author
Longus
Little is known about this ancient Greek novelist, but the one work linked to him has endured for centuries. Daphnis and Chloe blends innocence, desire, and pastoral beauty in a story that helped shape the long history of the romance novel.
4 Audiobooks
The Greek Romances of Heliodorus, Longus and Achilles Tatius Comprising the Ethiopics; or, Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea; The pastoral amours of Daphnis and Chloe; and the loves of Clitopho and Leucippe
by Achilles Tatius, of Emesa Heliodorus, Longus
Dafnis y Cloe; leyendas del antiguo Oriente (fragmentos)
by Juan Valera, Longus
Δάφνης και Χλόη
by Longus
About the author
Almost everything about Longus is uncertain. Ancient sources do not preserve a clear biography, and modern reference works describe him mainly through his surviving book, Daphnis and Chloe. He is usually placed in the Roman Imperial period, most often around the 2nd or 3rd century CE, and is often associated with Lesbos because that island is the setting of his novel.
What made Longus last is the unusual charm of Daphnis and Chloe, a pastoral prose romance about two young shepherds growing up, falling in love, and slowly learning what love means. The book is often noted as the first pastoral prose romance and remains one of the best-known ancient Greek novels.
Even with so little known about the man himself, the writing has kept his name alive. Readers still come to Longus for the graceful natural setting, the sweetness of the central love story, and the way the novel stands at an early crossroads between classical storytelling and the later European tradition of romance fiction.