¹ Morgan, J. R, ‘The Story of Knemon in Heliodoros' Aithiopika’, JHS 109 (1989), 112CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Dowden, K., ‘Heliodoros: Serious Intentions’, CQ 46 (1996), 267–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar, is right in maintaining that this antithesis ‘is surely underwritten to some extent by the Platonic distinction between Heavenly and Pandemic Love’ (269) and in insisting, contrary to J. J. Winkler, that Heliodorus' mystic overtones are seriously meant. Jones, M., ‘Heavenly and Pandemic Names in Heliodorus' Aethiopica’, CQ 56 (2006), 548–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar, asserts that Heliodorus' selection of his characters' names is intended to underscore this distinction.

² See also Fusillo, M., Naissance du roman (Paris, 1991), 148Google Scholar.

³ Cf. Laplace, M., ‘Theatre et romanesque dans les Ethiopiques d'Heliodore: le romanesque antitragique d'un discours panégyrique’, RhM 144 (2001), 390–2Google Scholar.

⁴ On the differences and similarities in the erotic symptoms of Charicleia and Arsake see Morgan, J. R., ‘Narrative Doublets in Heliodorus' Aithiopika’, in Hunter, R. (ed.), Studies in Heliodorus (Cambridge, 1998), 65–6Google Scholar.

⁵ As far as I know, there is only one instance in which the author differentiates love from desire. When he refers to Theagenes' effort to restrain himself sexually in front of his beloved, Heliodorus comments that ‘he was slave to love, but master of desire’ (ἔρωτος μὲν ἐλάττων ἡδονῆς δὲ κρείττων γινόμενος, Heliod. Aeth. 5.4.5). We may maintain that this phrase encapsulates the predominant antithesis between pure love and illicit desire.

⁶ In that respect, it is interesting to see the alteration of the customary oath motif: instead of vowing to remain faithful to each other, Theagenes (after Charicleia's incitement) takes an oath to respect her chastity (Heliod. Aeth. 4.18.5–6). This he willingly does; even when the protagonists find themselves alone, they confine themselves to virginal caresses and kisses (5.4.4–5). The heroine's attachment to the ideal of chastity is such that, even when she calls her absent beloved to appear in her dream, she prompts him to respect her virginity until the time of their lawful marriage (6.8.6). Furthermore, the writer himself extols that particular virtue of Charicleia by having her look more beautiful than ever at the precise moment when her chastity is proven in front of the Ethiopian people during the ordeal of the gridiron (10.9.3–4). However, it is her chastity and the extreme modesty which is its result that puts the life of Theagenes in danger, because of her repeatedly stressed inability to confess her feelings for him to her parents.

⁷ See Keul-Deutscher, M., ‘Heliodorstudien II: Die Liebe in den Aithiopika’, RhM 140 (1997), 357–8Google Scholar.

⁸ For example, when Theagenes and Charicleia embrace each other, Heliodorus comments twice that it was like they were one body (Heliod. Aeth. 2.6.3 and 5.4.5), which might allude to the myth that Aristophanes recounts in Plato's Symposium (189c–193d), thus suggesting that the protagonists have found their other half. The most obvious Platonic overtone appears, of course, when Heliodorus describes the couple's love at first sight (3.5.4–5); see the respective comments of the Budé edition and Létoublon, F., Les lieux communs du roman. Stéréotypes grecs d'aventure et d'amour (Leiden, 1993), 138Google Scholar. Zeitlin, F., ‘Religion’, in Whitmarsh, T. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel (Cambridge 2008), 93Google Scholar, wonders whether the above passage ‘exploits erotic paradigms and conventions under the umbrella of divinity to enhance a sentimental and sensationalist story’.

