Dialogues of the Dead. Dialogues of the Sea-Gods. Dialogues of the Gods. Dialogues of the Courtesans

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Lucian (ca. 120–190 CE), the satirist from Samosata on the Euphrates, started as an apprentice sculptor, turned to rhetoric and visited Italy and Gaul as a successful travelling lecturer, before settling in Athens and developing his original brand of satire. Late in life he fell on hard times and accepted an official post in Egypt.

Although notable for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and his literary versatility, Lucian is chiefly famed for the lively, cynical wit of the humorous dialogues in which he satirizes human folly, superstition, and hypocrisy. His aim was to amuse rather than to instruct. Among his best works are A True Story (the tallest of tall stories, about a voyage to the moon) and The Carousal or Symposium (philosophers misbehave at a party) (both in Loeb Classical Library volume no. 14); Dialogues of the Gods (a reductio ad absurdum of traditional mythology) and Dialogues of the Dead (on the vanity of human wishes) (both in Loeb no. 431); Philosophies for Sale (great philosophers of the past are auctioned off as slaves) and Timon (the problems of being rich) (Loeb no. 54); The Fisherman (the degeneracy of modern philosophers) and Twice Accused (Lucian’s defense of his literary career) (Loeb no. 130); and, if by Lucian, The Ass (the amusing adventures of a man who is turned into an ass) (Loeb no. 432).

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Lucian is in eight volumes.