Dean of the College and Classical Studies Program Present

NOTE: New location  |  The End of Exoticism in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica

NOTE: New location 
Griffins, giraffes, giants, and gymnosophists (naked sages): these are just a few features of the exoticism on display in Heliodorus’ Ethiopian Story (Aethiopica, written 3^rd/4^th century CE). The latest, longest, and grandest of the Greek novels, the Aethiopica has won many fans, from the renaissance humanist Angelo Poliziano to Racine to Cervantes. Heliodorus’ narrative shows us how the literary horizons of the Roman empire ignited a very particular Greek fictional imaginary about the edges of the earth, and, long before the likes of Said, it leads us to the heart of an exoticizing ethnographic discourse and a discussion of cultural difference. Focusing on the narrative of the tenth and final book of the Aethiopica, I argue that this book represents both the heights of the genre’s exoticism and also, paradoxically, its undoing. The conclusion of the novel, I propose, marks an end in more than one sense, completing a ritual, completing a narrative, and, in a way, completing a genre by transforming its paradigms. As this novel traverses—and writes—the Mediterranean world, I show that it constructs the identity of humans, cultures, and genres, all the while creating social, cultural, and literary networks in the Roman imperial period.

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 4:30 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 205

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