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{{For|the Stoic philosopher of the same name|Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher)}}
{{About|the fictional character|the Stoic philosopher of the same name|Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher)}}


'''Apollonius of Tyre''' is the subject of an ancient short novella, popular during medieval times. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, the text is thought to be translated from an ancient Greek manuscript, now lost.
'''Apollonius of Tyre''' is the hero of a short [[ancient novel]], popular in the [[Middle Ages]]. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, all are thought to derive from an [[Ancient Greek language|ancient Greek]] version now [[Lost literary work|lost]].


==Plot summary==
==Plot summary==


In most versions, the eponymous hero is hunted and persecuted after he reveals a king's [[incestuous]] relationship with his daughter. After many travels and adventures, in which Apollonius loses both his wife and his daughter and thinks them both dead, he is eventually reunited with his family through unlikely circumstances or intercession by gods. Some English versions have a recognition plot where Apollonius is shipwrecked and becomes a tutor to a princess who falls in love with him, and the good king gradually discovers his daughter's wishes. The major themes are the punishment of inappropriate lust—the incestuous king invariably comes to a bad end—and the ultimate rewards of love and fidelity.
In most versions, the eponymous hero is hunted and persecuted after he reveals Antiochus of Antioch's [[incestuous]] relationship with his daughter. After many travels and adventures, in which Apollonius loses both his wife and his daughter and thinks them both dead, he is eventually reunited with his family through unlikely circumstances or intercession by gods. In some English versions Apollonius is shipwrecked and becomes a tutor to a princess who falls in love with him, and the good king gradually discovers his daughter's wishes. The major themes are the punishment of inappropriate lust—the incestuous king invariably comes to a bad end—and the ultimate rewards of love and fidelity.


==Origins (Latin and Greek?)==
==Origins (Latin and Greek?)==


The story is first mentioned in Latin by [[Venantius Fortunatus]] in his ''Carmina'' (Bk. vi. 8, 11. 5-6) during the late 6th century;<ref name = EB1911>http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Apollonius_of_Tyre</ref> it is conjectured, based on similarities with the ''[[Ephesian Tale]]'' of [[Xenophon of Ephesus]] and the presence of idioms awkward in Latin but typical in Greek, that the original was a [[Greek language|Greek]] romance of the 3rd century.<ref name = Gill>Stuart Gillespie, ''Shakespeare's Books'' (2001) p. 204.</ref> Some fragments of Greek romance point to the possibility of an even older date.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p170-1 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>
The story is first mentioned in Latin by [[Venantius Fortunatus]] in his ''Carmina'' (Bk. vi. 8, 11. 5–6) during the late 6th century;<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Apollonius of Tyre|volume=2|pages=188–189}}</ref> it is conjectured, based on similarities with the ''[[Ephesian Tale]]'' of [[Xenophon of Ephesus]] and the presence of idioms awkward in Latin but typical in Greek, that the original was a [[Greek language|Greek]] romance of the third century.<ref name = Gill>Stuart Gillespie, ''Shakespeare's Books'' (2001) p. 204.</ref> Some fragments of Greek romance, however, point to the possibility of an even older date.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'', New York Burt Franklin, 1963, p. 170–171.</ref> The earliest manuscripts of the tale, in a Latin version, date from the 9th or 10th century but are from late antiquity. Thus they show an intersection of Greek and Roman as well as pre-Christian and Christian influences.<ref>Stelios Panayotakis, [http://www.fiec2009.org/proposals/panayotakis.pdf "Figuring the Body in ''The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre''."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726052614/http://www.fiec2009.org/proposals/panayotakis.pdf |date=July 26, 2011 }}</ref> Overall, the work is classed with other ancient Greek romance novels.<ref>B. P. Reardon, editor, ''Collected Ancient Greek Novels'', 2008.</ref>


