The dream of Charikles (4.14.2) : intertextuality and irony in the Ethiopian story of Heliodorus.
Abstract
There are strong but previously unnoticed intertextual links between the dream of Charikles in
Heliodorus (4.14.2), the portent of the eagle in Achilles Tatius (2.12.1-3), and the dream of
Penelope in Homer (Od. 19.535-69). The allusion to Achilles Tatius' Leukippe and Kleitophon
may have alerted Heliodorus' readers to the approach of an important turning-point in the
plot, but it is the Homeric link that is the primary focus. The dream of Penelope provides
moral underpinning for marriage in the Aithiopika and helps to underline the complex ironies in
Heliodorus' narrative at this crucial turning-point in the plot.