{"id":1192,"date":"2009-01-20T22:28:51","date_gmt":"2009-01-21T03:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2018-08-10T01:12:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T05:12:45","slug":"lucian-of-samosata-selected-satires-of-lucian-ed-tr-lionel-casson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1192","title":{"rendered":"(Lucian of Samosata) Selected Satires of Lucian [ed. &<\/span> tr. Lionel Casson]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"09-01-\"<\/a> Lucian seems to have been the Kurt Von\u00adnegut of the Roman World, pok\u00ading fun at philoso\u00adphers and the clas\u00adsics of Greek lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture with a cheer\u00adful cyn\u00adi\u00adcism. Though he was an Assyr\u00adi\u00adan from Mesopotamia, liv\u00ading in the sec\u00adond cen\u00adtu\u00adry A.D., he wrote in Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Greek (the equiv\u00ada\u00adlent of some\u00adone today writ\u00ading in Eliz\u00ada\u00adbethan Eng\u00adlish). His most famous work is the True His\u00adto\u00adry<\/em>, some\u00adtimes list\u00aded as the first sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion sto\u00adry, since it incor\u00adpo\u00adrates a trip to the moon and the sun, and an inter\u00adplan\u00ade\u00adtary war. But it\u2019s real\u00adly a shag\u00adgy-dog sto\u00adry intend\u00aded to spoof the creduli\u00adty of Homer and Herodotus. The nar\u00adra\u00adtor repeat\u00aded\u00adly tells you some\u00adthing absurd, then says he won\u2019t tell you anoth\u00ader, more absurd detail because you won\u2019t believe him. It employs tech\u00adniques of farce and bur\u00adlesque lat\u00ader per\u00adfect\u00aded by Baron M\u00fcn\u00adchausen and Mark Twain. Lucius the Ass<\/em>, the attri\u00adbu\u00adtion of which is occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly ques\u00adtioned, is notice\u00adably dif\u00adfer\u00adent in style, and con\u00adtains pas\u00adsages that are obvi\u00adous\u00adly intend\u00aded to be read as porn. The same sto\u00adry (the hero is trans\u00adformed into a don\u00adkey: trou\u00adble fol\u00adlows) was also told by Apuleius. It\u2019s inter\u00adest\u00ading in that it draws atten\u00adtion to the suf\u00adfer\u00ading of an ani\u00admal, some\u00adthing to which most Roman writ\u00aders were obliv\u00adi\u00adous. Most of the oth\u00ader pieces are com\u00adic dia\u00adlogues in which the Gods are spoofed in all-too-human terms. Lucian seems to have con\u00adsid\u00adered all reli\u00adgion char\u00adla\u00adtanism, and did not have much good to say about philoso\u00adphers, either. Chris\u00adtians are sat\u00adi\u00adrized in The Death of Pere\u00adgri\u00adnus<\/em>. The auto\u00adbi\u00ado\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal My Dream<\/em> reveals that a stone-mason\u2019s son from a back\u00adwa\u00adter part of the Empire could edu\u00adcate him\u00adself into a suc\u00adcess. Lucian was able to set\u00adtle down and write spoofs after a career as a lec\u00adtur\u00ader that took him across the Empire. A mod\u00adern read\u00ader with a rou\u00adtine expo\u00adsure to Greek mythol\u00ado\u00adgy will get at least half of Lucian\u2019s allu\u00adsions, though not, of course, his puns. This anthol\u00ado\u00adgy con\u00adtains less than half of his known works.<\/span><\/p>\n

con\u00adtains:<\/span><\/p>\n

17114. (Lionel Cas\u00adson) Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion [pref\u00adace]<\/span>
\n 17115. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) My Dream [\u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f18\u03bd\u03c5\u03c0\u03bd\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f24\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u0392\u03af\u03bf\u03c2 \u039b\u03bf\u03c5\u03ba\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6; Somnium]<\/span>
\n 17116. [2] (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) A True Sto\u00adry [\u1f08\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b4\u03b9\u03b7\u03b3\u03b7\u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd; Ver\u00adae Historiae]<\/span>
\n [a por\u00adtion read at 3786, and a dif\u00adfer\u00adent trans\u00adla\u00adtion of full ver\u00adsion read at 4705]<\/span>
\n 17117. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Lucius, the Ass [\u039b\u03bf\u03cd\u03ba\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f23 \u1f4c\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2; Asi\u00adnus] [attr. to Lucian contested]<\/span>
\n 17118. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Dia\u00adlogues of the Gods [\u0398\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u0394\u03b9\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9;Dialogi Deorum]<\/span>
\n 17119. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Dia\u00adlogues of the Sea-Gods [\u1f18\u03bd\u03ac\u03bb\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9 \u0394\u03b9\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9 ; Dialo\u00adgi Marini]<\/span>
\n 17120. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Prometheus [\u03a0\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2]<\/span>
\n 17121. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Zeus the Opera Star [\u0396\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03a4\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u1ff3\u03b4\u03cc\u03c2; Zeus Tragoedus]<\/span>
\n 17122. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) A Voy\u00adage to the Under\u00adworld [\u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f23 \u03a4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2; Cataplus]<\/span>
\n 17123. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Dia\u00adlogues of the Dead [\u039d\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u1f76 \u0394\u03b9\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9; Dialo\u00adgi Mortuorum]<\/span>
\n 17124. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Charon [\u03a7\u03ac\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd \u1f23 \u1f18\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2]<\/span>
\n 17125. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Tim\u00adon [\u03a4\u03af\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd]<\/span>
\n 17126. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Alexan\u00adder the Quack Prophet [\u1f08\u03bb\u03ad\u03be\u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f23 \u03a8\u03b5\u03c5\u03b4\u03cc\u03bc\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2]<\/span>
\n 17127. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Dia\u00adlogues of the Cour\u00adte\u00adsans [\u1f19\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u1f76 \u0394\u03b9\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9; Dialo\u00adgi Meretricii]<\/span>
\n 17128. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) Philoso\u00adphies for Sale [\u0392\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03a0\u03c1\u1fb6\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 ; Vitarum Auctio]<\/span>
\n 17129. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) The Fish\u00ader\u00adman [\u1f08\u03bd\u03b1\u03b2\u03b9\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u1f23 \u1f09\u03bb\u03b9\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2 ; Piscator]<\/span>
\n 17130. (Lucian of Samosa\u00adta) The Death of Peregrinus[\u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u03b3\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03a4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 ; De Morte Peregrini]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucian seems to have been the Kurt Von\u00adnegut of the Roman World, pok\u00ading fun at philoso\u00adphers and the clas\u00adsics of Greek lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture with a cheer\u00adful cyn\u00adi\u00adcism. Though he was an Assyr\u00adi\u00adan from Mesopotamia, liv\u00ading in the sec\u00adond cen\u00adtu\u00adry A.D., he \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-br-reading-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8119,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/8119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}