Editing Heliodorus of Emesa

{{short description|3rd/4th century Greco-Roman writer}}
[[File:Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica, Venice, Gr. 410.jpg|thumb|A manuscript of the ''Aethiopica'' (Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Gr. 410, fol. 94v)]]
'''Heliodorus Emesenus''' or '''Heliodorus of Emesa''' ({{langx|grc|Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἐμεσηνός}}) is the author of the [[ancient Greek novel]] called the ''[[Aethiopica]]'' ({{lang|grc|Αἰθιοπικά}}) or ''Theagenes and Chariclea'' ({{lang|grc|Θεαγένης καὶ Χαρίκλεια}}), which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lane Fox|first=Robin|author-link=Robin Lane Fox|year=1989|title=Pagans and Christians|page=118|url=https://archive.org/details/PagansAndChristians/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Identification==
He identifies himself at the end of his work as
{{blockquote|a [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] from Emesa [modern [[Homs]], Syria], of the line of [[Helios]] [also translated as: 'from the race of the sun'<ref name="Whitmarsh 72">{{cite book|last=Whitmarsh|first=Tim|year=2008|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel|page=72}}</ref>], Theodosius' son Heliodorus<ref name="Cambridge 136">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Classical Literature|volume=1, part 4|year=1993|orig-year=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vx2gJyWxrtMC|isbn=0521359848|page=136 |last1=Easterling |first1=P. E. |author-link=P. E. Easterling |last2=Knox |first2=B. M. W. |author2-link=Bernard Knox |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>}}

According to Tim Whitmarsh, 'from the race of the sun' "looks like a claim to hereditary priesthood," though "uncertainties" remain.<ref name="Whitmarsh 72"/> According to ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature'', "the personal link here established between the writer and Helios has also a literary purpose, as has Calasiris' flashback narrative"<ref name="Cambridge 136"/> {{crossreference|(see {{section link|Aethiopica|Plot summary}})}}.
The later tradition maintaining that Heliodorus had become a Christian bishop is likely fictional.<ref name="Whitmarsh 72"/>{{efn|The 5th-century [[Socrates of Constantinople]] identifies the author of the ''Aethiopica'' with a Heliodorus, bishop of [[Trikka]], but the name [[Heliodorus]] was a common one. In the 14th century, [[Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos]] expanded this narrative, relating that the work was written in the early years of this bishop before he became a [[Christians|Christian]] and that, when forced either to disown it or resign his bishopric, he preferred resignation. Most scholars reject this identification.<ref>Holzberg, Niklas. ''The Ancient Novel''. 1995. p. 78; Bowersock, Glanwill W. ''The Aethiopica of Heliodorus and the Historia Augusta''. In: ''Historiae Augustae Colloquia'' n.s. 2, ''Colloquium Genevense 1991''. p. 43. In ''Historiae Augustae Colloquium Genevense'', 1991; Wright, F.A. ''Introduction to Aethiopica''., n.d.; Glenn Most, "Allegory and narrative in Heliodorus," in Simon Swain, Stephen Harrison, [[Jas Elsner]] (eds.), ''Severan Culture'' (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007).</ref>}}

Quoting Richard L. Hunter,
{{blockquote|The Emesenes were a culturally complex group, including [[Arab]], [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] and [[Greeks|Greek]] elements, and, since the third century at any rate, having a connection with the Roman imperial household (the empress [[Julia Domna]] was from Emesa, as was the cult of [[Elagabal]] which inspired the emperor [[Elagabalus|Heliogabalus]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunter|first=Richard L. Hunter|year=1998|title=Studies in Heliodorus|page=97}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Emesene dynasty]]
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]]''

==Notes==
{{notes}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Heliodorus|volume=13|page=223}}
*Heliodoros, ''Aithiopika'', ed. [[Robert Rattenbury|Robert Mantle Rattenbury]], Thomas Wallace Lumb (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, three volumes, 1935–1943)

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author|id=45087}}
* [http://www.elfinspell.com/HeliodorusMyIntro.html ''Aethiopica'' (English translation)] at Elfinspell

{{Ancient Greek novels}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:3rd-century writers]]
[[Category:4th-century Greek writers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek novelists]]
[[Category:People from Homs]]
[[Category:Phoenician writers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:3rd-century people]]