(Departamento de Linguas e Culturas, Universidade de Aveiro., 2011) Hilton, John Laurence.
This article analyses the final sentence of Heliodoros's Aithiopika as a
sphragis- an autobiographical statement by the author. Heliodoros here
stresses his descent from Helios, as one of characters in the romance,
Persinna, also does. However, while genealogy (or physis) is an important
element it is counterbalanced by the relativization of knowledge in the
Aithiopika - nomos is king. The tension between these concepts is resolved by
reading the romance in the light of Julian's Hymn to Helios.
