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AGATHOS DAIMÔN IN CHARITON'S CHAEREAS AND CALLIRHOE (5.1.6, 5.7.10): SOME RAMIFICATIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2019

Daniel Jolowicz*
Affiliation:
Clare Hall, Cambridge

Extract

In this article I make three interrelated claims about Chariton's use of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων in connection with the protagonist Chaereas, who is believed to be dead. First, that it reflects a funerary formula peculiar to inscriptions from Caria, and therefore potentially supports the author's declaration to be a native of Aphrodisias in Caria; second, that the use of this funerary formula suggests an awareness of events subsequent to the death of Nero (especially the series of false Neros), which has ramifications for the novel's date, use of imperial history, and ideological thrust; and third, that numismatic evidence from Alexandria supports an association between Chaereas and Nero.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2019 

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Footnotes

I would like to extend my gratitude to Ewen Bowie and Richard Hunter, who read and commented on drafts of this piece. I would also like to thank Joyce Reynolds for discussing Aphrodisias with me, and Graham Andrews for assisting me with Dio Cassius. CQ’s anonymous reader provided me with many points for consideration, for which I am extremely grateful.

References

1 For the sake of consistency I do not capitalize the initials.

2 Χαρίτων Ἀφροδισιεύς, Ἀθηναγόρου τοῦ ῥήτορος ὑπογραφεύς, πάθος ἐρωτικὸν ἐν Συρακούσαις γενόμενον διηγήσομαι (1.1.1). For the hypothesis that ‘Chariton of Aphrodisias’ might be a pseudonymous invention appropriate for an erotic novelist, see Rohde, E., Der griechische Roman und seine Vorläufer (Leipzig, 1914 3 [1876]), 520 n. 2Google Scholar.

3 The only other novelist to contain a combination of δαίμων and ἀγαθός is Achilles Tatius (δαίμων τις ἀγαθός, 3.5.1; δαίμων δέ τις ἀγαθός, 3.20.2), for whom it has the sense of ‘beneficent personal guardian’, i.e. ‘a stroke of good luck’, on which see the fundamental article by Ganschinietz, R., ‘Agathodaimon’, RE Suppl. III (Stuttgart, 1918), 3759, at 40Google Scholar. Yatromanolakis, Y., Leukippē kai Kleitophōn: Eisagōgē, Metaphrasē, Scholia (Athens, 1990), 638Google Scholar, on Ach. Tat. 3.20.2, explains it as a function of narrative convenience, citing Hägg, T., Narrative Technique in Ancient Greek Romance: Studies of Chariton, Xenophon Ephesius, and Achilles Tatius (Stockholm, 1971), 237Google Scholar. Alperowitz, M., Das Wirken und Walten der Götter im griechischen Roman (Heidelberg, 1992), 6772Google Scholar discusses the formulation δαίμων τις in the novels and concludes that it roughly overlaps with the concept of Tyche. For further discussion of divine apparatus in Chariton, see Weißenberger, M., ‘Der “Götterapparat” im Roman des Chariton’, in Picone, M. and Zimmermann, B. (edd.), Der antike Roman und seine mittelalterliche Rezeption (Basel and Boston, 1997), 4973CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Baier, T., ‘Die Funktion der Götter bei Chariton’, WJA 23 (1999), 101–14Google Scholar.

4 The text is the Teubner edition of Reardon, B.P., Chariton Aphrodisiensis: De Callirhoe narrationes amatoriae (Munich, 2004)Google Scholar. The translation is that of Trzaskoma, S.M., Two Novels from Ancient Greece: Callirhoe and An Ephesian Story (Indianapolis and Cambridge, 2010)Google Scholar.

5 Key overviews on demonology include Nowak, H., Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Begriffes Daimon. Eine Untersuchung epigraphischer Zeugnisse vom 5 Jh. v. Chr. bis zum 5. Jh. n. Chr. (Bonn, 1960)Google Scholar; Stramaglia, A., Res inauditae, incredulae: Storie di fantasmi nel mondo greco-latino (Bari, 1999), 1621Google Scholar; Baltes, M., Johnston, S. and Habermehl, P., ‘Demonology’, BNP (Leiden and Boston, 2004), 275–9Google Scholar; Maul, S., Jansen-Winkeln, K., Niehr, H., Macuch, M. and Johnston, S., ‘Demons’, BNP (Leiden and Boston, 2004), 279–86Google Scholar. On demonology in the Imperial period, see Brenk, F.E., ‘In the light of the moon: demonology in the Early Imperial period’, ANRW 2.16.3 (1986), 2068–145Google Scholar.

