Lucian of samosata biography definition

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He seems to be one of those persons who regard nothing seriously; ridiculing and mocking at the opinions of others, he does not state what opinions he himself holds, unless we may say that his opinion is that one can know nothing for certain. The number of works attributed to him varies with criteria of authenticity; The Works of Lucian (trans 1913-1967 8vols), the translators being A M Harmon, K Kilburn and M D Macleod, is conservative but therefore reliable on texts likely to have been by Lucian, and includes eighty titles, granting carefully that some are possibly spurious.

C. Reitz, 1746).
Lehmann, Leipzig 1822-1831, a convenient variorum edition which contains Gesner's translation but lacks Reitz's index.
Jacobitz, Leipzig 1836-1841, with critical notes, a subject-index and a word-index; it contains the scholia.
Jacobitz, Leipzig 1851, in the Teubner series of classical texts.
Bekker, Leipzig 1853.
Dindorf, Leipzig 1858, in the Tauchnitz series.
Fritzsche, Rostock 1860-1882, an incomplete edition containing only thirty pieces; excellent critical notes and prolegomena.
Sommerbrodt, Berlin 1886--1899, also incomplete, but lacking only fifteen pieces; with critical appendices.
Nilén, Leipzig 1906- , the new Teubner text, with very full critical notes, and part of the Prolegomena in a separate gathering; the text is to appear in eight parts.

Scholia:--

edited by Rabe, Leipzig 1906.

Bibliography:--

Mras, Die Ueberlieferung Lucians, Vienna, 1911.
Croiset, Essai sur la Vie et les Å'uvres de Lucian, Paris 1882.
Foerster, Lucian in der Renaissance, Kiel 1886
Helm, Lucian und Menipp, Leipzig 1906.

A.M.

HARMON

Also:--

MACLEOD, M.D., 1972-, New edition in Oxford Classical Texts series.
G. W. Bowersock, The Sophists in the Roman Empire, Oxford 1969 (chapter 9)

Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

Introduction by A.M.

Harmon, 1913, Published in Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English
translation: Harvard University Press.

lucian of samosata biography definition

Lucian travels with fifty companions to the Moon, where they are taken in hand by civilized three-headed vultures, and become embroiled in a space War; they then fly past the Sun and back to Earth, where they land in the sea and are soon swallowed by an enormous whale, from which they escape and visit various Islands, where Lucian's fertile imagination piles marvel upon lunatic marvel, and simultaneously mocks them.

He is deeply indebted to Professor Edward Capps for reviewing his translation in the proof.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Chief manuscripts :--  

g group-- 

Vaticanus 90 (G), 9/10th century.
Harleianus 5694 (E), 9/10th century.
Laurentianus C. S. 77 (F), 10th century.
Marcianus 434 (W), 10/11th century.
Mutinensis 193 (S), 10th century.
Laurentianus 57, 51(L), 11th century (?).

ß group-- 

Vindobonensis 123 (B), 11th century (?).
Vaticanus 1324 (U), 11/12th century.
Vaticanus 76 (P).
Vaticanus 1323 (Z).
Parisinus 2957 (N). 

Principal editions :-- 

Florentine, of 1496, the first edition by J.

Lascaris, from the press of L. de Alopa.
Hemsterhuys-Reitz, Amsterdam 1743, containing a Latin translation by Gesner, critical notes, variorum commentary and a word-index (C. With regard to fantasy and the spirit of romance, The True History is detumescent. Theoretically the vocation of a rhetorician was to plead in court, to compose pleas for others and to teach the art of pleading; but in practice his vocation was far less important in his own eyes and those of the public than his avocation, which consisted in going about from place to place and often from country to country displaying his ability as a speaker before the educated classes.

See Charon, Timon the Misanthrope, & Dialogues of the Gods

  • Lucian praised common sense and sensible living: For all the laughs, all readers of Lucian are struck by his ethical stances on important issues that transcend the centuries. His writings were not meant for a select few followers; on the contrary, his works were presented in the open for every man to hear.

    See The Parasite, The Rooster, & Zeus Tragoedus

  • Lucian was an erudite individual, schooled in the principles of his time: Lucian's pages are teeming with references to all sorts of characters ranging from Zeus to, for example, Brasidas, a Spartan general from the first half of the Peloponessian War. Both large and small characters, fictional and real, vie for attention on his pages.

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    • The Lucian of Samosata Project

    Momus' objection to Hephaestus' man was this: he should have made a window in the man's chest, so that when it was opened, his thoughts and designs, his truth or falsehood, might have been apparent.

    His composition is so well fitted together that the reader does not seem to be reading prose, but an agreeable song, whose nature is not too obtrusive, seems to drop into the listener's ears. A head so clear and cool might easily, by his natural abhorrence of everything that bore the appearance of fanaticism, in some cases be led farther than many good people would be inclined to follow him.

    An effort to group them on a chronological basis has been made by M. Croiset, but it cannot be called entirely successful. In this dialogue Menippus, disgusted with the fruitless animadversions of Earthly philosophers, acquires a pair of wings (see Flying) and flies first to the Moon, whence he is able to get a literal (i.e., visual) perspective on the nature of mankind's follies, and second to Olympus, where he meets Jupiter and watches that god deal with men's prayers (which arrive fartlike through huge vents).

    Furthermore. Surely like Menippus, Lucian liked to show how our preconceptions and ideas about things, people, and events are sometimes not what they appear to be. His writings touch all aspects of the world (but with a twist). Other Dialogues of interest include the Charon, Timon, the 26 Dialogues of the Gods and the Dialogues of the Dead.

    The prose fictions are also vital to the development of sf.

    Certainly spurious are Halcyon, Nero, Philopatris, and Astrology; and to these, it seems to me, the Consonants at Law should be added. Indeed I know not which of all the old writers can be brought in competition with him for fertility of genius, for a union of the several species of ingenuity, for wit, humor, taste and elegance, for the talent of conferring the grace of novelty on the most common and familiar topics, and for combining all these means of pleasing, with a sound judgment, the most diversified and agreeable branches of knowledge, and with all that polish which a happy constitution of nature, nursed by the muses, can only acquire in the great world and in the conversation of select characters.

    Lucian of Samosata : Introduction and Manuscripts

    LUCIAN was born at Samosata in Commagene and calls himself a Syrian; he may or may not have been of Semitic stock.