Achilles Tatius

Achilles Tatius (in Greek Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος; Achilles Tatius Latin ) was a Greek writer, possibly from Alexandria.

He wrote at the end of the 2nd century AD, a romance novel in eight books Leukippe and Clitophon ( Τὰ κατὰ Λευκίππην καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα Ta kata Leukippen kai Kleitophonta, "The Story of Leukippe and Clitophon " ), in which, as in Greek novels usual, the lovers are separated and can unite definitively only after adventures and dangers. The work, written in deliberately simple style, is one of the literary valuable of its kind.

It is recorded in 23 manuscripts. Of these twelve the full text. The earliest tradition offers a papyrus from the 2nd century, a Vatican dates from the 12th century, most surviving manuscripts date from the 16th century.

Expenditure

• Stephen Gaselee: Achilles Tatius. Text and English translation. Heinemann, London 1917 digitized. Re: Loeb Classical Library, London and Cambridge, 1947
• Rowland Smith: The Loves of Clitopho and Leucippe. In: The Greek Romances. London 1889 digitized