6 e.g. Pl. Symp. 202d–e; Resp. 540b; Cra. 398b–c. The concept ultimately derives from the shadowy Socratic δαιμόνιον (Pl. Ap. 40a; Tht. 151a; Xen. Mem. 1.1.2; Plut. De gen.; Apul. De deo Soc.).

7 Key overviews on the ἀγαθὸς δαίμων include Ganschinietz (n. 3); Ganschinietz, R., De Agathodaemone (Warsaw, 1919)Google Scholar; Graf, F., ‘Agathos Daimon’, BNP (Leiden and Boston, 2002), 319Google Scholar.

8 e.g. Ar. Eq. 85; Vesp. 525; Pax 300. Ganschinietz (n. 7), 17–32 lists and discusses all known literary examples; cf. Tolles, D., The Banquet-Libations of the Greeks (Ann Arbor, 1943), 7790Google Scholar. Sokolowski, F., Lois sacrées des cités grecques: Supplément (Paris, 1962), no. 68Google Scholar records the presence of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων in a small temple of Dionysus in fourth-century b.c.e. Thasos.

9 Plepelits, K. (ed.), Chariton von Aphrodisias: Kallirhoe (Stuttgart, 1976), 179Google Scholar and Montero, C. Ruiz, ‘Caritón de Afrodisias y el mundo real’, in Furiani, P. Liviabella and Scarcella, A.M. (edd.), Piccolo mondo antico: le donne, gli amori, i costumi, il mondo reale nel romanzo antico (Naples, 1989), 106–49, at 128Google Scholar suggest that Chariton exhibits awareness of the Roman genius loci when Mithridates says φοβοῦμαι καὶ τὴν Τύχην τοῦ τόπου (4.4.4).

10 Ganschinietz (n. 3), 42–3; id. (n. 7), 5–11; Robert, L., Hellenica 9 (Paris, 1950), 5663Google Scholar. For epigraphically attested examples of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων in the context of private cult (with ἀγαθὴ τύχη), see Sokolowski, F., Lois sacrées de l'Asie Mineure (Paris, 1955), no. 20 line 10 and no. 72 lines 9, 35Google Scholar (with the discussion of Laumonier, A., Les cultes indigènes en Carie [Paris, 1958], 638–9)Google Scholar; Sokolowski, F., Lois sacrées des cités grecques (Paris, 1969), no. 134 lines 4–5Google Scholar. Laumonier, A., ‘Inscriptions de Carie’, BCH 58 (1934), 291380, at 367–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar argues that, in this context, ἀγαθὸς δαίμων and ἀγαθὴ τύχη superintend over the living and the dead respectively. The two divinities share a sacred building in Lebadeia (Paus. 9.39.5), on which see Bonnechere, P., Trophonios de Lébadée. Cultes et mythes d'une cité béotienne au miroir de la mentalité antique (Leiden, 2003), 233–6Google Scholar.

11 There are three examples of funereal ἀγαθὸς δαίμων in the singular: one from Iasos (IIasos 370) and two from Mylasa (IMylasa 443, 472); though see Laumonier (n. 10 [1934]), 327 no. 11, for reservations about δαίμονος ἀγαθοῦ being in grammatical apposition to the deceased man in IMylasa 443 because of their separation by a sampi.

12 The exceptions are: two from Rhodes (A. Maiuri, ‘Nuove iscrizioni greche dalle Sporadi meridionali’, ASAA 2 [1916], 125–79, at 163 no. 99, undated; A. Maiuri [ed.], Nuova Silloge epigrafica di Rodi e Cos [Florence, 1925], 163, after the second century b.c.e.); and one from Cos (D. Bosnakis [ed.], Anekdotes epigraphes tēs Ko. Epitymvia mnēmeia kai hōroi [Athens, 2008], no. 186, second century c.e.). From Rhodes and Cos we also know of a cult of Ἀγαθοδαιμονισταί (one and three attestations respectively: G. Pugliese Carratelli, ‘Per la storia delle associazioni in Rodi antica’, ASAA 1–2 [1939–40], 147–200, at 151 no. 6; Bosnakis [this note], nos. 27–9), on which see Laumonier (n. 10 [1958]), 138–9.

13 Iasos: IIasos 397, 405, 408. Mylasa: IMylasa 428–9, 433, 436–7, 439, 442, 444, 446, 449, 450, 452–6, 458, 463–4, 470–1, 473–4, 477–80, 483–4, 487–9, 494–5. L. Robert, Opera Minora Selecta III (Amsterdam, 1970), 1513–15, 1519 discusses the inscriptions from Iasos. From nearby Olymos, which merged with Mylasa in sympoliteia in the third/second century b.c.e., we know of a public religious cult of ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες and its priest Phaidros Moschonios (IMylasa 806, 808, 810–15, 819, 869–70), on which see Laumonier (n. 10 [1934]), 369.

