I, as if in a mystery-ritual, had no idea either who the man was or why
he was mercilessly beating me

-- Kleitophon in Achilles Tatius' Leukippé and Kleitophon

a lovely and murky cave
sacred to the nymphs called Naiads
Within are kraters and amphoras
of stone, where bees lay up stores of honey.
Inside, too, are massive stone looms and there the nymphs
weave sea-purple cloth, a wonder to see. -- Homer, Odyssey

Rather than requiring the Ancient Novel to take out its credentials and
prove itself by assured modern criteria (as if these existed), we may eventually
have to acknowledge that what we know of the Novel of Antiquity affects and
redefines novels of a much later date. Let us make no mistake about it; it is dan-
gerous to look into such possibilities, for we may disturb our vision of the Western
Novel altogether.

I mentioned earlier two important works: Die Griechisch-Orientalische Ro-
manliteratur in religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung ("Graeco-Oriental Novel-Writing
in the Light of Religious Writings") by Karl Kerényi, and Roman und Mysterium in
der Antike ("Novel and Mystery in Antiquity") by Reinhold Merkelbach. Both of
these works are well known in classical circles, at least among those classicists
who have much to do with the ancient novels, or with the religion (or religions)
of the Late Antique period.

Karl Kerényi, a Hungarian of German culture, had a lifelong interest in
mythology. (He was later to work with Jung.) His interest in mythology led Ke-
rényi to connect extant ancient novels according to their mythological con-
tent. Kerényi picks up Erwin Rohde's interesting question in relation to the an-
cient novel: "From what secret source did there arise in Greece something so
un-Greek?" Part of the problem, Kerényi sees, is whether one considers Greek-
land (Griecheniand) as Greece (Hellas) or as the Greek-speaking world. in the
latter case, we are taken beyond the boundaries, ultimately not only of the
Greek mainland but also of what is usually considered Hellenism (see Kerényi
, Griechisch-Orientalische Romanliteratur, 44-45). Kerényi emphasizes the
non-Greek origins of the authors of the novels--the first positive critic to do so
since Huet. He follows Huet in recognizing the "Oriental" (we ought to add
firmly, African) elements in Greek novels. The more we look at Egyptian and Ori-
ental religion and religious literature, the clearer the novel becomes: "The 'en-
tirely un-Greek' character of the Greek novels begins to lose its colorlessness for
us" (95). The novel is not Christian in origin; rather, the single definitely Chris-

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