The oldest European novels were written in ancient Greek during the first few centuries of the Common Era. Despite the gold rush towards these novels in the last two decades and the resurgence of interest in representations of character in literary studies, and Classical studies in particular, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring character and characterization in the ancient Greek novels.
This study analyzes the characterization of the protagonists in the five extant, so-called "ideal" Greek novels (those of Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus)....