Heliodorus of Emesa, from Emesa, Syria, was a Greek writer generally dated in the 3rd century of the Common Era, and is known for the ancient Greek romance or novel 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 of the Common Era.

The Aethiopica

The Aethiopica was first brought to light during Renaissance times in a manuscript from the library of Matthias Corvinus, found at the sack of Buda (today the western part of Budapest) in 1526, and printed at Basel in 1534. Other codices have since been discovered. It was first translated into French by the celebrated translator Jacques Amyot in 1547. It was first translated into English in 1569 by Thomas Underdowne, who used the 1551 Latin translation of Stanislaus Warschewiczki to create his Aethiopian Historie.

The "Aethiopica" is indepted to the works of Homer and Euripides. The title is taken from the fact that the action of the beginning and end of the story takes place in Ethiopia. The daughter of Porsine, wife of Hydaspes, king of Ethiopia, was born white through the effect of the sight of a marble statue upon the queen during pregnancy. Fearing an accusation of adultery, the mother gives the babe to the care of Sisimithras, a gymnosophist, who carries her to Egypt and places her in charge of Charicles, a Pythian priest. The child is taken to Delphi, and made a priestess of Apollo under the name of Chariclea. Theagenes, a noble Thessalian, comes to Delphi and the two fall in love with each other. He carries off the priestess with the help of Calasiris, an Egyptian, employed by Persine to seek for her daughter. Then follow many perils from pirates, bandits, and others—but the chief personages ultimately meet at Meroe at the very moment when Chariclea is about to be sacrificed to the gods by her own father. Her birth is made known, and the lovers are happily married.

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The rapid succession of events, the variety of the characters, the graphic descriptions of manners and of natural scenery, and the simplicity and elegance of the style give the Aethiopica great charm. But what has been regarded as most remarkable is that the novel opens in the middle of the story ("in medias res") with a mystery that is solved for the reader only through a complex thread of retrospective narratives or dialogues in which various characters describe their adventures. This feature makes the Aethiopica stand out from all the other ancient Greek romances.

Influence of the Aethiopica

Heliodorus' novel was immensely influencial and was imitated by Byzantine Greeks and by French, Italian, and Spanish writers. The structure, events and themes of the European adventure novel of the first half of the seventeenth century -- Mme de Scudéry, Gomberville, Cervantes ( in his Persiles y Sigismunda) -- were directly modeled on Heliodorus's work and this influence continued to be felt in the eighteenth century novel (especially in those having a "tale within a tale" structure).

The 17th century French dramatist Racine claimed that Heliodorus' novel was his favorite book and when, after the author had joined the ascetic Janseanist retreat Port-Royal and the book had been repeatedly taken away from him, Racine is reported to have finally said that the loss of the book no longer mattered, as he had already memorized it.

The early life of Clorinda in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (canto xii. 21 sqq.) is almost identical with that of Chariclea.