Heliodorus

Heliodorus (hē'lēōdôr`əs), fl. 175 B.C., Syrian statesman. The treasurer of Seleucus IV (Seleucus Philopator), he murdered the king and attempted unsuccessfully to usurp the throne. According to the Book of Second Maccabees, he entered the Temple at Jerusalem but was prevented from taking the treasure by three angels.

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Heliodorus

Syrian official attempted to loot Solomon’s temple. [Apocrypha: II Maccabees 3]

See : Sacrilege

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Heliodorus

Dates of birth and death unknown. Greek writer of the third century, author of the novel Aethiopica, the story of the love and adventures of the Aethiopian princess Chariclea and the Thessalian youth Theagenes. In Europe the novel has been known since 1534, when it was first published. It served as a model for novels of gallantry and adventure of the 17th and 18th centuries.

WORKS

Les Ethiopiques (Théagène et Chariclée), vols. 1-3. Paris, 1935-43. In Russian translation, Efiopika. Introduction and commentary by A. Egunov. Moscow, 1965.

REFERENCES

Istoriia grecheskoi literatury, vol. 3. Edited by S. I. Sobolevskii [and others]. Moscow, 1960. Pages 268-71.
Oeftering, M. Heliodor und seine Bedeutung für die Literatur, Berlin, 1901.

L. A. FREIBERG