Some scholars hold that the [[riddle]]s with which the king tests the hero in many versions may be a later addition:<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, op. cit., p. 171.</ref> ten derive from the c. fourth-century Latin riddle-collection attributed to [[Symphosius]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finch |first=Chauncey E. |date=1967 |title=Codex Vat. Barb. Lat. 721 as a Source for the Riddles of Symphosius |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935872 |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=98 |pages=173–179 |doi=10.2307/2935872 |issn=0065-9711}}</ref> Other scholars believe the incest story to have been a later addition as well, though others, including Elizabeth Archibald, see it as an integral thematic element of the tale.<ref>Elizabeth Archibald, ''Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations'', 1991.</ref>
The [[riddle]]s with which the king tests the hero in many versions may be a later addition to the story.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p171 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>


⚫
The most widespread Latin versions are those of [[Godfrey of Viterbo]], who incorporated it into his ''[[Pantheon (book)|Pantheon]]'' of 1185 as if it were actual history, ''Historia Apollonii regis Tyri'' and a version in the ''[[Gesta Romanorum]]''.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, op. cit., p. 164.</ref>
Some scholars also believe the incest story to have been a later addition, however others, including Elizabeth Archibald, see it as an integral thematic element of the tale.<ref>Elizabeth Archibald, ''Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations'' (1991).</ref>

⚫
The earliest manuscripts of the tale, in a Latin version, date from the 9th or 10th century; the most widespread Latin versions are those of [[Gottfried von Viterbo]], who incorporated it into his ''[[Pantheon (book)|Pantheon]]'' of 1185 as if it were actual history, and a version in the ''[[Gesta Romanorum]]''.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p164 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>


==Translations==
==Translations==
'Fifty to a hundred versions' of the story are known from antiquity into the early modern period, mostly European, including texts in English, Dutch, German, Danish, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Greek, and Latin.<ref>Christine Goldberg, ''Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851'', Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 18.</ref>


The earliest vernacular translation is an incomplete [[Old English language|Old English]] prose text from the 11th century, sometimes called the first [[English novel]]; the existence of this text is something of a mystery, since secular prose fiction was extremely rare at the time. Various versions of the tale were subsequently written in most European languages.
The earliest vernacular translation is an incomplete [[Old English language|Old English]] prose text from the 11th century, sometimes called the first [[English novel]]. The existence of this unique text is unusual, as secular prose fiction from that time is extremely rare. The manuscript copy may only have survived because it was bound into a book together with Archbishop Wulfstan's homilies.<ref>Goolden, Peter ''The Old English Apollonius of Tyre'' Oxford University Press 1958 xxxii-xxxiv</ref> Various versions of the tale were later written in most European languages.


A notable English version is the eighth book of [[John Gower]]'s ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' (1390), which uses it as an [[exemplum]] against [[lust]].<ref name = EB1911/> It is described as being bsaed on ''Pantheon'', but it contains many details that work does not but the old ''Historia'' does.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p165-6 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>
A notable English version is in the eighth book of [[John Gower]]'s ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' (1390), which uses it as an [[exemplum]] against [[lust]].<ref name="EB1911"/> It is described as being based on ''Pantheon'', but it contains many details that work does not but the old ''Historia'' does.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p165–6 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>


Its numerous vernacular versions, along with the Latin ones, attest to its popularity throughout the Middle Ages.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p165 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref> It appears in an old Danish ballad collected in ''[[Danmarks gamle Folkeviser]]''.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p168 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>
Its numerous vernacular versions, along with the Latin ones, attest to its popularity throughout the Middle Ages.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p165 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref> It appears in an old Danish ballad collected in ''[[Danmarks gamle Folkeviser]]''.<ref>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p168 New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>

[[Robert Copland]] translated from the French the romance of ''Kynge Appolyne of Thyre'' (W. de Worde, 1510).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Classen|first=Albrecht|title=Review, 'Stephen Morrison and Jean-Jacques Vincensini, ''The Middle English'' Kynge Appolyn of Thyre.'|journal=Mediaevistik|volume=33|year=2020|page=563|doi=10.3726/med.2020.01.168 |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/plg/med/2020/00000033/00000001/art00168}}</ref>


==Later versions and influence==
==Later versions and influence==


The story was retold in thirteenth-century [[Castilian Spanish|Castilian]] as ''[[Libro de Apolonio]]''. It is also a major inspiration of the [[chanson de geste]] ''[[Jordain de Blaivies]]''.
Robert Copland wrote an early 16th century prose version.


