A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Ἀχιλλεὺς τάτιος), or as Suidas and Eudocia call him Achilles Statius, an Alexandrine rhetorician, who was formerly believed to have lived in the second or third century of our aera. But as it is a well-known fact, which is also acknowledged by Photius, that he imitated Heliodorus of Emesa, he must have lived after this writer, and therefore belongs either to the latter half of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century of our aera. Suidas states that he was originally a Pagan, and that subsequently he was converted to Christianity. The truth of this assertion, as far as Achilles Tatius, the author of the romance, is concerned, is not supported by the work of Achilles, which bears no marks of Christian thoughts, while it would not be difficult to prove from it that he was a heathen.

[L.S]