This companion addresses a topic of continuing contemporary relevance, both cultural and literary.

• Offers both a wide-ranging exploration of the classical novel of antiquity and a wealth of close literary analysis
• Brings together the most up-to-date international scholarship on the ancient novel, including fresh new academic voices
• Includes focused chapters on individual classical authors, such as Petronius, Xenophon and Apuleius, as well as a wide-ranging thematic analysis
• Addresses perplexing questions concerning authorial expression and readership of the ancient novel form
• Provides an accomplished introduction to a genre with a rising profile

Shannon N. Byrne is Professor of Classics at Xavier University.

Edmund P. Cueva is Professor of Classics and Humanities at the University of Houston-Downtown. Together, they have coedited several books, including of Authors, Authority and Interpreters in the Ancient Novel: Essays in Honor of Gareth L. Schmeling (with J. Alvares, 2006), Longus: Text, Commentary and Vocabulary (2005), and Humor and Classical Literature (2002).