14 Caria: Ganschinietz (n. 7), 14; Laumonier (n. 10 [1958]), 138–9, 142; Price, S.R.F., Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge, 1984), 36Google Scholar. Iasos and Mylasa alone: Bean, G.E. and Cook, J.M., ‘The Carian coast III’, BSA 52 (1957), 58146, at 105Google Scholar.

15 Ganschinietz (n. 7), 13; Ruiz Montero (n. 9), 128. Laumonier (n. 10 [1958]), 139 cautions against a direct equation of the formula δαίμονες ἀγαθοί with Di Manes, because the former is restricted to Caria (cf. the bilingual inscription CIG 4452 from Beroia where δαίμονες equate to Di Manes). On the generic resemblance more generally, see Lattimore, R., Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana, IL, 1962), 95–6Google Scholar. On the Di Manes as boni, see Grenier, A., Le génie romain dans la religion, la pensée et l'art (Paris, 1925), 115–16Google Scholar; Lattimore (this note), 93. Austin, R.G. (ed.), P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Liber Sextus (Oxford, 1977), 227–9Google Scholar, on Verg. Aen. 6.743 remains an exemplary note.

16 Plepelits (n. 9), 179–80; Alperowitz (n. 3), 63 n. 3; Goold, G.P. (ed.), Chariton: Callirhoe (Cambridge, MA, 1995), 235Google Scholar.

17 Plepelits (n. 9), 179–80; Ganschinietz (n. 3), 46–7; Ruiz Montero (n. 9), 128, comparing (at n. 98) ὦ τάφε καὶ δαίμων in ISmyrna 549.7. Ganschinietz (n. 7), 14 adds the idea that Chariton has imported the Latin sense of Di Manes, but that he has rendered it singular in order to distinguish it from the Latin usage; though for the funereal usage epigraphically attested in the singular at Iasos and Mylasa, see n. 11 above.

18 The only appearances of δαίμων in Aphrodisias occur in (consolatory) decrees from the first and the early second centuries in which the honorand is described as having been taken ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος (IAph2007 12.207.15, 12.319.10, 12.1015.4).

19 See Fraser, P.M., Greek Ethnic Terminology (Oxford, 2009), 75101CrossRefGoogle Scholar, for the use of ethnics to denote citizenship, and 64, for ethnics in –εύς.

20 For Hunter, R.L., ‘History and historicity in the romance of Chariton’, ANRW 2.34.2 (1994), 1055–86, at 1069Google Scholar, with Müller, C.W., ‘Chariton von Aphrodisias und die Theorie des Romans in der Antike’, A&A 22 (1976), 115–36, at 124Google Scholar, Chariton's claim to be a ὑπογραφεύς lends the novel a historiographical authenticity. Youtie, H.C., ‘ΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΕΥΣ: the social impact of illiteracy in Graeco-Roman Egypt’, ZPE 17 (1975), 201–22Google Scholar discusses the role of the ὑπογραφεύς in terms of their literacy, as demonstrated in Graeco-Roman papyri.

21 Ewen Bowie has suggested to me per litteras the possibility that Chariton's mother came from Mylasa.

22 Smith, R.R.R., The Monument of C. Julius Zoilus (Mainz, 1993), 21Google Scholar, also noted by Cormack, S., The Space of Death in Roman Asia Minor (Vienna, 2004), 174Google Scholar, though the latter dates the structure in Mylasa to the reign of Hadrian. Cormack (this note), 228–30 also enumerates similarities between the crypt of the temple-tomb at Mylasa and a temple-tomb at Iasos.

23 There may well be a hint here of the libational aspects of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, discussed above.

24 LGPN V.B s.v. ‘Mithradates’, ‘Mithridates’, ‘Mithrodates’. For the name in Aphrodisias in particular, see I. Bourtzinakou, Die Prosopographie von Aphrodisias (Diss., Heidelberg, 2012), nos. 1786–8, with the discussion by Tilg, S., Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel (Oxford, 2010), 55–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Tabai and Tralles are 35 km southeast and 77 km west of Aphrodisias respectively.

