Dialogues From Lucian

The aim of this book is to make Lucian's A True Story accessible to intermediate students of Ancient Greek. The running vocabulary and commentary are meant to provide everything necessary to read each page. Lucian's A True Story is a great text for intermediate readers. Its breathless narrative does not involve many complex sentences or constructions; there is some unusual vocabulary and a few departures from Attic Greek, but for the most part it is a straightforward narrative that is fun and interesting by one of antiquity's cleverest authors. In A True Story, Lucian parodies accounts of fanciful adventures and travel to incredible places by authors such as Ctesias and Iambulus. The story's combination of mockery and learning makes it an excellent example of the Greek literature of the imperial period. Revised August, 2014.

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This is a selection of pieces by the Greek satirist Lucian. Lucian invented the comic dialogue as a satiric tool, and had immense influence on many later European literatures. He is also extremely funny, whether puncturing the pretensions of pompous philosophers or describing the daily lives of Greek courtesans. The translation aims to be lively and modern in idiom, while maintaining accuracy.