Chariton Chaereas and Callirhoe 1.1
Classical
Hermocrates, ruler of Syracuse, victor over the Athenians, had a daughter named Callirhoe, a marvel of a girl and the idol of all Sicily. In fact her beauty was not so much human as divine, not that of a Nereid or mountain nymph, either, but of Aphrodite herself.
Date: 50-60 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Joseph and Aseneth 1:7
Pseudepigrapha
4 Now there was in that city a man, a satrap of Pharaoh; and this man was the chief of all Pharaoh’s satraps and lords. 5 And he was very rich, and wise, and generous, and he was Pharaoh’s counsellor, and his name was Pentephres; and he was the priest of Heliopolis. 6 And Pentephres had a virgin daughter of about eighteen years of age, tall and beautiful and graceful, more beautiful than any other virgin in the land. 7 And she was quite unlike the daughters of the Egyptians, but in every respect like the daughters of the Hebrews. 8 And she was as tall as Sarah, and as beautiful as Rebecca, and as fair as Rachel; and this virgin’s name was Aseneth.
Date: 100 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... Our second intertextual example is not from the Septuagint, but the Greek romance novels. By both its content and its themes, Joseph and Aseneth resembles the Greek romances. It has even been argued that the pseudepigraphon is either a prototype for later romances or itself an atypical romance novel. I don’t think either of these theses are quite right, but that’s a question for the Ancient Fiction section of the Annual Meeting, not ours. What’s significant for our purposes is that Joseph and Aseneth evokes tropes from this literary genre. And this results in thematic and lexical resonances between the two textual traditions. Xenophon’s Anthia and Habrocomes and Chariton’s Callirhoe will serve as our representative examples of the ideal novels. There are two tropes that Joseph and Aseneth shares with these texts ..."
Elder, Nicholas
Echoic Intertextuality in Mark and Joseph and Aseneth
(pp. 1-24) Society of Biblical Literature, 2017
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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