[[Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]]'' was based in part on Gower's version, with the change of name probably inspired by [[Philip Sidney]]'s ''[[Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia|Arcadia]]''. ''Apollonius of Tyre'' was also a source for his plays ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' and ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]''.
[[William Shakespeare]] and [[George Wilkins]]'s play ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]]'' was based in part on Gower's version, with the change of name probably inspired by [[Philip Sidney]]'s ''[[Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia|Arcadia]]''. ''Apollonius of Tyre'' was also a source for his plays ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' and ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]''.


==Notes==
==Notes==
Line 35: Line 36:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Wikisource-inline|Gesta Romanorum Vol. II (1871)/Of temporal Tribulation|Of temporal Tribulation (Apollonius of Tyre)}}, from [[Gesta Romanorum]]
* [http://www.chss.montclair.edu/classics/petron/ApolloniusT.html Plot summary]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051231051704/http://www.chss.montclair.edu/classics/petron/ApolloniusT.html Plot summary]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=jb0WAAAAQAAJ&pg=PT31&dq=narratio+eorum&hl=en&ei=TfouTITPHMqTkAXh6NWCBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio"]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=jb0WAAAAQAAJ&dq=narratio+eorum&pg=PT31 Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio"]
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenahist/welser1/jpg/ds677.html The 1682 reprint of Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio"]
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenahist/welser1/jpg/ds677.html The 1682 reprint of Marcus Welser's 1595 Latin edition, "Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio"]
* [http://www.archive.org/stream/anglosaxonversi00apolgoog/anglosaxonversi00apolgoog_djvu.txt The Anglo-Saxon Version of Apollonius of Tyre with a literal translation by Benjamin Thorpe, London, 1834]
* [https://archive.org/stream/anglosaxonversi00apolgoog/anglosaxonversi00apolgoog_djvu.txt The Anglo-Saxon version in the 1834 Benjamin Thorpe English translation]
* [[s:The History of Apollonius King of Tyre|The 1824 English translation of Charles Swan revised by Wynnard Hooper in 1905]]
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/histapoll.html The Latin Library edition of the Latin text]
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/histapoll.html The Latin Library edition of the Latin text]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/historia_apollonii_regis_tyri_zf_0908_librivox1 The Librivox audio edition of the Latin text]
* [https://librivox.org/historia-apollonii-regis-tyri-by-anonymous/ The Librivox audio edition of the Latin text]
*{{ cite book
|title=Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations
| year=1991 | author=Elizabeth Archibald | publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0859913164
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xpcyr9oYdAC&q=Antiochus
}} includes Latin text&translation of ''Historia Apollonii regis Tyri''
{{Ancient Greek novels}}
{{The Comedy of Errors}}
{{Pericles, Prince of Tyre}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Latin prose texts]]
[[Category:Novels in Latin]]
[[Category:Translations]]
[[Category:Translations into Latin]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Early medieval literature]]
[[Category:Romance (genre)]]
[[Category:Romance (genre)]]
[[Category:Fictional kings]]
[[Category:Fictional kings]]

[[no:Apollonius fra Tyr (romanse)]]
[[ru:Аполлоний Тирский]]

Latest revision as of 08:44, 28 November 2024

This article is about the fictional character. For the Stoic philosopher of the same name, see Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher).

Apollonius of Tyre is the hero of a short ancient novel, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, all are thought to derive from an ancient Greek version now lost.

Plot summary

[edit]

In most versions, the eponymous hero is hunted and persecuted after he reveals Antiochus of Antioch's incestuous relationship with his daughter. After many travels and adventures, in which Apollonius loses both his wife and his daughter and thinks them both dead, he is eventually reunited with his family through unlikely circumstances or intercession by gods. In some English versions Apollonius is shipwrecked and becomes a tutor to a princess who falls in love with him, and the good king gradually discovers his daughter's wishes. The major themes are the punishment of inappropriate lust—the incestuous king invariably comes to a bad end—and the ultimate rewards of love and fidelity.

