Ephesian Tale

The Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes (Greek: Ἐφεσιακά, Ephesiaka; also Τὰ κατὰ Ἀνθίαν καὶ Ἁβροκόμην, Ta kata Anthian kai Habrokomēn) by Xenophon of Ephesus is an Ancient Greek novel written before the late 2nd century AD, though in 1996, James O’Sullivan has argued the date should actually be seen as closer to 50 AD.

Translator Graham Anderson sees the Ephesiaca as "a specimen of penny dreadful literature in antiquity." Moses Hadas, an earlier translator, takes a slightly different view: "If An Ephesian Tale is an absorbing tale of love and improbable adventure, it is also a tract to prove that Diana of the Ephesians (who was equated with Isis) cares for her loyal devotees."

Because of its shortness and other factors, some scholars maintain that the version we have is merely an epitome of a longer work. The Suda, a 10th-century Medieval Greek historical encyclopedia, describes the novel as having ten books when the version we have is divided into five. But Anderson suggests that "we may well find that our version is one of not two but a multiplicity of retellings of a familiar story, whose relationships to Xenophon are not easily identifiable." Translator Jeffrey Henderson offers another reason for the disparity: "For the number of books, the itacism of έ ("five") ... is a likelier explanation of Suda's ί ("ten") than the supposition that our text is an epitome.^[1] The story is very similar to the later story of Apollonius of Tyre.