The reader learns that Ethiopian girl Chariclea is the daughter of the king and queen of Ethiopia, King Hydaspes, and Queen Persinnia. However, Chariclea does not know her true, royal identity. The reader first meets Chariclea in disguise, not just as a woman, but as a human being. Weeping over the fact that she fears her lover is dead, bandits at first take her for a goddess, then decide that only a woman could experience such grief, despite her apparent refinement and beauty. Religion is thus part of the worldview of the novel from the very beginning of the in media res scene that sets off the drama of th

A critic might protest that all this does not mean that all religions and ethnicities are perfectly equal in the story, as the king of Ethiopia does nearly sacrifice his own daughter as a war trophy, before he learns of her true identity! In all fairness, however, the Trojan War began with a similar attempted sacrifice of a young maiden. such a convention is not used to imply that the king of Ethiopia is uniquely barbarous in all of his practices. In fact, Chariclea begs her father to spare her life, not because she accuses him of barbarism, rather she tries to persuade him by saying that she is an unfit sacrifice because she is Ethiopian!

As Persinnia feared that her husband would accuse her of adultry because of the appearance of the child, the baby's mother sent her daughter away in secret. Eventually the child was entrusted to the care of a priest, who makes her a priestess at Delphi of the god Apollo. (4:8) The goodness of the Delphi priest, of the Ethiopian who helped hide the girl, and the ability of the different nations and religions to engage in such interactions suggests a lack of 'complications' in terms of ancient religions entering in free and direct discourse with one another, even if they may have different patron gods and different practices. These differences might pertain to national practices, as some gods might favor certain nations over other nations, but it was not a question of which religion was right or wrong in terms of dogma, as was later to become the concerns of Christians in the ancient world.

For example, when the Egyptian robber leader Thyamis goes back to the cave in the dark, he kills a woman who is speaking Greek, whom he assumes is Chariclea. Thyamis shows his base nature because he turns against the superiority of the Greek civilization and language in an intolerant fashion. (Fortunately, he is mistaken in assuming the speaker's identity, and Charicleia lives on another day.) But also in the first book of the novel, the ability of Africans to be noble is shown when the evil robber chief then has a dream in which he is back at his home in Memphis in Egypt and the goddess Isis commends Chariclea as a good woman. Isis says that Thyamis shall never have his way with the girl. Although he shall try to kill her, the girl will not die. Isis' goodness and strength as an Egyptian deity highlights that it i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Queen Ethiopia, Queen Persinnia, Isis Thyamis, Ethiopian Romance, Trojan War, Theagenes Chariclea, Persinnia Chariclea, Chariclea Thyamis, Egyptians Ethiopians, Greek Roman, ancient world, gods practices, king ethiopia, queen ethiopia, queen persinnia, greek roman, priestess help, royal identity, commends chariclea, ethiopian romance,
Approximate Word count = 1591
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)