The Works of Lucian of Samosata Lucian - The Works of Lucian of Samosata Volume 01,02,03 Complete. - The Vision, A Literary Prometheus, Nigrinus, Trial in the Court of Vowels, Timon the Misanthrope, Prometheus on Caucasus, Dialogues of the Gods, Dialogues of the Sea-Gods, Dialogues of the Dead, Menippus, Charon, Of Sacrifice, Sale of Creeds, The Fisher, Voyage to the Lower World, The Dependent Scholar, Apology for The Dependent Scholar, A Slip of the Tongue in Salutation, Hermotimus, or the Rival Philosophies, Herodotus and Aetion, Zeuxis and Antiochus, Harmonides, The Scythian, The Way to Write History, The True History, The Tyrannicide, The Disinherited, Phalaris, I, Phalaris, II, Alexander the Oracle-Monger, Of Pantomime, Lexiphanes, Life of Demonax, A Portrait-Study, Defence of the Portrait-Study, Toxaris: A Dialogue of Friendship, Zeus Cross-Examined, Zeus Tragoedus, The Cock, Icaromenippus, an Aerial Expedition, The Double Indictment, The Parasite, a Demonstration that Sponging is a Profession, Anacharsis, a Discussion of Physical Training, Of Mourning, The Rhetoricians Vade Mecum, The Liar, Dionysus, an Introductory Lecture, Heracles, an Introductory Lecture, Swans and Amber, The Fly, an Appreciation, Remarks Addressed to an Illiterate Book-Fancier, Slander, a Warning, The Hall, Patriotism, Dipsas, the Thirst-Snake, A Word with Hesiod, The Ship: Or, the Wishes, Dialogues of the Hetaerae, The Death of Peregrine, The Runaways, Saturnalia, Cronosolon, Saturnalian Letters, A Feast of Lapithae, Demosthenes, The Gods in Council, The Cynic, The Purist PurizedABOUT THE AUTHOR:Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature. Although he wrote solely in Greek, mainly Attic Greek, he was ethnically Syrian. Lucian was also one of the earliest novelists in Western civilization. In A True Story, a fictional narrative work written in prose, he parodied some fantastic 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, nearly two millennia before Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. His novel is widely regarded as an early, if not the earliest science fiction work.
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A True History is a novel written in the second century AD by Lucian of Samosata, a Greek-speaking author of Assyrian descent. The novel is a satire of outlandish tales that had been reported in ancient sources, particularly those that presented fantastic or mythical events as if they were true. It is Lucian's best-known work.
A True Story Lucian - Lucian of Samosata (125c.180) was a Greek satirist of Syrian or Assyrian extraction, and True History is perhaps his most well-known tale. In this tale, the protagonist visits the Moon, meets extraterrestrial creatures, and takes part in interplanetary warfare. This piece of fantastical fiction parodies many works such as Homers Odyssey, and is certainly a contender for the title of earliest science fiction story.
It is not to be understood that all statements here made are either ascertained facts or universally admitted conjectures. The introduction is intended merely to put those who are not scholars, and probably have not books of reference at hand, in a position to approach the translation at as little disadvantage as may be. Accordingly, we give the account that commends itself to us, without discussion or reference to authorities. Those who would like a more complete idea of Lucian should read Croiset's Essai sur la vie et les oeuvres de Lucien, on which the first two sections of this introduction are very largely based. The only objections to the book (if they are objections) are that it is in French, and of 400 octavo pages. It is eminently readable. With the exception of a very small number of statements, of which the truth is by no means certain, all that we know of Lucian is derived from his own writings. And any reader who prefers to have his facts at first rather than at second hand can consequently get them by reading certain of his pieces, and making the natural deductions from them. Those that contain biographical matter are, in the order corresponding to the periods of his life on which they throw light, The Vision, Demosthenes, Nigrinus, The Portrait-study and Defence (in which Lucian is Lycinus), The Way to write History, The double ndictment (in which he is The Syrian), The Fisher (Parrhesiades), Swans and Amber, Alexander, Hermotimus_ (Lycinus), Menippus and Icaromenippus (in which Menippus represents him), A literary Prometheus, Herodotus, Zeuxis, Harmonides, The Scythian, The Death of Peregrine, The Book-fancier, Demonax, The Rhetorician's Vade mecum, Dionysus, Heracles, A Slip of the Tongue, Apology for 'The dependent Scholar.'_ Of these The Vision is a direct piece of autobiography; there is intentional but veiled autobiography in several of the other pieces; in others again conclusions can be drawn from comparison of his statements with facts known from external sources. Lucian lived from about 125 to about 200 A.D., under the Roman Emperors Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Commodus, and perhaps Pertinax. He was a Syrian, born at Samosata on the Euphrates, of parents to whom it was of importance that he should earn his living without spending much time or money on education. His maternal uncle being a statuary, he was apprenticed to him, having shown an aptitude for modelling in the wax that he surreptitiously scraped from his school writing-tablets. The apprenticeship lasted one day. It is clear that he was impulsive all through life; and when his uncle corrected him with a stick for breaking a piece of marble, he ran off home, disposed already to think he had had enough of statuary. His mother took his part, and he made up his mind by the aid of a vision that came to him the same night.
True History (2nd century C.E.) is a satirical novel by Lucian. Written in ancient Greek, True History is thought to be the first work of science fiction in all of Western literature. Intended as a criticism of the unbelievable scenarios populating ancient fiction, True History dramatizes the extent to which authors will relate fantastic or mythological material as truth to humorous and imaginative effect. Before beginning his narrative, Lucian admits that though the claims he will make are far from truth, he will make them, nonetheless. Accordingly, he weaves a tale of a voyage by sea thrown off course near the Pillars of Hercules by a powerful storm. Narrowly escaping disaster, Lucian and his fellow travelers find themselves on an island interwoven with rivers of wine, in which fish swim and bears feed and frolic. As if this weren’t enough, rumors of a divine presence and visions of trees like women encourages the travelers to seek safety elsewhere. Not far into the next leg of their journey, their ship is swept skyward by a storm so powerful it lands them on the Moon. There, they are swiftly swept up in a war between the armies of the Moon and Sun, vast alien forces vying for control of the Morning Star. Helping to organize a peace treaty, Lucian and his travelers take in the sights of the Moon before returning to Earth just in time to be swallowed by a massive whale. As the narrative unfolds, these poor lost voyagers encounter fish people, discover an island of cheese afloat on a sea of milk, and even meet the heroes of Troy themselves. True History is a wild and wonderful work of satire and science fiction that not only amazes as much as it delights, but serves as a reminder that the humor of the ancients is not so different from our own. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Lucian’s True History is a classic of ancient Greek literature reimagined for modern readers.
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