25 Plepelits (n. 9), 179, followed by Bowie, E.L., ‘The construction of the classical past in the ancient Greek novels’, in Eklund, S. (ed.), Syncharmata. Studies in Honour of Jan Fredrik Kindstrand (Uppsala, 2006), 120, at 5Google Scholar, who also argues that ‘the recurrent intrusions of the authorial person in the narrative remind the reader that all this is being told by a man from early imperial Aphrodisias’. Plepelits (n. 9), 3 and Jones, C.P., ‘Hellenistic history in Chariton of Aphrodisias’, Chiron 22 (1992), 91102Google Scholar argue for the author's acquaintance with Miletus.

26 Plepelits (n. 9), 179 specifically rules out Mylasa and Halicarnassus as potential locations for Mithridates’ estate, because both are south of Miletus, whereas Hyginus travels from the Carian estate to Priene (4.5.2), which is 16 km north of Miletus. This would make a journey from Aphrodisias, which is 120 km due east of Priene, more likely. The logic, though sound, does not account for the unknown motivation behind the choice of Priene as a pit stop.

27 Alvares, J., ‘A hidden magus in Chariton's Chaireas and Callirhoe’, Hermes 128 (2000), 383–4Google Scholar argues that at 5.7.10 (that is, the passage in question) Mithridates is parodying the necromantic powers of magi and their reputation for charlatanry. There may also be a nod to the ubiquitous role of Agathos Daimôn in Greek and Demotic magical papyri (where he is associated with the Egyptian god Shaï), on which see Ganschinietz (n. 7), 55–62; Feliciano, P., ‘The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian religion’, The Hermetic Tablet: The Journal of Ritual Magic 3 (2016), 171–92Google Scholar. For Nero's interest in the Magian mysteries, see Sanford, E.M., ‘Nero and the East’, HSPh 48 (1937), 75103, at 79–80Google Scholar.

28 Bowersock, G.W., Fiction as History: Nero to Julian (Berkeley, 1994), 3841Google Scholar; Bremmer, J.N., ‘The novel and the Apocryphal Acts: place, time and readership’, GCN 9 (1998), 157–80, at 167–71Google Scholar; Bowie, E.L., ‘The chronology of the Greek novel since B.E. Perry: revisions and precisions’, AncNarr 2 (2002), 4763, at 55 and 58Google Scholar; Bowie, E.L., ‘The geography of the Second Sophistic: cultural variations’, in Borg, B.E. (ed.), Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic (Berlin, 2004), 6583, at 74–5Google Scholar; Bowie, E.L., ‘Links between Antonius Diogenes and Petronius’, in Paschalis, M., Frangoulidis, S., Harrison, S.J. and Zimmerman, M. (edd.), The Greek and the Roman Novel: Parallel Readings (AncNarr Supplementum 8) (Groningen, 2007), 121–32, at 127Google Scholar; Bowie, E.L., ‘Caging grasshoppers: Longus’ materials for weaving “reality”’, in Paschalis, M. and Panayotakis, S. (edd.), The Construction of the Real and Ideal in the Ancient Novel (AncNarr Supplementum 17) (Groningen, 2013), 179–98, at 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yildirim, B., ‘Identities and empire: local mythology and the self-representation of Aphrodisias’, in Borg, B.E. (ed.), Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic (Berlin, 2004), 23–52, at 43–4Google Scholar; Tilg (n. 24), 126–7, who includes the Metiochus and Parthenope and Chione fragments in the discussion. On the Ninus author specifically, see Stephens, S.A. and Winkler, J.J. (edd.), Ancient Greek Novels: The Fragments. Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary (Princeton, NJ, 1995), 26–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tilg (n. 24), 117–24. Whitmarsh, T., Narrative and Identity in the Ancient Greek Novel: Returning Romance (Cambridge, 2011), 30–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar alludes to the importance of Asia Minor for the emergence of romance narratives. Montero, C. Ruiz, ‘L'Asia Minore nel romanzo greco’, in Urso, G. (ed.), Tra Oriente ed Occidente. Indigeni, Greci e Romani in Asia Minore. Atti del Convegno Internazionale Cividale del Friuli, 28–30 settembre 2006 (Pisa, 2007), 259–70Google Scholar, at 261 remains hesitant about the role of Aphrodisias.

29 Periander: Diog. Laert. 1.94; Hdt. 3.50. Cambyses: Hdt. 3.32. Herodes Atticus (although no kick was involved in this instance): Philostr. V S 2.555; discussion by Pomeroy, S.B., The Murder of Regilla: A Case of Domestic Violence in Antiquity (Cambridge, MA, 2007), 119–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the tradition of the topos, see Ameling, W., ‘Tyrannen und schwangere Frauen’, Historia 35 (1986), 507–8Google Scholar.

30 Nero's murder of Poppaea: Suet. Ner. 35.3; Tac. Ann. 16.6; discussion by Champlin, E., Nero (Cambridge, MA, 2003), 107–10Google Scholar. The parallel between Chaereas and Nero is noted by Perry, B.E., The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of their Origins (Berkeley, 1967), 138Google Scholar and by Hunter (n. 20), 1079–82, who discusses Chaereas’ kick in the context of the tyrannical topos (discussed above), New Comedy and fifth-century b.c.e. legal reality; Goold (n. 16), 48–9 suggests that this episode in Chariton's novel might even have fuelled the charges against Nero; Tilg (n. 24), 48–9 is a useful overview. Bowie (n. 28 [2002]), 57 wonders whether Thelxinoe's embalming by Aigialeus in Xenophon of Ephesus (5.1.9–12) might reflect Poppaea's embalming by Nero in 65 c.e. (as reported by Tac. Ann. 16.6). Herrmann, L., ‘La Callirhoé de Publius Celer’, REA 78–9 (1975–6), 155–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar reconstructs the skein of potential allusions to Nero and Poppaea contained in the satirist Persius’ reference to a ‘Callirhoe’ (1.134).

31 Herrmann, L., ‘La date du roman de Ninus’, CE 28 (1939), 373–5Google Scholar, whose argument is reviewed and augmented by Tilg (n. 24), 113–15, but dismissed by Morgan, J.R., ‘On the fringes of the canon: work on the fragments of ancient Greek fiction 1936–1994’, ANRW 2.34.4 (1998), 3293–390, at 3336Google Scholar. Bowie (n. 28 [2002]), 57 dates the Ninus romance to between 63 and 75 c.e.

32 The epitaphic resonance of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων may have further significance in this connection. Many of the inscriptions listed in n. 13 end with the formula ζῇ ‘he/she is alive’ (IIasos 397; IMylasa 428, 433, 436–7, 450, 454, 458, 477, 494) or ζῶσιν ‘they are alive’ (IMylasa 442, 444, 446, 456, 473, 478, 487). It is an especially frequent formula in other cities of Asia Minor such as Aphrodisias and Cibyra, both on tombstones and sarcophagi. Whilst it tends to denote that the occupant commissioned the tomb/sarcophagus while they were still alive, it can also impart the sense that the occupant lives on after death. This is relevant for our purposes because directly after Mithridates has addressed Chaereas as δαῖμον ἀγαθέ, Callirhoe exclaims Χαιρέα, ζῇς; ‘Chaereas, are you alive?’ (cf. 4.5.8, 5.10.8), potentially extending the local epitaphic resonance of the episode. Discussions of the formula include Robert, L., Opera Minora Selecta VI (Amsterdam, 1989), 3 n. 5Google Scholar; Reynolds, J.M., ‘Aphrodisias and Aphrodisians in the inscriptions on garland-sarcophagi’, in Işkan, H. and Korkut, T. (edd.), 60. Yaşında Fahri Işık'a armağan – Anadolu'da Doğdu. Festschrift für Fahri Işık zum 60. Geburtstag (Istanbul, 2004), 627–9, at 628Google Scholar; Russell, B., The Economics of the Roman Stone Trade (Oxford, 2013), 258–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 The review of Bowersock (n. 28) by Demandt, A., Gnomon 69 (1997), 740–3, at 742Google Scholar makes a passing reference to the false Neros in the context of the Scheintod motif. (I thank the journal's anonymous reviewer for alerting me to this.)

34 e.g. Crateia's brother in Menander's Misoumenos and Cleostratus in the Aspis. See further Höschele, R., ‘Greek comedy, the novel, and epistolography’, in Fontaine, M. and Scafuro, A.C. (edd.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy (Oxford, 2014), 735–52, at 740–1Google Scholar.

35 Bowersock (n. 28), 99–120 argues for the influence of the Gospel narratives. At 5.10.1 Dionysius likens Chaereas’ return from the dead to that of Protesilaus, for whose popularity in the post-Neronian period see Bowersock (n. 28), 112–13. For a recent overview on links between the novel and Christian literature, see Konstan, D. and Ramelli, I., ‘The novel and Christian narrative’, in Cueva, E.P. and Byrne, S.N. (edd.), A Companion to the Ancient Novel (Oxford, 2014), 180–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar, with further bibliography.

36 Discussions of the false Neros include MacMullen, R., Enemies of Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation in the Empire (Cambridge, MA, 1966), 143–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gallivan, P.A., ‘The false Neros: a re-examination’, Historia 22 (1973), 364–5Google Scholar; Tuplin, C., ‘The false Neros of the first century’, in Deroux, C. (ed.), Studies in Latin Literature and History 5 (Brussels, 1989), 364404Google Scholar; Champlin (n. 30), 10–12. On Nero's intentions and attitudes towards the East, see Sanford (n. 27).

