In:The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 197–205
Chapter 13Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe as a puella docta
Published online: 1 December 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.13kan
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.13kan
Abstract
Unlike other heroines of the Greek romantic novels, who
are consistently chaste, the heroine of Achilles Tatius’ novel
Leucippe and Clitophon displays a (temporary) lack of
sexual reticence; she also possesses musical talent. These features are
central to her characterization in the novel’s first two books, which,
incidentally, bear the distinct influence of Roman love elegy. It is argued
here that Leucippe is purposedly fashioned in the early part of the novel as
a puella docta, the type of idealised artistic lady with
libertine traits that arouses erotic passion in the Augustan love poets. In
the novel’s later books, on the other hand, her characterization conforms to
a more conventional image.
Keywords: Achilles Tatius, Greek novel, Roman elegy, puella docta
References (17)
Brethes, R. (2007). De
l’idéalisme au réalisme. Une étude du comique dans le roman
grec (préf. [en anglais]
de David Konstan). Salerno: Helios.
Christenson, D. (2000). Callinus
and Militia Amoris in Achilles Tatius’
Leucippe and
Cleitophon. CQ, 50(2), 631–632.
De Temmerman, K. (2014). Crafting
Characters: Heroes and Heroines in the Ancient Greek
Novel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hemelrijk, E. A. (1999). Matrona
docta: Educated Women in the Roman Elite from Cornelia to Julia
Domna. London / New York: Routledge.
James, S. L. (2003). Learned
Girls and Male Persuasion. Gender and Reading in Roman Love
Elegy. Berkeley / L.A. / London: University of California Press.
Jones, M. (2012). Playing
the Man: Performing Masculinities in the Ancient Greek
Novel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Konstan, D. (1994). Sexual
Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and Related
Genres. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Repath, I. (2005). Achilles
Tatius’ Leucippe and Cleitophon: What Happened
Next? CQ, 55(1), 250–265.
(2013). Yours
Truly? Letters in Achilles
Tatius. In O. Hodkinson, P. A. Rosenmeyer, & E. Bracke (Eds.), Epistolary
Narratives in Ancient Greek
Literature (pp. 237–262). Leiden / Boston: Brill.
Wheeler, A. L. (1910). Erotic
Teaching in the Roman Elegy and the Greek Sources. Part
I. CPh, 5(4), 440–450.
