Culture and Society in Lucian
Christopher P. Jones
The works of Lucian of Samosata, the second-century satirist, are not only a delight to the reader, but they also provide a wealth of information regarding the culture and society of the Greek and Roman world. As his previous studies on Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom have shown, C.P. Jones is eminently equipped to guide modern readers, as it must be done in every generation anew, to the words of Lucian. For the scholar already familiar with the author, there is plenty of new information and new insights.
--Marvin A. Sweeney, Religious Studies Review
With this book C. P. Jones does for Lucian what he has done previously for Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom: he situates a literary figure in a vividly realized historical landscape, the Roman Empire of the second century A.D., using his vast knowledge of the epigraphic remains, political history, and written records of the era. Like Jones' earlier works, this book should be useful to students of later antiquity, especially those interested in the complex literary and artistic world of the Greek East.
--James Romm, Classical World
[Culture and Society of Lucian] is obligatory reading for scholars interested in the Greek world of the early imperial period and its literature.
--DeNovis Libris Iudicia
Lucian, the second-century CE author of satirical essays in classicizing Greek, was no mere bookish antiquarian. Jones depicts him as a critical observer of his own times, whose sketches tell us much about philosophy, religion, rhetoric, superstition, and politics as practiced in the Roman Empire, from Rome to Athens and points east.
--American Library Association
Christopher P. Jones is George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and of History, Harvard University.