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Lucian
*** Shopping-Tip: Lucian
:For the
Underworld (2003 film) character, see
Lucian (Underworld)
Image:Lucian Samosata.warj.png thumb|200px|Lucian
'''Lucian of Samosata''' (Greek, Λουκιανὸς Σαμοσατεύς, Latin, Lucianus; c. AD
120 - after
180) was a
rhetorician and
satire satirist, writing in the
Greek language, noted for his witty and scoffing nature.
He was born in
Samosata (now inundated in a reservoir of eastern
Turkey), in the former kingdom of
Commagene, which had been absorbed by the
Roman Empire and made part of the province of
History of Syria Syria, thus he referred to himself as a "Syrian" ([http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_intro.htm Harmon]). He died probably in
Athens. His birthplace was recently lost when the
Atatürk Dam project led to the destruction of the site. Lucian almost certainly did not write all the more than eighty works attributed to him— declamations, essays both laudatory and sarcastic, and comic dialogues and ''
symposium symposia'' with a satirical cast, studded with quotations in alarming contexts and allusions set in an unusual light, designed to be surprising and provocative. His name added luster to any entertaining and sarcastic essay: over 150 surviving
manuscripts attest to his continued popularity. The first printed edition of a selection of his works was issued at
Florence in 1499. His best known works are ''A True Story'' (a
romance (genre) romance, patently not "true" at all, with its trip to the
moon), and ''Dialogues of the Gods'' and ''Dialogues of the Dead''.
Lucian was trained as a rhetorician, a vocation where one plead in court, to compose pleas for others and to teach the art of pleading, but Lucian's practice was to travel about, giving amusing discourses and witty lectures improvised on the spot, somewhat as a ''
rhapsode'' had done in declaiming poetry at an earlier period. In this way Lucian travelled through
Ionia and mainland
Greece, to
Italy and even to
Gaul, and won much wealth and fame.
Lucian admired the works of
Epicurus, for he breaks off a witty satire against [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_alexander.htm ''Alexander the false prophet''], who burned a book of Epicurus, to exclaim
:''what blessings that book creates for its readers and what peace, tranquillity, and freedom it engenders in them, liberating them as it does from terrors and apparitions and portents, from vain hopes and extravagant cravings, developing in them intelligence and truth, and truly purifying their understanding, not with torches and squills and that sort of foolery, but with straight thinking, truthfulness and frankness.''
In his ''Symposium'', far from
Plato's discourse, the diners get drunk, tell smutty tales and behave badly.
In ''A True Story'' he parodied some weird tales told by
Homer in the ''
Odyssey'' and some feeble fantasies that were popular in his time. He anticipated "modern" fictional themes like voyages to the moon and Venus,
extraterrestrial life and wars between planets centuries before
Jules Verne and
H.G. Wells. He could actually be called the ''Father of
science fiction.''
Lucian also wrote a satire called ''The Passing of Peregrinus'', in which the lead character, Peregrinus, takes advantage of the generosity and gullibility of
Christians. This is one of the earliest surviving pagan perceptions of
Christianity. His ''Philopseudes'' (Greek for "Lover of lies") is a
frame story which includes the original version of "
The Sorcerer's Apprentice".
External links
{{wikiquote}}
-
A.M. Harmon, Introduction to Lucian of Samosata
*{{gutenberg author| id=Lucian+of+Samosata | name=Lucian of Samosata}}
-
Loeb Classical Library, vol. 3/8 of Lucian's works, with facing Greek text
-
''Erotes'' - a dialogue comparing the two kinds of love
-
''Alexander the false prophet'' - the successful travelling prophet of
Asclepius and his oracular
Serpent (symbolism) serpent god
-
The Syrian Goddess, at sacred-texts.com
Further reading
*Lucian, ''Works'', Loeb Classical library, 8 volumes
-
Contents – Harvard University Press
Category:Syrian people
Category:120 births
Category:180 deaths
Category:Latin authors
Category:Syriacs
bg:Лукиан от СамоÑ?ата
da:Lukian
de:Lukian von Samosata
el:Λουκιανός
es:Luciano
fi:Lukianos
fr:Lucien de Samosate
hu:Lukianosz
it:Luciano
ja:ルã‚アノス
nl:Lucianus van Samosata
pt:Luciano de Samósata
sv:Lukianos
uk:Лукіан
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