Chariton of Aphrodisias (; ) was the author of an
ancient Greek novel probably titled
Callirhoe (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript), though it is regularly referred to as
Chaereas and Callirhoe (which more closely aligns with the title given at the head of the manuscript). Recent evidence of fragments of the text on
papyri suggests that the novel may have been written in the mid 1st century AD, making it the oldest surviving complete ancient
prose romance and the only one to make use of apparent historiographical features for background verisimilitude and structure, in conjunction with elements of
Greek mythology, as Callirhoë is frequently compared to
Aphrodite and
Ariadne and Chaereas to numerous heroes, both implicitly and explicitly. As the fiction takes place in the past, and historical figures interact with the plot,
Callirhoe may be understood as the first
historical novel; it was later imitated by
Xenophon of Ephesus and
Heliodorus of Emesa, among others.