Callirhoe, Daphnis and Chloe, Letters of Chion

Greek Fiction

In this collection of Greek fiction written between the first and fourth centuries AD, 'Callirhoe' is the stirring tale of star-crossed lovers Chaereas and Callirhoe, torn apart when she is kidnapped and sold as a slave, while 'Daphnis and Chloe' tells of a boy and girl abandoned at birth, who grow up to fall in love and battle pirates. Greek Fiction - also containing 'Letters of Chion', an early thriller about tyranny and a political assassination - is a fascinating glimpse into an alternative view of Ancient Greece's literary culture.

Longus (Author) Longus (usually dated between the mid-second and mid-third centuries AD). Daphnis and Chloe is available in Penguin Classics in different translations in Greek Fiction and Daphnis and Chloe.

Daphnis and Chloe

A tender novel describing eager and inept young love, Daphnis and Chloe tells the story of a baby boy and girl who are discovered separately, two years apart, alone and exposed on a Greek mountainside. Taken in by a goatherd and a shepherd respectively, and raised near the town of Mytilene, they grow to maturity unaware of one another's existence - until the mischievous god of love, Eros, creates in them a sudden overpowering desire for one another. A masterpiece among early Greek romances, attracting both high praise and moral disapproval, this work has proved an enduringly fertile source of inspiration for musicians, writers and artists from Henry Fielding to Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Maurice Ravel. Longus transforms familiar themes from the romance genre - including pirates, dreams, and the supernatural - into a virtuoso love story that is rich in insight, humorous and ironical in its treatment of human sexual experience.

Paul Turner's distinguished translation retains the beauty and elegance of Longus' original, while his introduction sets the work in context and outlines the history of the text

Longus (usually dated between the mid-second and mid-third centuries AD). Daphnis and Chloe is available in Penguin Classics in different translations in Greek Fiction and Daphnis and Chloe.

Longus

Phiroze Vasunia

'This only they knew, that the kiss had destroyed him and the bath had destroyed her.' 
 
In this beautiful Ancient Greek tale, Daphnis and Chloe are the inexperienced goatherd and shepherd who must face pirates, rivals and the confusion of their own feelings to find true love. 
 
One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

Longus

Daphnis and Chloe

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