Novel about Nina

Excerpts from the novel were found in Egypt on papyrus at the end of the 19th century and published in 1893 , later another passage was found, published in 1945 . Based on the nature of the letter and its linguistic features, as well as on the state of papyri, the time of writing the novel is referred to approximately the I or II century. BC e. Thus, it turns out to be the oldest of the Greek novels known to us. The most likely place for the creation of the novel about Nina is considered Syria of the Seleucid era.

The main characters of the novel are the seventeen-year-old king of Assyria Ning and his beloved, cousin, not named by name. Minor characters: mother Nina Tamba and mother of the girl Derkei are sisters.

The name of Derkei, consonant with the name of Derketo , the Syrian goddess - the mother of the legendary Semiramis , prompted researchers to the idea of ​​identifying the girl from the novel with the Assyrian queen Semiramis. Based on the legendary images, the unknown author of the Nina novel remade them with great freedom, according to the requirements of the novel genre, so that the images of the novel received a completely different color.

It has been established that the action of all three fragments occurs in different places: the first in the house of Nin, the second in Armenia , the third in Colchis .

At the beginning of the first fragment, it was apparently about the heroes of the novel, cousins, swearing to each other in love and fidelity, decided to open up to their aunts, each mother of the other, with a request to expedite their marriage. Further, Nina’s speech, in which, turning to Derkee, complains about the injustice of customs prohibiting girls under 15 years of age to marry (Semiramis is 13 years old), complains about the vagaries and changeability of fate, which can break the happiness of lovers and thereby damage the interests of the kingdom requiring procreation. Because Nin and asks to speed up the wedding. Semiramis makes it clear to Tamba that she wants to tell her something, but she cannot utter a word. Then Tamba herself begins to say that the girl’s silence is more understandable to her than any words, she herself praises her son, who cannot afford anything reprehensible to the girl, and justifies his rush to the wedding.

The very poorly preserved sheet of the second papyrus contained an emotional scene of a quarrel between Nin and Semiramis. Nin is preparing for a new campaign against rebellious Armenia, Semiramis, apparently, feels miserable before separation and protests against the campaign. After the scene of the reconciliation of the heroes, a fragment follows about Nina’s preparation for the war with Armenia, a description of the composition and strength of the troops, the difficulties of this military expedition, the passage through the mountains and rivers, and Nina’s tactics are described.

The novel has already outlined the scheme of the late Greek novel, the system of its motives and even stylistic means, which received their technically perfect development only at the time of the second sophistry. The features of a romance novel are intertwined with the features of a historical narrative.

• Kuznetsova T.I. The novel about Nina and other papyrus fragments of the Greek novel // Antique novel. M., 1969.S. 107-131.