Fiction as History: Nero to Julian

Abstract

Using pagan fiction produced in Greek and Latin during the early Christian era, this text investigates the complex relationship between historical and fictional truths. This relationship preoccupied writers of the 2nd century, a time when apparent fictions about both past and present were proliferating at an astonishing rate and history was being invented all over again. Here, the author illuminates social attitudes of this period and persuasively argues that its fiction was influenced by the emerging Christian Gospel narratives. While pagan and Christian themes are frequently interwoven here, what makes Bowersock's book particularly effective is its concentration on secular literature and his reconstruction of the social contexts of certain literary motifs. Material from the pagan novels - less familiar to most readers - leads into the familiar Christian material, casting new light on the latter. One is able to see how educated pagans both resisted and assimilated Christian narratives.