Origins (Latin and Greek?)

[edit]

The story is first mentioned in Latin by Venantius Fortunatus in his Carmina (Bk. vi. 8, 11. 5–6) during the late 6th century;[1] it is conjectured, based on similarities with the Ephesian Tale of Xenophon of Ephesus and the presence of idioms awkward in Latin but typical in Greek, that the original was a Greek romance of the third century.[2] Some fragments of Greek romance, however, point to the possibility of an even older date.[3] The earliest manuscripts of the tale, in a Latin version, date from the 9th or 10th century but are from late antiquity. Thus they show an intersection of Greek and Roman as well as pre-Christian and Christian influences.[4] Overall, the work is classed with other ancient Greek romance novels.[5]

Some scholars hold that the riddles with which the king tests the hero in many versions may be a later addition:[6] ten derive from the c. fourth-century Latin riddle-collection attributed to Symphosius.[7] Other scholars believe the incest story to have been a later addition as well, though others, including Elizabeth Archibald, see it as an integral thematic element of the tale.[8]

The most widespread Latin versions are those of Godfrey of Viterbo, who incorporated it into his Pantheon of 1185 as if it were actual history, Historia Apollonii regis Tyri and a version in the Gesta Romanorum.[9]

Translations

[edit]

'Fifty to a hundred versions' of the story are known from antiquity into the early modern period, mostly European, including texts in English, Dutch, German, Danish, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Greek, and Latin.[10]

The earliest vernacular translation is an incomplete Old English prose text from the 11th century, sometimes called the first English novel. The existence of this unique text is unusual, as secular prose fiction from that time is extremely rare. The manuscript copy may only have survived because it was bound into a book together with Archbishop Wulfstan's homilies.[11] Various versions of the tale were later written in most European languages.

A notable English version is in the eighth book of John Gower's Confessio Amantis (1390), which uses it as an exemplum against lust.[1] It is described as being based on Pantheon, but it contains many details that work does not but the old Historia does.[12]

Its numerous vernacular versions, along with the Latin ones, attest to its popularity throughout the Middle Ages.[13] It appears in an old Danish ballad collected in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser.[14]

Robert Copland translated from the French the romance of Kynge Appolyne of Thyre (W. de Worde, 1510).[15]

Later versions and influence

[edit]

The story was retold in thirteenth-century Castilian as Libro de Apolonio. It is also a major inspiration of the chanson de geste Jordain de Blaivies.

William Shakespeare and George Wilkins's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre was based in part on Gower's version, with the change of name probably inspired by Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Apollonius of Tyre was also a source for his plays Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apollonius of Tyre". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 188–189.
  2. ^ Stuart Gillespie, Shakespeare's Books (2001) p. 204.
  3. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England, New York Burt Franklin, 1963, p. 170–171.
  4. ^ Stelios Panayotakis, "Figuring the Body in The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre." Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ B. P. Reardon, editor, Collected Ancient Greek Novels, 2008.
  6. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, op. cit., p. 171.
  7. ^ Finch, Chauncey E. (1967). "Codex Vat. Barb. Lat. 721 as a Source for the Riddles of Symphosius". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 98: 173–179. doi:10.2307/2935872. ISSN 0065-9711.
  8. ^ Elizabeth Archibald, Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations, 1991.
  9. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, op. cit., p. 164.
  10. ^ Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 18.
  11. ^ Goolden, Peter The Old English Apollonius of Tyre Oxford University Press 1958 xxxii-xxxiv
  12. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England p165–6 New York Burt Franklin,1963
  13. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England p165 New York Burt Franklin,1963
  14. ^ Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England p168 New York Burt Franklin,1963
  15. ^ Classen, Albrecht (2020). "Review, 'Stephen Morrison and Jean-Jacques Vincensini, The Middle English Kynge Appolyn of Thyre.'". Mediaevistik. 33: 563. doi:10.3726/med.2020.01.168.
[edit]
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