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Part of
The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 197–205

Chapter 13
Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe as a puella docta

 | National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Unlike other heroines of the Greek romantic novels, who are consistently chaste, the heroine of Achilles Tatius’ novel Leucippe and Clitophon displays a (temporary) lack of sexual reticence; she also possesses musical talent. These features are central to her characterization in the novel’s first two books, which, incidentally, bear the distinct influence of Roman love elegy. It is argued here that Leucippe is purposedly fashioned in the early part of the novel as a puella docta, the type of idealised artistic lady with libertine traits that arouses erotic passion in the Augustan love poets. In the novel’s later books, on the other hand, her characterization conforms to a more conventional image.
Keywords: Achilles Tatius, Greek novel, Roman elegy, puella docta
Published online: 1 December 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.13kan
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