Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Hardcover Lucian, Volume IV: Anacharsis or Athletics. Menippus or the Descent Into Hades. on Funerals. a Professor of Public Speaking. Alexander th [Greek, Ancient (To 1453)] Book

ISBN: 0674991796

ISBN13: 9780674991798

Lucian, Volume IV: Anacharsis or Athletics. Menippus or the Descent Into Hades. on Funerals. a Professor of Public Speaking. Alexander th [Greek, Ancient (To 1453)]

Antiquity's satirist supreme.

Lucian (ca. AD 120-190), the satirist from Samosata on the Euphrates, started as an apprentice sculptor, turned to rhetoric and visited Italy and Gaul as a successful traveling 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 tales about a voyage to the moon), Dialogues of the Gods (a "reductio ad absurdum" of traditional mythology), Dialogues of the Dead (on the vanity of human wishes), Philosophies for Sale (great philosophers of the past are auctioned off as slaves), The Fisherman (the degeneracy of modern philosophers), The Carousal or Symposium (philosophers misbehave at a party), Timon (the problems of being rich), Twice Accused (Lucian's defense of his literary career) and (if by Lucian) The Ass (the amusing adventures of a man who is turned into an ass).

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

Recommended

Format: Hardcover

Temporarily Unavailable

3 people are interested in this title.

We receive fewer than 1 copy every 6 months.

Customer Reviews

0 rating
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured