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that the old man has a home not far from Zakynthos and a wife associated with chastity. From all this any half-educated reader would have little diffi culty in identifying the figure as Odysseus. Again, by the rules of the game, a formal answer must be supplied, and again it is sup plied realistically without breaching the narrative frame. A few sentences later Kalasiris makes this final request of his host on Zakynthos: Take your boat over to Ithake and make an offering to Odysseus on our behalf. Ask him to temper his wrath against us, for he has appeared to me this very night and told me that he is angry at having been slighted. (5.22.5) In these cases, the game is played gently. Heliodoros wants to stimulate his reader, not defeat him. Ample help is given so that the identification can be made correctly; the game is collaborative rather than competitive. However, it concerns material from out side the novel, and is perhaps not so very far above the level of a general-knowledge quiz. When Heliodoros starts playing compar able games with his own invented story, where all readers start equal, he is apt to make greater demands. Let’s start with an easy example. At the very end of the novel, Charikleia has returned to her native Ethiopia after eloping with her beloved Theagenes from Delphi, where she was brought up as the daughter of the priest of Apollo, Charikles. She has been recognized by her real parents, Hydaspes and Persinna, king and queen of Ethiopia, but Theagenes stands in mortal peril, since he has been designated a sacrificial victim in celebration of the Ethio pians’ victory over the Persians. At this juncture a message arrives from Oroondates, the defeated satrap of Egypt, asking Hydaspes to restore to her father a girl captured by the Ethiopians while on her way to Memphis; Oroondates adds that he is himself attracted to her, and knows that she has been brought to Ethiopia on Hydaspes’ orders (10.34.3-4). Hydaspes allows the father, an old man in pitifully shabby clothing, to look around for his daughter. Unable to find her among Hydaspes’ captives, the old man weeps, but suddenly rushes at Theagenes, drags him from the sacrificial altar, calling him villain and scoundrel, and informs the king, ‘This is the man who kidnapped my daughter’ (10.35.1-2). Again a vital piece of information is withheld: die identity of
DOI link for that the old man has a home not far from Zakynthos and a wife associated with chastity. From all this any half-educated reader would have little diffi culty in identifying the figure as Odysseus. Again, by the rules of the game, a formal answer must be supplied, and again it is sup plied realistically without breaching the narrative frame. A few sentences later Kalasiris makes this final request of his host on Zakynthos: Take your boat over to Ithake and make an offering to Odysseus on our behalf. Ask him to temper his wrath against us, for he has appeared to me this very night and told me that he is angry at having been slighted. (5.22.5) In these cases, the game is played gently. Heliodoros wants to stimulate his reader, not defeat him. Ample help is given so that the identification can be made correctly; the game is collaborative rather than competitive. However, it concerns material from out side the novel, and is perhaps not so very far above the level of a general-knowledge quiz. When Heliodoros starts playing compar able games with his own invented story, where all readers start equal, he is apt to make greater demands. Let’s start with an easy example. At the very end of the novel, Charikleia has returned to her native Ethiopia after eloping with her beloved Theagenes from Delphi, where she was brought up as the daughter of the priest of Apollo, Charikles. She has been recognized by her real parents, Hydaspes and Persinna, king and queen of Ethiopia, but Theagenes stands in mortal peril, since he has been designated a sacrificial victim in celebration of the Ethio pians’ victory over the Persians. At this juncture a message arrives from Oroondates, the defeated satrap of Egypt, asking Hydaspes to restore to her father a girl captured by the Ethiopians while on her way to Memphis; Oroondates adds that he is himself attracted to her, and knows that she has been brought to Ethiopia on Hydaspes’ orders (10.34.3-4). Hydaspes allows the father, an old man in pitifully shabby clothing, to look around for his daughter. Unable to find her among Hydaspes’ captives, the old man weeps, but suddenly rushes at Theagenes, drags him from the sacrificial altar, calling him villain and scoundrel, and informs the king, ‘This is the man who kidnapped my daughter’ (10.35.1-2). Again a vital piece of information is withheld: die identity of
that the old man has a home not far from Zakynthos and a wife associated with chastity. From all this any half-educated reader would have little diffi culty in identifying the figure as Odysseus. Again, by the rules of the game, a formal answer must be supplied, and again it is sup plied realistically without breaching the narrative frame. A few sentences later Kalasiris makes this final request of his host on Zakynthos: Take your boat over to Ithake and make an offering to Odysseus on our behalf. Ask him to temper his wrath against us, for he has appeared to me this very night and told me that he is angry at having been slighted. (5.22.5) In these cases, the game is played gently. Heliodoros wants to stimulate his reader, not defeat him. Ample help is given so that the identification can be made correctly; the game is collaborative rather than competitive. However, it concerns material from out side the novel, and is perhaps not so very far above the level of a general-knowledge quiz. When Heliodoros starts playing compar able games with his own invented story, where all readers start equal, he is apt to make greater demands. Let’s start with an easy example. At the very end of the novel, Charikleia has returned to her native Ethiopia after eloping with her beloved Theagenes from Delphi, where she was brought up as the daughter of the priest of Apollo, Charikles. She has been recognized by her real parents, Hydaspes and Persinna, king and queen of Ethiopia, but Theagenes stands in mortal peril, since he has been designated a sacrificial victim in celebration of the Ethio pians’ victory over the Persians. At this juncture a message arrives from Oroondates, the defeated satrap of Egypt, asking Hydaspes to restore to her father a girl captured by the Ethiopians while on her way to Memphis; Oroondates adds that he is himself attracted to her, and knows that she has been brought to Ethiopia on Hydaspes’ orders (10.34.3-4). Hydaspes allows the father, an old man in pitifully shabby clothing, to look around for his daughter. Unable to find her among Hydaspes’ captives, the old man weeps, but suddenly rushes at Theagenes, drags him from the sacrificial altar, calling him villain and scoundrel, and informs the king, ‘This is the man who kidnapped my daughter’ (10.35.1-2). Again a vital piece of information is withheld: die identity of
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ABSTRACT
that the old man has a home not far from Zakynthos and a wife associated with chastity.
