ABSTRACT
Many of the literary remains we have from the Greco-Roman world reflect the concerns of the educated elite. Not as common, however, are examples of literature belonging to a ‘more “popular” cultural context than contemporary “serious” literature’. 1 Chariton's novel, Chaereas and Callirhoe, offers us an example of such light, entertaining reading. While a learned audience would have appreciated its allusions to Homer and other classics, 2 the novel's numerous foreshadowings, recapitulations, ‘stereotypical scenes, motifs and plots’ 3 enabled ‘people without critical standards or a wider background of reading’ 4 to enjoy the novel as well.