37 On Nero's role in prophetic and apocalyptic narratives, such as the Sibylline Oracles and Revelations, see Sanford (n. 27); Tuplin (n. 36), 395–402.

38 Nero also crosses the Euphrates (as a φυγάς) at Sibylline Oracles 4.137–9.

39 C. Daude, ‘Éléments de la modélisation spatiale dans le roman de Chariton’, Recherches en linguistique étrangère, sémiotique, lexicologie, didactique xv, Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon (1990), 67–94, at 86–8. Alvares, J., ‘Some political and ideological dimensions of Chariton's Chaireas and Callirhoe’, CJ 97 (2001–2), 113–44, at 121Google Scholar observes that Chariton's Persian frontier is the contemporary Parthian frontier. The focus on the Euphrates as a border points to a Flavian or Hadrianic date for Baslez, M.-F., ‘De l'histoire au roman: la Perse de Chariton’, in Baslez, M.-F., Hoffmann, P. and Trédé, M. (edd.), Le Monde du Roman Grec: actes du colloque international tenu à l'Ecole normale supérieure (Paris 17–19 décembre 1987) (Paris, 1992), 199212, at 203–4Google Scholar.

40 Alvares, J., ‘Egyptian unrest of the Roman era and the reception of Chariton's Chaireas and Callirhoe’, Maia 53 (2001), 1119, at 15Google Scholar, discussing the significance of the Egyptian revolt in relation to Egypt as a locus of dissent against Rome, notes a resemblance between Chaereas’ support of the Egyptian rebellion in the seventh book and the first false Nero's wish to be delivered to Egypt (Tac. Hist. 2.9). I would add the resemblance between the attack upon this man's boat (expugnata nauis) by the Roman soldiers and that upon Chaereas’ boat by the Persian garrison (3.7.3).

41 Hunter (n. 20), 1057 sees Chaereas as an aggregate of several historical characters.

42 The dating of Chariton's novel is notoriously vexed, with options (varying in likelihood) ranging from the late first century b.c.e. to the middle of the second century c.e. (a terminus ante quem of 150 c.e. is provided by P.Michael. 1). Bowie (n. 28 [2002]), 57 places Chariton between 41 and 62 c.e.; C. Ruiz Montero, ‘Chariton von Aphrodisias: ein Überblick’, ANRW 2.34.2 (1994), 1006–54, at 1008–12 and Tilg (n. 24), 36–78 offer useful overviews and bibliography.

43 Champlin (n. 30), 10.

44 Plut. Flam. 12.8 records that Nero issued his proclamation at Corinth at the Isthmian games. Gallivan, P.A., ‘Nero's liberation of Greece’, Hermes 101 (1973), 230–4Google Scholar mobilizes epigraphic and numismatic evidence to date this event to 67 c.e. Halfmann, H., Itinera principum: Geschichte und Typologie der Kaiserreisen im römischen Reich (Stuttgart, 1986), 173–7 argues for 66Google Scholar c.e.

45 = Smallwood, E.M., Documents Illustrating the Principates of Gaius, Claudius and Nero (Cambridge, 1967), no. 64Google Scholar.

46 Corinth: RPC I 1205. Patras: I 1279. Sicyon: I 1238–44. On numismatic evidence for Nero's liberation of Achaea, see Levy, B.E., ‘Nero's liberation of Achaea: some numismatic evidence from Patrae’, in Heckel, W. and Sullivan, R. (edd.), Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers (Waterloo, Ontario, 1984), 165–85Google Scholar. On Epictetus’ disparagement of coins bearing the imprint of Nero (Disc. 4.5.17), see Mabbott, T.O., ‘Epictetus and Nero's coinage’, CPh 36 (1941), 398–9Google Scholar.

47 Tuplin (n. 36), 387, with 383–6, on the Parthian amor Neronis, though see his qualifications, at 393, for Nero's popularity amongst eastern Greeks. Alvares (n. 39), 140 n. 106 detects in Chariton's novel a response to Nero's liberation of Achaea. Cf. Alvares, J., ‘Utopian themes in three Greek romances’, AncNarr 2 (2002), 129, at 15Google Scholar; Alvares, J., ‘The coming of age and political accommodation in the Greco-Roman novels’, in Paschalis, M., Frangoulidis, S., Harrison, S.J. and Zimmerman, M. (edd.), The Greek and the Roman Novel: Parallel Readings (AncNarr Supplementum 8) (Groningen, 2007), 322, at 15Google Scholar.

