius suggests that those having a juvenile sense of humor and unsophisticated taste in art and literature should stick to "the law reports in the morning, and ''Calliroë'' after lunch."</ref> who died in AD 62; if this is Chariton's novel, then a relatively early date would be indicated.<ref name=schmeling /> Regardless, Chariton probably wrote before the other Greek novelists whose works survive,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ewen Bowie |year=2002 |title=The chronology of the earlier Greek novels since B.E. Perry: revisions and precisions |journal=Ancient Narrative |volume=2 |pages=47–63 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=S. Tilg |title=Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-957694-4 }}</ref> making either his work or [[Petronius]]' ''[[Satyricon]]'' the earliest extant European novel.