Editing Chariton

{{Short description|1st-century AD Greek writer}}
{{other uses}}
'''Chariton of [[Aphrodisias]]''' ({{langx|grc|Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς}})<ref>In literature, he is also known as Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς and Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδίσιος.</ref> was the author of an [[ancient Greek novel]] probably titled ''[[Callirhoe (novel)|Callirhoe]]'' (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript). However, it is regularly referred to as ''Chaereas and Callirhoe''<ref>{{langx|grc|Τῶν περὶ Χαιρέαν καὶ Καλλιρρόην}} in Greek.</ref> (which more closely aligns with the title given at the head of the manuscript). Evidence of fragments of the text on [[Papyrus|papyri]] suggests that the novel may have been written in the mid-1st century AD, making it the oldest surviving complete ancient [[Romance (heroic literature)|prose romance]] and the only one to make use of apparent historiographical features for background verisimilitude and structure, in conjunction with elements of [[Greek mythology]], as Callirhoe is frequently compared to [[Aphrodite]] and [[Ariadne]] and Chaereas to numerous heroes, both implicitly and explicitly.<ref name=cueva>{{cite journal |author=Edmund P. Cueva |date=Fall 1996 |title=Plutarch's Ariadne in Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=473–484 |doi=10.1353/ajp.1996.0045 |s2cid=161950407 }}</ref> As the fiction takes place in the past, and historical figures interact with the plot, ''Callirhoe'' may be understood as the first [[historical novel]]; it was later imitated by [[Xenophon of Ephesus]] and [[Heliodorus of Emesa]], among others.

== 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.

== ''Callirhoe'' ==
{{Main|Callirhoe (novel)}}
[[File:P.Fay 1.jpg|thumb|right|alt=P.Fay. 1|A second or third century AD papyrus of the ''Callirhoe'' from Karanis (P.Fay. 1)]]
Chariton's novel exists in only one (somewhat unreliable) manuscript, from the 13th century. It was not published until the 18th century, and remained dismissed until the twentieth. It nevertheless gives insight into the development of ancient prose fiction.

The story is set against a historical background of c. 400 BC. In [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], Chaereas falls madly in love with the supernaturally beautiful Callirhoe.  She is the daughter of Hermocrates, a hero of the [[Peloponnesian War]] and the most important political figure of Syracuse, thus setting the narrative in time and social milieu. Her beauty (''kallos'') overawes crowds, like an earthly counterpart of Aphrodite's, as noted by Douglas Edwards.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Douglas R. Edwards |date=Autumn 1994 |title=Defining the Web of Power in Asia Minor: The Novelist Chariton and His City Aphrodisias |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=699–718, p. 703 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lxii.3.699}}</ref>  They are married, but when her many disappointed suitors successfully conspire to trick Chaereas into thinking she is unfaithful, he kicks her so hard that she falls over as if dead.<ref>The seeming-dead Callirhoe seems like Ariadne asleep on the shore at [[Naxos Island|Naxos]], Chariton says (1.6.2), and her second husband will be named for [[Dionysus]].</ref> There is a funeral, and she is shut up in a tomb, but then it turns out she was only in a coma, and wakes up in time to scare the pirates who have opened the tomb to rob it; they recover quickly and take her<ref>A parallel is in some versions of the myth of abandoned Ariadne.</ref> to sell as a slave in [[Miletus]], where her new master, Dionysius, falls in love with her and marries her, she being afraid to mention that she is already married (and pregnant by Chaereas). As a result, Dionysius believes Callirhoe's son to be his own.

Despite the liberties Chariton took with historical fact, he clearly aimed to place his story in a period well before his own lifetime. Tomas Hägg has argued that this choice of setting makes the work an important forerunner of the modern [[historical novel]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Tomas Hägg |year=1987 |title=''Callirhoe'' and ''Parthenope'': The Beginnings of the Historical Novel |journal=Classical Antiquity |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=184–204 |doi=10.2307/25010867|jstor=25010867 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |editor=Simon Swain|title=Oxford Readings in the Greek Novel |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-872189-5 |pages=137–160 }}</ref>

The discovery of five separate fragments of Chariton's novel at [[Oxyrhynchus]] and [[Karanis]] in Egypt attest to the popularity of ''Callirhoe''. One fragment, carefully written on expensive parchment, suggests that some, at least, of Chariton's public were members of local elites.<ref>Edwards (1994), p. 700.</ref>

