The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre

Although the earliest manuscripts are in Latin, The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre follows many of the conventions of the Ancient Greek romance. Deux ex machina, piracy, threats to the chastity of heroines, adventures around the Mediterranean, intervention of the gods, separation and reunion of lovers, and a happy ending structure the narrative of this short text, or "novella."  Thus, this short tale is closer to the Greek romances than the famous story of Apuleius or Petronius's Satyricon. Interestingly, the initial princess Apollonius of Tyre wished to wed is erased from the narrative after our hero solves the riddle of her incestuous/rapist father, so he could wed an "unspoiled" virgin princess from Pentapolis, Cyrene. 

Perhaps this had to be done so the righteous king of Tyre could wed a virgin, although one wishes there had been something done on behalf of Antiochus's daughter. There are also seemingly Christian invocations of God and Biblically-inspired language, although it coexists uneasily with the presence of Neptune, Diana, Priapus, and other pagan gods. It could very well be the Christian-sounding aspects of the tale were inserted with the Latin translations after the completion of the Vulgate. Gerald Sandy's translation also does a great job capturing the spirit of the times in which these characters lived, their values, and rendering the prose more readable. Of course, a translator can only do so much with a text that was plagued with awkwardness in its original language and the conventions and cliches of its in Antiquity. 

Yet, it feels so incomplete. What was Apollonius doing in Egypt for 14 years? If he abandoned his royal status to become a merchant, are we to assume he was engaged in trade in Egypt and the Mediterranean all this time? And does his return to kingship after the inevitable reunion with his wife and daughter represent the triumph of nobility and kingship over inferior groups such as merchants? As a ruler, he does prove himself as a benefactor who donates to the public treasury of Tarsus and urban restoration. If the Greek primary material was longer than this, perhaps we are missing some of the additional episodes in the text, which would have added another layer of adventures or wonder to the tale. 

Leucippe and Clitophon

Leucippe and Clitophon seems to be unique among the extant ancient Greek "novels" for its use of a first-person narrator, who tells his tale to the initial narrator in the beginning of the text. In other respects, it is quite similar to the other Greek romances in that two young people fall in love at first sight but must endure a number of trials before consummating their relationship in proper marriage. The virtue of virginity for maidens and the intervention of the deities (especially Eros, Aphrodite, Artemis and Poseidon) or deus ex machina are, as in Heliodorus's novel, prolific. The author, Achilles Tatius of Alexandria, is believed to have composed the romance in the early 1st century of our era, thus predating Helidorus but drawing on similar precedents from earlier texts and Greek literature and mythology. In addition, Achilles Tatius is a master of vivid prose describing works of art, as well as the wondrous Nile of his Egyptian homeland. 

Though the kissing cousins are of Tyre and Byzantium, it is in Egypt where their most exotic and exciting escapades occur. Menelaus, the Egyptian native and proponent of pederasty (like Clinias, a cousin of Clitophon who loses his lover, Charicles), becomes a guide of sorts, a familiar Other who assists Clitophon, Leucippe, Clinias, and Satyrus for their survival in exotic Egypt. Achilles Tatius has them fend off dark-skinned bandits in the Nile Delta (not as black as Indians, but akin to "half-caste Ethiopians"), witness battles between the Egyptian army and said bandits, experience the lighthouse at Pharos near Alexandria, and hear descriptions of elephants while gazing upon the fauna of the Nile, particularly the crocodile and hippopotamus. In cosmopolitan Alexandria, Clitophon, believing Leucippe dead for the umpteenth time, agrees to marry Melite, a wealthy presumed widow of Ephesus, shifting the story's center away from Egypt for the final denouement and reunion of the the two lovers. 

But let us return to the Egyptian exoticism and African references in the tale. The Nile itself becomes a character, as its waters and the soil of the delta converge and separate, creating the marshes, streams, and lakes of the Delta region. In Tatius's novel, the legendary phoenix, which lives upriver in "Ethiopia," land associated with the Sun, comes to Egypt to die and thus reaffirms the cycle of life from the Nile's origins in the land of the Sun to Egypt. Egypt is a land of wonders (fauna, Alexandria), of horrors (a fake human sacrifice to appease the bandits is organized by Menelaus and Satyrus) and, I would argue, where the debased nature of Thersander of Ephesus is compared to the bestial bandits and conniving characters lusting for Leucippe (Chaereas, Charmides). The Egyptian setting occupies a central middle part of the narrative, after the elopement of Leucippe and Clitophon from Tyre and the subsequent shipwreck, thus, the exotic world(s) of the Nile presents the otherworldly ordeals of the two lovers must persevere against to achieve their union.

Lucian of Samosata's A True Story

Enjoy a short video on an ancient science fiction story. This story has everything, including space travel, extraterrestrials, and wonder.