Heliodorus of Emesa
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Time and again, in the world's history, where East meets West, the spirit of romance has been born. Herodotus on his travels, Heliodorus carrying Ethiopian traditions to his bishopric, Apuleius the Carthaginian sojourning at Rome, are all parents of prose romance; and in mediaeval legend, Alexander in correspondence with the Brahmins, Charlemagne in conflict with the Moors, furnish the same unfailing inspiration."--The English Novel (1894) by Walter Raleigh |
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Heliodorus of Emesa, from Emesa, Syria, was a Greek writer generally dated to the third century AD who is known for the ancient Greek novel or romance called the Aethiopica (the Ethiopian Story) or sometimes "Theagenes and Chariclea".
According to his own statement, his father's name was Theodosius and he belonged to a family of priests of the sun. According to the ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (Hist. eccles. V. 22), the author of the Aethiopica was a certain Heliodorus, bishop of Tricca in Thessaly. It is supposed that the work was written in his early years before he became a Christian and that, when confronted with the alternative of disowning it or resigning his bishopric, he preferred resignation. But it is now generally agreed that the real author was a sophist of the 3rd century AD.
See also
Other ancient Greek novelists:
- Chariton - The Loves of Chaereas and Callirhoe
- Xenophon of Ephesus - The Ephesian Tale
- Achilles Tatius - Leucippe and Clitophon
- Longus - Daphnis and Chloe