== Editions ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=D'Orville |first=Jacques Philippe |script-title=el:ΧΑΡΙΤΩΝΟΣ Αφροδισιέως τῶν περὶ ΧΑΙΡΕΑΝ καὶ ΚΑΛΛΙΡΡΟΗΝ ΕΡΩΤΙΚΩΝ ΔΙΗΓΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΛΟΓΟΙ Η|language=el |year=1750 |publisher=Apud Petrus Mortier |location=Amsterdam }} The [[editio princeps|first printed edition]]. With [[Latin]] translation by Johann Jacob Reiske.
* {{cite book |last=Hirschig |first=Wilhelm Adrian |title=Erotici Scriptores |chapter-url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N028212 |chapter-format=PDF |access-date=2007-02-16 |year=1856 |publisher=Editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot |location=Paris |pages=413–503 |chapter=Charitonis Aphrodisiensis De Chǣrea et Callirrhoe }} With a reprint of Reiske's Latin translation.
* {{cite book |last=Hercher |first=Rudolf |author-link=Rudolf Hercher |title=Erotici Scriptores Graeci |year=1858–1859 |publisher=Leipzig }}
* {{cite book |last=Blake |first=Warren E. |title=Charitonis Aphrodisiensis De Chaerea et Callirhoe Amatoriarum Narrationum libri octo |year=1938 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford }}
* {{cite book |last=Molinié |first=Georges |others=revised by Alain Billault |title=Chariton: Le Roman de Chairéas et Callirhoé |orig-year=1979 |edition=2nd |series=[[Collection Budé|Collection des universités de France]] |year=1989 |publisher=Belles Lettres |location=Paris |isbn=2-251-00075-5 }} With French translation.
* {{cite book |last=Goold |first=G. P. |title=Chariton: Callirhoe |series=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |year=1995 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-99530-9 }} With English translation.
* {{cite book |last=Reardon |first=Bryan P. |title=De Callirhoe Narrationes Amatoriae Chariton Aphrodisiensis |series=Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana |year=2004 |publisher=K.G. Saur |isbn=3-598-71277-4 }} Reviewed in [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2005/2005-09-63.html BMCR]

=== English translations ===
* {{cite book |author=Anonymous |title=The Loves of Chǣreas and Callirrhoe |year=1764 |publisher=printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt |location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Blake |first=Warren E. |title=Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe |year=1939 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor}}
* {{cite book |last=Reardon |first=Bryan P. |editor=Bryan P. Reardon|title=Collected Ancient Greek Novels |year=1989 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn= 0-520-04306-5 |pages=17–124 |chapter=Chariton: Chǣreas and Callirhoe }}
* {{cite book |last=Goold |first=G. P. |title=Chariton: Callirhoe |series=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |year=1995 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-99530-9 }} With Greek text.
* {{cite book |last=Trzaskoma |first=Stephen M. |title=Two Novels from Ancient Greece: Chariton's Callirhoe and Xenophon of Ephesos' An Ephesian Story |year=2010 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company Inc. |location=Indianapolis/Cambridge, MA |isbn= 978-1-60384-192-4}}
{{refend}}

== See also ==
Other ancient Greek novelists:
* [[Xenophon of Ephesus]], The ''[[Ephesian Tale]]''
* [[Achilles Tatius]], ''[[Leucippe and Clitophon]]''
* [[Heliodorus of Emesa]], The ''[[Aethiopica]]''
* [[Longus]], ''[[Daphnis and Chloe]]''

== Notes ==
{{reflist|35em}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Perry |first=B. E. |year=1930 |title=Chariton and His Romance from a Literary-Historical Point of View |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=93–134 |doi=10.2307/289861 |publisher=The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 51, No. 2 |jstor=289861 |s2cid=165727612 }}
* Helms, J., (1966) ''Character Portrayal in Chariton'' (Paris/The Hague:Mouton)
* {{cite book |last=Schmeling |first=Gareth L. |title=Chariton |series=Twayne's world authors |year=1974 |publisher=Twayne Publishers |location=New York |isbn=0-8057-2207-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/chariton00gare }}
* {{cite journal |last=Reardon |first=B. P. |year=1982 |title=Theme, Structure and Narrative in Chariton |journal=Yale Classical Studies |volume=27 |pages=1–27 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |editor=Simon Swain|title=Oxford Readings in the Greek Novel |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-872189-5 |pages=163–188 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Hägg |first=Tomas |year=1987 |title=''Callirhoe'' and ''Parthenope'': The Beginnings of the Historical Novel |journal=Classical Antiquity |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=184–204 |doi=10.2307/25010867|jstor=25010867 }} Reprinted in {{cite book |editor=Simon Swain|title=Oxford Readings in the Greek Novel |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-872189-5 |pages=137–160 }}
* James N. O'Sullivan, Xenophon of Ephesus, Berlin-New York 1995, pp.&nbsp;145–170 (chapter on "Xenophon and Chariton").
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Steven D. |title=Greek Identity and the Athenian Past in Chariton: The Romance of Empire |series=Ancient Narrative Supplementum 9 |year=2007 |publisher=Barkhuis & Groningen University Library |location=Groningen |isbn=978-90-77922-28-6 }} Reviewed in [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2008/2008-03-25.html BMCR]
* {{cite book |last=Tilg |first=Stefan |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 }} Reviewed in [http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-03-23.html BMCR]
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Chariton}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Chariton |volume=5 |page=860 ||short=x}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050828070658/http://www.chss.montclair.edu/classics/petron/CHARITON.HTML Synopsis of the novel]
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Chariton&target=en&collections=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman Tufts University] – at the [[Perseus Project]], Hercher's edition of the Greek text

{{Ancient Greek novels}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek novelists]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:People from Aphrodisias]]