ACHILLES TATIUS

flourished 2nd century AD, , Alexandria teacher of rhetoric and author of Leucippe and Cleitophon, one of the Greek prose romances that influenced the development of the novel centuries later. Nothing certain is known of Achilles' life. The romance, a typical adventure story of love triumphant over innumerable obstacles-shipwrecks, tortures, abductions and attacks by pirates-is related in the first person by Cleitophon himself, whom Achilles claims to have met in Sidon. The work's style is typical of Atticism, with its purity of diction, short unconnected sentences, parallel clauses, detailed descriptions, and frequent declamations and disquisitions, often in antithetical form (e.g., on love for women and pederasty). Achilles shows great ingenuity in inventing coups de theatre (Leucippe apparently dies three times but always reappears), but his characterization is poor, and plot is relegated to the background by irrelevant interruptions. The romance was admired by Byzantine critics and was widely translated in the Renaissance.