Prose fiction, although not always associated with classical antiquity, flourished in the early Roman Empire, not only in realistic Latin novels but also and indeed principally in the Greek ideal romance of love and adventure. Enormously popular in the Renaissance, these stories have been less familiar in later centuries. Translations of the Greek stories were not readily available in English before B.P. Reardon’s first appeared in 1989.Nine complete stories are included here as well as ten others, encompassing the whole range of classical themes: romance, travel, adventure, historical fiction, and comic parody. A foreword by J.R. Morgan examines the enormous impact this groundbreaking collection has had on our understanding of classical thought and our concept of the novel.
B.P. Reardon (1928–2009) was Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of California, Irvine.
J.R. Morgan is Professor Emeritus of Arts and Letters at Swansea University.
“This volume of translations has no English predecessor or foreign equal. B.P. Reardon has miraculously resurrected serious study of this oddly neglected literature.”—Choice
“The translations, done by a variety of experts, aim at readability, and their effect is uniformly pleasing.”—The Classical World
“This is the first collection in English of the various Greek novels. These collected translations, together with the scholarly introductions, form a most eloquent invitation to join the increasing group of students of the ancient Greek novels, and will be an indispensable tool for students as well as teachers.”—Mnemosyne
“The value of this collection as a teaching tool cannot be underestimated. It is to be hoped that the existence of all the ancient novels in competent modern translations will make possible the fuller study of these fascinating texts by theorists of the (modern) novel.”—Phoenix
984 pp.5 x 7.75
9780520305595$34.95|£30.00Paper
May 2019