Chaereas and Callirhoe . . . is the earliest Greek romantic novel the text of which has been completely preserved; hence it is among the first ancestors of modern European fiction. In this lively tale of adventure, a nobly born heroine is kidnapped across the seas from Syracuse to Asia Minor, where her beauty causes many complications and she is finally rescued by her dashing lover. This book in antiquity took the place of such stories as Dumas and Sabatini have written for later generations.