Ethiopian Tales is a prose romance in ten books by Heliodorus of Emesa; its date is uncertain, the third or fourth century CE. It tells of Theagenes, a Thessalian, and Chariclea, priestess of Artemis at Delphi, who is in truth the daughter of Hydaspes and Persinna, king and queen of the Ethiopians.
The story begins in the middle: at the Heracleotic mouth of the Nile, bandits look down on a beach strewn with the dead of a feast and on the two lovers among them. Much of what came before is told by the Egyptian Calasiris to the Athenian Cnemon across Books II to V: the Delphic procession at which the pair fall in love, Theagenes' victory at the Pythian games, the band left with the infant Chariclea that reveals her birth, and the flight by sea. Books VI to VIII follow them through Egypt: Theagenes is seized by the men of Bessa, the pair are held at Memphis by Arsace, the satrap's wife, and both are taken south; Book IX tells of Hydaspes' siege of Syene and his defeat of the Persians, and Book X of the recognition at Meroe and the marriage.
The novel survives complete and ends with the author's signature: Heliodorus, a Phoenician of Emesa, son of Theodosius.
Heliodorus of Emesa Ethiopian Tales: summary and contents (PDF)
Heliodorus of Emesa Ethiopian Tales: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Αʹ Book I
At daybreak, bandits above the Heracleotic mouth of the Nile look down on a beach strewn with the dead of a feast, and on a young woman with a bow beside a wounded youth: Chariclea and Theagenes. Taken to the marsh by Thyamis' herdsmen, they hear the Athenian Cnemon tell how his stepmother and her maid Thisbe ruined him. A rival band attacks; Thyamis kills in the dark cave a woman he takes for Chariclea, and is captured; the island burns.
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Βʹ Book II
Watching the island burn, Theagenes believes Chariclea dead until Cnemon stops his sword; they find her alive in the cave, and the dead woman proves to be Thisbe. Cnemon, on his way to Chemmis, meets the old Egyptian Calasiris in Greek dress, who begins his story: his years at Delphi, the priest Charicles' account of how he came by Chariclea, Theagenes' arrival with a Thessalian embassy, and the Pythia's riddling oracle on the pair's voyage.
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Γʹ Book III
Calasiris, still telling his story, describes the Delphic procession in honour of Neoptolemus: the hecatomb, the Thessalian maidens, Theagenes at the head of the embassy and Chariclea as priestess of Artemis, and the moment the two fall in love at the altar. That night Apollo and Artemis charge Calasiris in a dream to take the pair with him to Egypt, and Charicles, fearing the evil eye has struck his daughter, asks him to cure her and to turn her mind to marriage.
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Δʹ Book IV
On the last day of the Pythian games, Theagenes enters the race in armour, outruns a much-crowned champion and takes the palm from Chariclea's hand. Calasiris reads the embroidered band laid out with her as an infant and learns that she is the daughter of Persinna, queen of the Ethiopians; he wins her consent to flight and marriage and contrives her abduction by Theagenes and his Thessalians, and the book ends with the whole of Delphi taking up arms in pursuit.
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Εʹ Book V
The tale of the flight from Delphi in a Phoenician ship breaks off for the night, and at Chemmis Nausicles returns with a captive girl obtained from the garrison commander Mitranes; she proves to be Chariclea. At the feast Calasiris resumes: the winter on Zacynthus with the fisherman Tyrrhenus, the pirate Trachinus' designs on Chariclea, and the quarrel that strewed the beach of the opening scene with dead. Afterwards Chariclea is found asleep at the feet of the god's statue.
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Ϛʹ Book VI
Nausicles leads Calasiris and Cnemon in search of Theagenes, and they learn that the men of Bessa, led by Thyamis, seized him on his way to the satrap. Cnemon stays behind to marry Nausicles' daughter, while Calasiris and Chariclea follow dressed as beggars. On a battlefield near Bessa at night they watch an old woman raise her dead son, who foretells Chariclea's wanderings and royal marriage; hunting the spies among the corpses, the woman is impaled on a broken spear.
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Ζʹ Book VII
Thyamis leads the men of Bessa against Memphis, where Arsace, wife of the absent satrap, has him settle his claim to the priesthood by single combat with his brother Petosiris. Calasiris arrives as they fight, reveals himself as their father and dies after restoring Thyamis. Arsace, in love with Theagenes since watching the duel, works through her servant Cybele; when Cybele's son Achaemenes learns that Chariclea is betrothed to Theagenes, not his sister, he rides off to Oroondates at Thebes.
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Ηʹ Book VIII
The Ethiopian king has taken Philae by a ruse, and Oroondates hurries his campaign; told of Arsace's designs, he sends the eunuch Bagoas to bring the young pair to him. At Memphis Theagenes is tortured for refusing Arsace, Cybele dies of the poison she meant for Chariclea, and Chariclea, condemned to the pyre, stands untouched in the flames. Bagoas takes the pair south, Arsace hangs herself, and Ethiopian scouts capture all three on the road.
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Θʹ Book IX
Hydaspes, king of the Ethiopians, besieges Oroondates in Syene and keeps Theagenes and Chariclea, the first captives of the war, for sacrifice to his gods. He rings the city with a dyke and floods it from the Nile; Oroondates slips away to gather his army, and the book describes the armoured Persian cavalry before their defeat by the Ethiopian archers, Blemmyes, Troglodytes and elephants. Spared and given back his satrapy, Oroondates bows before Hydaspes and pledges lasting peace.
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Ιʹ Book X
Hydaspes returns to Meroe, sending news of his victory to the Gymnosophists and to Persinna. Chariclea passes the test of chastity on the gridiron and proves herself the king's daughter by the band, the ring and her likeness to the painted Andromeda; Theagenes, still marked for sacrifice, masters a bull and a wrestler, and Charicles arrives from Delphi. The pair are made priests and led to their wedding, and the author signs the work: Heliodorus, a Phoenician of Emesa, son of Theodosius.