1939 Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe

Description

Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding, Scarce

Scarce work. A manuscript of a novel by Chariton, an Ancient Greek author. Evidence suggests that the novel may have been written in the mid first century AD, making it the oldest surviving complete prose romance and the only one to make use of historiographical features. The story is set in Syracuse, where Chaereas falls madly in love with the beautiful Callirhoe. The novel exists in one manuscript from the thirteenth century, not published until the eighteenth century, it is considered somewhat unreliable. It nevertheless provides an insight into the development of prose fiction and Hellenic culture during the time of the Roman Empire. Translated by Warren Everett Blake, an American professor at the University of Michigan.