48 Tuplin (n. 36), 393–4.

49 Suet. Vesp. 8.4.

50 Levick, B.M., ‘Greece and Asia Minor’, in Bowman, A.K., Garnsey, P. and Rathbone, D. (edd.), CAH2 XI (Cambridge, 2000), 604–34, at 604–11Google Scholar offers discussion with further bibliography.

51 Levick, B.M., Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor (Oxford, 1967), 104Google Scholar. Vespasian also attracted the enmity of the Stoics and the Cynics (Dio Cass. 66.12; Suet. Vesp. 13, 15).

52 Swain, S.C.R., Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, AD 50–250 (Oxford, 1996), 149Google Scholar attributes the hostility of this passage to Vespasian's abrogation of Nero's proclamation. Jones, C.P., Plutarch and Rome (Oxford, 1971), 1819Google Scholar discusses Plutarch's views of Nero. For Greek intellectuals’ responses to Nero more generally, see Champlin (n. 30), 25–7.

53 Ramage, E.S., ‘Denigration of predecessor under Claudius, Galba, and Vespasian’, Historia 32 (1983), 201–14Google Scholar.

54 Smith, R.R.R., The Marble Reliefs from the Julio-Claudian Sebasteion. Aphrodisias, 6 (Mainz, 2013), 74–8Google Scholar (A 1), 168–9 (C 26); in the frieze depicting Nero and Armenia (C 8, at 140–1), Nero's head is lost.

55 Smith (n. 54), 41. Nero's name has been deleted in IAph2007 9.14, 9.42. On deletions of Nero's name in Aphrodisias, see Reynolds, J.M., ‘New evidence for the imperial cult in Julio-Claudian Aphrodisias’, ZPE 43 (1981), 317–27, at 324Google Scholar. Champlin (n. 30), 29–31 maintains that there was no official policy of damnatio memoriae towards Nero. For general discussion of Flavian policy towards the memory of Nero, see Flower, H.I., The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in the Roman World (Chapel Hill, NC, 2006), 197233Google Scholar, citing, at 213, Aphrodisias as evidence for the rule that representations of Nero from the later part of his reign came in for a greater degree of removal than those of the earlier parts.

56 Reynolds, J.M., Aphrodisias and Rome (London, 1982)Google Scholar is a useful starting-point. One fragmentary head of Vespasian has been found in the Propylon of the Sebasteion, on which see Smith (n. 54), 69 (S 7). For other possible Flavian additions to the Sebasteion, see Reynolds, J.M., ‘Ruler-cult at Aphrodisias in the Late Republic and under the Julio-Claudian emperors’, in Small, A. (ed.), Subject and Ruler: The Cult of the Ruling Power in Classical Antiquity. Papers Presented at a Conference held in The University of Alberta on April 13–15, 1994, to Celebrate the 65th Anniversary of Duncan Fishwick (Ann Arbor, 1996), 4150, at 47Google Scholar.

57 On the role (or lack thereof) of Athens in Chariton's novel, see S.D. Smith, Greek Identity and the Athenian Past in Chariton: The Romance of Empire (AncNarr Supplementum 9) (Groningen, 2007). Chariton's thematic avoidance of Athens parallels Nero's physical avoidance of Athens, on the latter of which see Kennell, N.M., ‘ΝΕΡΩΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΔΟΝΙΚΗΣ’, AJPh 109 (1988), 239–51, at 246–7Google Scholar; Champlin (n. 30), 54–5, 98.

58 On the Alexandrian instantiation of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, see Jakobson, O., Daimon och Agathos Daimon (Lund, 1925), 151–73Google Scholar; Fraser, P.M., Ptolemaic Alexandria, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1972), 1.209–11Google Scholar; Graf (n. 7); Ogden, D., Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Oxford, 2013), 286305CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ogden, D., ‘Alexander, Agathos Daimon, and Ptolemy: the Alexandrian foundation myth in dialogue’, in Sweeney, N. Mac (ed.), Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses (Philadelphia, 2015), 129–50Google Scholar. For images, see LIMC 1.1 s.v. ‘Agathodaimon’.

59 Sarapis: Fraser (n. 58), 2.356 n. 16; Bruns-Özgan, C., ‘Tyche mit Agathos Daimon und den Horen’, EA 33 (2001), 137–44Google Scholar. Shaï: Quaegebeur, J., Le Dieu égyptien Shaï dans la religion et l'onomastique (Leuven, 1975)Google Scholar.

