Chariclea (Theagenes and Chariclea)
Historical Records
Payments for 'speares for the play Cariclia' and an 'Awlter [alter] for theagines' are listed in the Revels accounts of 1572/3 (Feuillerat 175, see also Feuillerat's note on page 454). Wiggins holds that, in the accounts, the mitres and a picture of Andromeda 'correspond with the source' and speculates on other possible items that may reference the play (Wiggins 92).
Theatrical Provenance
At Court
Probable Genre(s)
Romance.
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
The STC lists a printing of An Aethiopian History around 1569 that was translated from a Greek text by Thomas Underdowne (STC (2nd ed.), 13041). This story comes from Heliodorus of Emesa's history of Theagenes and Chariclea. This story of the Queen of Ethiopia is also translated from the French by James Sandford in 1567 in a supplement to his translation of a work entitled The Amorous and Tragicall Tales of Plutarch (STC (2nd ed.), 20072).
This same play was either revived or made from the same or similar sources for another lost play, entitled The Queen of Ethiopia in 1578.
In this romance, Chariclea, the daughter of King Hydaspes and Queen Persinna of Ethiopia, was born white because her mother gazed upon a painting of Andromeda while Chariclea was being conceived. This happened just after the queen was rescued by Perseus, which makes the queen fear being accused of adultery. So Persinna leaves the baby Chariclea in the care of Sisimithras, who takes the baby to Egypt and in turn leaves her in the care of a Pythian priest.
Chariclea is later taken to Delphi, and made a priestess of Artemis. When Theagenes the Thessalian comes to Delphi, the two fall in love. Theagenes runs off with Chariclea with the help of Calasiris, an Egyptian employed by Queen Persinna to find Chariclea. Theagenes and Chariclea go through a number of trials, having encounters with pirates and thieves. The plot culminates with Chariclea taken and offered as a sacrifice to the gods by her own father. But her birth is made known, and Chariclea and Theagenes are married.
References to the Play
Sir Philip Sydney references the love story of Theagenes and Chariclea, which he calls that 'sugared invention' of Heliodorus. In the same essay he say that with the exception of Gorboduc, the tragedies and comedies of his time had neither 'honest civility' nor 'skillful poetry.' If Sydney saw the play, which is possible, he was not impressed.
Critical Commentary
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For What It's Worth
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Works Cited
Feuillerat, Albert. Documents relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth (Leuven, 1908). Wiggins, Martin. British Drama: 1533-1642: A Catalogue, Volume II: 1567-1589 (Oxford: OUP, 2012).
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Site created and maintained by Thomas Dabbs, Aoyama Gakuin University; updated 18 May, 2016.