A Study of The Sesonchosis Novel

Abstract

This dissertation presents a comprehensive study of a fragmentary text of Greek prose fiction generally known as The Sesonchosis Novel (2nd century CE). It provides a new picture of the scope, character, and date of the work with the help of two new papyrus fragments and explores its relationship to both the complex tradition of the Greco-Roman Sesostris legend and the genre of the ancient novel. Thus the first part of the dissertation focuses on the Sesostris legend by tracing the position of the character Sesostris in Egypt, surveying the nature and development of the legend in Greek and Roman texts, and analyzing in detail two episodes from the legendary material (the attempted coup and the royal chariot). It explores how Sesostris held almost semi-divine status in Egypt as well as how useful and potent a symbol of Egyptian kingship he became in Greco-Roman culture. The second part focuses on The Sesonchosis Novel, arguing that the novel's plot may have covered the whole life of its main character and that the text may thus be best described as a biographical novel or "ruler novel." The implications of this hypothesis for the ancient novel genre as a whole are discussed in some detail, particularly in relation to The Ninos Novel.