Iamblichus, Greek Romance Writer
IAMBLICHUS, GREEK ROMANCE WRITER, of Syria, the earliest of the Greek romance writers, flourished in the 2nd century A.D. He was the author of Ba@v\iavia.Ka., the loves of Rhodanes and Sinonis, of which an epitome is preserved in Photius (cod. 94). Garmus, a legendary king of Babylon, forces Sinonis to marry him and throws Rhodanes into prison. The lovers manage to escape, and after many singular adventures, in which magic plays a considerable part, Garmus is overthrown by Rhodanes, who becomes king of Babylon. According to Suidas, lamblichus was a freedman, and a scholiast's note on Photius further informs us that he was a native Syrian (not descended from Greek settlers) ; that he borrowed the material for his romance from a love story told him by his Babylonian tutor, and that he subsequently applied himself with great success to the study of Greek. A MS. of the original in the library of the Escorial is said to have been destroyed by fire in 1670. Only a few fragments have been preserved, in addition to Photius's epitome.
See Scriptures erotici, ed. A. Hirschig (1856) and R. Hercher (1858); A. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, ii. ; E. Rohde, Der griechische Roman (1900).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
