213Beyond Genre: Wise Men and Rulers in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica and Palladius’ On the Races of India and the Brahmans

In this paper, I examine the portrait of the wise man and his role in the characterisation of the ideal ruler in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica and Palladius’ On the Races of India and the Brahmans . Despite the substantial differences between the two works, the fact that they were both probably written by Christian bishops increases the possibility that they are both part of a composite tradition, which brings together elements from different eras and of different natures. In On the Races of India and the Brahmans , we come across the powerful Alexander, who aspires to become a model-ruler and who therefore visits the Indian sages in search of wisdom (on Alexander and India, cf. Liotsakis in this volume). In the Aethiopica , we have Hydaspes, the ruler of Ethiopia, who displays qualities that set him apart from the king of Macedonia portrayed in Palladius’ work. By comparing the portraits of Hydaspes and Alexander, we can conclude that the role played by the wise man in each text is decisive in shaping the profile of the ideal ruler.