APULEIUS' THE GOLDEN ASS: ANTI-CHRISTIAN OPINION CONCEALED AS AN ASS-TALE

Abstract

The Latin novel The Golden Ass has mystified scholars for centuries. The first ten books of this eleven book work are presented by its second century North African author, Apuleius,as a ribald picaresque comedy written in a fashion reminiscent of the then popular'Greek romances'. It is, in particular, an example of an 'ass-tale': a comical story of the trials and tribulations suffered by a man who is transformed into an ass via magical means. However, the final book of The Golden Ass reveals to the reader that Apuleius had more than the retelling of an old tale in mind when he wrote this work. Instead, he appears to have had a distinctly religious aim as his goal given that the final book of his novel is dedicated to the salvific properties of the goddess Isis. By placing a book dedicated to Isis at the end of a ribald comedy suggests that Apuleius' religious aim in writing The Golden Ass was more complicated than is immediately apparent. Modem scholarship has long struggled with this mystery, but discerning the religious aim of Apuleius becomes less of an enigma when it is studied in the light of its unique second century social context of anti-Christian tension. Following the lead of the eminent scholar P.G. Walsh, this particular study demonstrates that in writing The Golden Ass Apuleius was artfully expressing the anti-Christian opinion characteristic of the elite and traditionally-minded social class to which he belonged.