⁹ See Anderson, G., Ancient Fiction. The Novel in the Greco-Roman World (London and Sydney, 1984), 69Google Scholar, where he remarks: ‘Here as elsewhere it is tempting to feel that Heliodorus' canvas is just too large to allow him to control his characters with absolute consistency: they tend to be sacrificed to the opportunity for intrigue, surprise and, above all, sanctity'. Another possible explanation is that the author consciously applies the technique of restricted focalization at this point, so as to render Thyamis' action more plausible.

¹⁰ We had previously been informed that Cnemon's father, Aristippus, had been condemned to exile and confiscation of his property (Heliod. Aeth. 2.9.3–4; see also 6.2.4).

¹¹ Calasiris uses every means possible in order to achieve this purpose, although I would not go as far as Baumbach, M., ‘Die Meroe-Episode in Heliodors Aithiopika’, RhM 140 (1997), 333–41Google Scholar, who suggests that Calasiris' report of his meeting with Persinna in Ethiopia is actually an invented story in order to convince Charicleia to follow him to Meroe.

¹² See Anderson, M. J., ‘The Σωφροσύνη of Persinna and the Romantic Strategy of Heliodorus' Aethiopica’, CPh 92 (1997), 312Google Scholar.

¹³ At least, this is Calasiris' pretext for obtaining the band from Charicles (Heliod. Aeth. 4.7.13). His real reason is his desire to find out the destination of the journey that had been dictated by the oracle (4.5.1). However, it is highly improbable that the Egyptian sage would have been in a position to read the band had not the heroine fallen in love; thus the pretext serves to underline the connection between love and the discovery of the self.

¹⁴ On the functions of the supernatural in the novel, see Pinheiro, M. P. Futre, ‘Fonctions du surnaturel dans les Éthiopiques d'Héliodore’, BAGB (1991), 359–81Google Scholar. Apart from that, we must stress that the very fate of Charicleia is divinely determined: first, her conception was dictated by the gods, since Hydaspis had intercourse with Persinna after having been ordered to do so by a dream (4.8.4); and, secondly, the gods have not blessed the Ethiopian royal couple with another child, rendering it thus part of Charicleia's fate to become the heir to the throne.

¹⁵ The interplay between chance, divine providence, and the positive attributes of the primary couple's characters is best illustrated at Heliod. Aeth. 8.16. It is by chance that they encounter a squad of the Ethiopian army that will lead them to Charicleia's homeland, but it is by their own will that they surrender to it, since Theagenes rightly judges that the dream he had seen the night before is now fulfilled. Apart from sound judgement, they display kindness, as they refuse to abandon the eunuch Bagoas, who had treated them well.

¹⁶ On the significance and the associations of the blazing torch, see P. Hardie, ‘A Reading of Heliodorus, Aithiopika 3.4.1–5.2’, in Hunter (n. 4), 39.

¹⁷ This suggestion might be reinforced by Núñez, L., ‘Les Πάθη d'un narrateur: le cas des Éthiopiques’, in Pouderon, B. and Bost-Pouderon, C. (eds.), Passions, vertus et vices dans l'ancien roman (Lyon, 2009), 403Google Scholar, who remarks that, at this point, the narrator speaks as if he, too, is an initiate.

¹⁸ Most, G., ‘Allegory and Narrative in Heliodorus', in Swain, S., Harrison, S., and Elmer, J. (eds.) Severan Culture (Cambridge, 2007), 165Google Scholar, asserts that ‘if there is one ancient Greek romance of which it might indeed be claimed with some plausibility that it was intended consciously as an allegory, it is Heliodorus' Aethiopian Tale'. On Heliodorus' familiarity with Platonist allegorical interpretation, see Sandy, G. N., ‘Characterization and Philosophical Décor in Heliodorus' Aethiopica’, TAPhA 112 (1982), 166–7Google Scholar, although I cannot agree with his contention that philosophy in this novel functions as décor rather than as message. On the allegoric nature of the Aethiopica, see further Whitmarsh, T., Narrative and Identity in the Ancient Greek Novel (Cambridge, 2011) 129–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ On the Homeric influence of Heliodorus, see Feuillatre, E., Études sur les Éthiopiques d'Héliodore (Paris, 1966), 105–14Google Scholar; Garson, R. W., ‘Notes on Some Homeric Echoes in Heliodorus' Aethiopica’, AClass 18 (1975), 137–40Google Scholar; and Sandy, G. N., Heliodorus (Boston, MA, 1982), 85–8Google Scholar.

