This doctoral thesis investigates masculinity in the five major Greek novels: Chariton's Callirhoe, Xenophon of Ephesus's Anthia and Habrocomes, Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, Achilles Tatius's Leucippe and Clitophon, and Heliodorus's Aethiopica. I argue that the novels are symptomatic of the periods in which they were produced, and that they express contemporary cultural concerns regarding masculinity. My study approach masculinity as a concept revealed less through conscious self-representation than influences and conventions. I examine masculinity in the novels by focusing on the social processes and institutions by which male characters must establish, defend, and express their (culturally normative and elite) masculinity. The individual chapters---on friendship, violence, and self-transformation---show how the novels represent masculinity not only as an achievement (rather than a given), but also as an identity to be expressed and recognized through the characterization, actions, and relationships of the male characters. This thesis contributes uniquely to the ongoing discussion on masculinity in the Greek novels and, more generally, in the Imperial period in its investigation that goes beyond explicit references to gendered behavior and occupations to examine the actions and relationships of the novels' male characters that expose the conventions by which elite masculinity must be recognized.