lost Greek Metamorphoses by Lucius of Patrae

E288711

The lost Greek Metamorphoses by Lucius of Patrae was an ancient prose narrative, likely a Milesian-style collection of erotic and fantastic tales, that served as the principal model for Apuleius’ Latin Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass).

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
lost Greek Metamorphoses by Lucius of Patrae canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Milesian-style tale collection
ancient Greek novel
lost ancient Greek prose work
associatedPlace Patrae
author Lucius of Patrae
countryOfOrigin Greek Antiquity
surface form: Ancient Greece
culturalContext Greco-Roman imperial period
currentCondition completely lost except for testimonia
evidenceForExistence testimonies of later ancient authors
genre erotic fiction
fantastic literature
prose narrative
influenceOn Metamorphoses by Apuleius
The Golden Ass
knownFrom indirect references and summaries
language Ancient Greek
literaryForm Milesian tales
literaryRelation source text for Apuleius’ Metamorphoses
literarySignificance important precursor of the Latin novel
key witness for development of ancient prose fiction (indirectly)
literaryTradition ancient Greek novelistic tradition
narrativeMode episodic tale collection
narrativePerspective first-person narrative
plotDevice magical transformation into an animal (reconstructed)
possibleRelationTo Onos (pseudo-Lucian) as alternative Greek ass-story version
principalModelFor Metamorphoses by Apuleius
The Golden Ass
protagonistName Lucius
relatedTo Milesian Tales by Aristides of Miletus
relatedWork Lucian of Samosata
surface form: Onos (pseudo-Lucian)
scholarlyDebate extent of Apuleius’ dependence on Greek original
scholarlyReconstructionBasedOn comparison with Apuleius’ Metamorphoses
setting Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean (reconstructed)
sharesProtagonistWith Metamorphoses by Apuleius
sharesTitleWith Metamorphoses by Apuleius
status lost work
subjectMatter transformations and adventures of Lucius
survival no complete manuscript extant
theme comic mishaps
magic and transformation
sexual adventures
travel and wandering
timeOfComposition probably 1st or 2nd century CE
titleLanguage Greek
workStatus known only through secondary evidence

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Metamorphoses by Apuleius basedOn lost Greek Metamorphoses by Lucius of Patrae