Giton

Giton is a fictional character in Petronius's Satyricon, a 1st-century Roman satire. He is described as a handsome young boy who becomes the companion and lover of Encolpius, the narrator.

In the early part of the work, Encolpius and Giton travel through the Roman world, their bond central to the narrative. The episodes mix affection, sexual undertones, and social satire as they encounter a range of people and situations, reflecting the book’s broader critique of Roman society and its mores.

The Satyricon survives in fragmentary form, and the ending is abrupt and unresolved; Giton's ultimate fate remains unknown in the surviving text. The work is traditionally attributed to Petronius, a courtier of Nero, though details of authorship and dating are uncertain, with scholarly debate about the text’s composition and date.

In modern scholarship, Giton is studied as part of homoerotic motifs and as a lens on themes of social mobility, decadence, and narrative voice in classical literature. The character’s portrayal contributes to discussions of desire, power, and class in ancient prose and offers insight into how late Republican to early Imperial Roman culture has been read and interpreted over time.