Ἀμήχανόν τι κάλλος. Re-evaluating the Concept of Beauty in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika

Abstract

Of the extant ancient Greek novels, Heliodorus’ Aithiopika is by far the most ‘sophisticated’. One of its topics is the virtually irresistible, and almost ‘divine’, beauty of both protagonists, Theagenes and Charicleia. Whereas earlier scholarship brought Heliodorean beauty into line with Platonic concepts and highlighted its ethical value or even metaphysical character, this article tries to throw into relief another aspect of Heliodorean κάλλος, emphasising a link between the Aithiopika and rhetorical exercises based on beauty. Thus, κάλλος makes explicit the persuasive effect of the text itself. By means of Heliodorus’ art of description, the quality of beauty also bears meta-literary implications. The Aithiopika, consequently, advertise in a self-referential way their own rhetorical attraction and persuasiveness.