60 Suet. Ner. 19; Dio Cass. 63.27.2; Tac. Ann. 15.36. See further Montevecchi, O., ‘Nerone e l'Egitto’, P&P 30 (1975), 4858Google Scholar; Champlin (n. 30), 172; Mratschek, S., ‘Nero the imperial misfit: philhellenism in a rich man's world’, in Buckley, E. and Dinter, M.T. (edd.), A Companion to the Neronian Age (Oxford, 2013), 45–62, at 46–7Google Scholar.

61 Discussions include Montevecchi (n. 60), 50; Hengstl, J., Griechische Papyri aus Ägypten als Zeugnisse des privaten und öffentlichen Lebens (Munich, 1978), 4850CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dundas, G.S., Pharaoh, Basileus and Imperator: The Roman Imperial Cult in Egypt (Los Angeles, 1994), 219–25Google Scholar; de Jong, J., ‘Egyptian papyri and “divinity” of the Roman Emperor’, in de Blois, L., Funke, P. and Hahn, J. (edd.), The Impact of Imperial Rome on Religions, Rituals, and Religious Life in the Roman Empire: Proceedings of the Fifth International Network, Münster, June 30–July 4, 2004 (Leiden, 2006), 239–52, at 245–6Google Scholar. On imperial cult in Egypt under the Julio-Claudians more generally, see N. Dörner, Feste und Opfer für den Gott Caesar: Kommunikationsprozesse im Rahmen des Kaiserkultes im römischen Ägypten der julisch-claudischen Zeit (30 v.Chr.68 n.Chr.) (Rahden, 2014).

62 = Smallwood (n. 45), no. 418.

63 RPC I 5210 (56/7 c.e.), 5219 (57/8 c.e.), 5230 (57/8 c.e.), 5240 (58/9 c.e.), 5249 (58/9 c.e.), 5260 (59/60 c.e.). For discussion, see Ganschinietz (n. 7), 50; Nöske, H.C., ‘Rückseitenprogramme auf den Alexandriner Tetradrachmen Neros’, Städel-Jahrbuch 19 (2004), 204–43Google Scholar.

64 Couvalis, G., ‘Alexandrian identity and the coinage commemorating Nero's “liberation” of the Greeks’, in Close, E., Tsianikas, M. and Couvalis, G. (edd.), Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2005 (Adelaide, 2007), 113–22, at 120–1Google Scholar.

65 RPC I 5303 (66/7 c.e.), 5320 (67/8 c.e.).

66 Domitian: RPC II 2642, 2680–2, 2702, 2713, 2734. Nerva: RPC III 4119. Trajan: RPC III 4123, 4141, 4194, 4213, 4253–4, 4283–4, 4347–9, 4472, 4502, 4563, 4586, 4646–7, 4759, 4845–6, 4853, 4964. Hadrian: RPC III 4989, 5010–11, 5039, 5056, 5065, 5090, 5120, 5136, 5149, 5158, 5174, 5209, 5227, 5240, 5270, 5371, 5380, 5596, 5610, 5677–8, 5755, 5865–6, 5907–8, 6080, 6303. Antonines: see Dunand, F., ‘Les representations de l'Agathodémon: à propos de quelques bas-reliefs du Musée d'Alexandrie’, BIAO 67 (1969), 948, at 10Google Scholar.

67 Marcus Aurelius is chronologically the next emperor after Nero, at least in the surviving traditions, to earn explicit designation as ἀγαθὸς δαίμων: [Μάρ]κ̣ος Αὐρήλιος Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμ[ων] (P.Ryl. 2.221 fr. C, line 25, dated to 200–25 c.e.).

68 Our four papyri of Chariton attest that he was being read in Egypt, so we need not worry that a readership would have been unaware of the Neronian associations of ἀγαθὸς δαίμων. Mid second century: P.Michael. 1 and P.Fay. 1. Second/third century: P.Oxy. 1019 and P.Oxy. 2948.

69 For such culturally bivalent (or ‘sylleptic’) reading-strategies applied to the novel, see Selden, D., ‘Genre of genre’, in Tatum, J. (ed.), The Search for the Ancient Novel (Baltimore and London, 1994), 3964, at 48–51Google Scholar. On the ‘intercultural poetics’ in Ptolemaic Alexandria, see Stephens, S.A., Seeing Double. Intercultural Poetics in Ptolemaic Alexandria (Berkeley, CA, 2003)Google Scholar.

70 It is worth mentioning that in 221 c.e. a false Alexander the Great appeared in Moesia, whom Dio Cass. (79.18.1–3) refers to as a δαίμων. See Millar, F., A Study of Cassius Dio (Oxford, 1964), 214–15Google Scholar on this episode.