This project is part of a research line that I have established since my ZAP appointment (2013) with the support of two ERC grants (StG Novel Saints 2014-19; CoG Novel Echoes 2019-24) among other grants: the reception of ancient novels in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. This project will explore previously unexplored domains that our previous research has identified as promising areas for further investigation, such as, for example, the late antique Palestinian narrative tradition, and the Latin hagiography of western Europe.

This project aims to compose a more detailed and more comprehensive picture of the readership of the ancient novels than we currently have. The project will thus enhance our understanding of central issues of late antique and medieval literature: it will study how fiction was conceptualized, reconstruct ancient literary criticism of the novels and help explain how they travelled through Late Antiquity into the Byzantine era.