²⁰ See, for example, Ricoeur, P., ‘Narrative Time’, Critical Inquiry 7 (1980), 179CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the other hand, R. Hunter, ‘The Aithiopika of Heliodorus: Beyond Interpretation’, in Hunter (n. 4), 50, maintains that this novel dramatizes the necessity to choose between multiple hermeneutic paths and the reasons why we make different choices, which are formed by our desires.

²¹ The Aethiopica has previously been compared to Plato's Phaedrus by Hani, J., ‘Le personnage de Charicleia dans les Éthiopiques: incarnation de l'idéal moral et religieux d'une époque’, BAGB (1978), 271Google Scholar, and by Keul-Deutscher, M., ‘Heliodorstudien I: Die Schönheit in den Aithiopika’, RhM 139 (1996), 331–2Google Scholar, although in both cases the context is different. On the other hand, Dowden (n. 1), 280, associates the novel with Plotinus' Ennead on Beauty (1.6).

²² For a thorough discussion of fact and fiction in Heliodorus' portrayal of Ethiopia, see Hägg, T., ‘The Black Land of the Sun: Meroe in Heliodoros’ Romantic Fiction’, Graeco-Arabica 7–8 (2000), 195–220Google Scholar.

²³ Elmer, D. F., ‘Heliodoros’ “Sources”: Intertextuality, Paternity, and the Nile River in the Aithiopika’, TAPhA 138 (2008), 424Google Scholar, maintains that Heliodorus was inspired by Herodotus in painting the portrait of Hydaspes.

²⁴ Winkler, J. J., ‘The Mendacity of Calasiris and the Narrative Strategy of Heliodoros’ Aithiopika’, YClS 27 (1982), 152Google Scholar, suggests that this is the real religious message of the novel, namely ‘that the gods have fashioned the entire plot of Charikleia's life in order to convince the Aithiopian people to abolish their paternal rite of human sacrifice’. See also Billault, A., La création romanesque dans la littérature grecque à l' époque impériale (Paris, 1991), 229–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁵ See Laplace, M., ‘Les Éthiopiques d'Héliodore, ou la genèse d’ un panégyrique de l'amour’, REA 94 (1992), 211–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁶ It also represents the very identity of the author, who is of Eastern origin and writes in Greek.

²⁷ See Colonna, A., Heliodori Aethiopica (Roma, 1938), 368Google Scholar. On Philip's essay on Heliodorus, see Lamberton, R., Homer the Theologian. Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition (Los Angeles, CA, 1986) 148–57Google Scholar, who considers it as dependent on Plotinus and on the Christian tradition; and Hunter, R., ‘Philip the Philosopher on the Aithiopika of Heliodorus', in Harrison, S., Paschalis, M., and Frangoulidis, S. (eds.), Metaphor and the Ancient Novel (Groningen, 2005), 123–38Google Scholar, who believes that it is an anticipation of modern critical practice.

²⁸ Merkelbach, R., Roman und Mysterium in der Antike (Munich, 1962), 234–98Google Scholar.

²⁹ For a sound criticism of Merkelbach's overall argument on the connection of the ancient novels and mystery religions, a criticism that does not disregard the argument's merits, see Beck, R., ‘Mystery Religions, Aretalogy and the Ancient Novel’, in Schmeling, G. (ed.), The Novel in the Ancient World (Leiden, 1996), 131–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁰ For a reading of the Greek novels' construction as a reflection of a rite of passage to adulthood see Lalanne, S., Une Éducation Grecque. Rites de Passage et Construction des Genres dans le Roman Grec Ancien (Paris 2006)Google Scholar.