Chariton of Aphrodisias (Greek: Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς) was the author of an ancient Greek novel probably titled Callirhoe (also called Chaereas and Callirhoe). 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.