Institutional realia in Chariton's Callirhoe historical and contemporary elements

Abstract

Chariton's novel Callirhoe is the oldest in a series a five extant ancient Greek novels. Since Callirhoe shows some of the main characteristics of what modern literary theory would call a 'historical novel', any historical approach of the novel is fundamentally determined by the historical layers that can be distinguished in the story. In the text of Chariton there is a permanent tension between fifth century elements, consciously introduced by the author in the historical setting, and contemporary (anachronistic and unconscious) influences. To examine in what proportion the historical and contemporary elements appear within a specific domain, I will focus on the institutional realia. After some preliminary explorations I will indicate briefly the relevant passages in Chariton's text. Then, the actual historical analysis of the institutional framework will be conducted. This analysis is classified geographically and tries to find some regularity in the way Chariton presents his 'historical' material.