Customer Reviews

Chariton: Callirhoe (Loeb Classical Library No. 481)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This lively and fluently written story contains all the ingredients of a modern bookstall love story: jealousy, apparent death, kidnapping, war, slavery, assault on chastity and ultimately ... true love and a happy marriage.

Callirhoe: My damned beauty is the cause of my misfortune.

Like most of the theatre plays in the Ancient World, novels like this one were an evasion out of the difficult and dangerous living conditions. It is clear that kidnapped beautiful girls didn't have the same ultimate fortune of Callirhoe.
New here is that her jealous husband is the cause of her misfortune, whereas normally it are the parents or another member of the family.
This book is still a worth-while read and gives a good picture of the living conditions at that time. The psychology is more than just a black and white portrait.

This is a great edition of a frankly flat work. I've read several Hellenistic 'erotica,' and found this to be the dullest yet. However, I want to emphasize that Goold has done a great job of translating, introducing and editing this text. HIs thoughtful footnotes were especially appreciated.