On the Road to India with Apollonios of Tyana and Thomas the Apostle

Abstract

This article explores some ways in which the authors of the Life of Apollonios of Tyana and the Acts of Thomas use mechanisms of social networking familiar to their readers to lend verisimilitude to tales of travel in distant India. In both works, the protagonists rely on mundane social networking through claims of ethnicity, religion, language, and commerce to overcome barriers of communication and obtain access to locals. Use of these mechanisms to achieve verisimilitude and secure the reader's belief fits well with recent scholarship that sees these works and others like them as most closely related to the genre of Greek fiction. At the same time, achieving verisimilitude serves the authors' larger purposes of presenting their protagonists as extraordinary figures engaged in extraordinary missions.