Several recent publications in the field of Modern Greek literature have suggested that thenovels written during the two decades following Greece’s independence in 1830 were infact inspired by their Hellenistic and Byzantine predecessors, and therefore genericallyare ‘adventure novels of ordeal'. In this paper I put these insights into practice by comparingHeliodoros’ Aithiopika (ca. 350 A.D.) with Alexandros Soutsos’ The Exile of 1831(1835) and argue that the connections between these two novels are so close that theAithiopikia can be considered as the direct model for Soutsos’ novel. The mainresemblances between the two works can be found in their narrative organisation and inthe presence of similar narrative themes. But Soutsos’ innovations vis-à-vis his model arealso noteworthy. Firstly, The Exile of 1831 has a pessimistic ending whereas in the Aithiopikacontains the stereotypical happy end. Secondly, actions performed in the Aithiopikaby the heroine, are in Soutsos’ novel reversed and experienced by the hero. Taking intoaccount these 'good-bad’ and 'hero-heroine’ inversions, I furthermore argue that Soutsosdid this consciously in order to add an allegorical layer to his novel. This allowed him toexpress an ideological-political message at a time when Greece was developping itsidentity as a modern nation-state.
