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

Lucian (ca. 120–190 CE), the satirist from Samosata on the Euphrates, began his career as an apprentice sculptor. He later turned to rhetoric and became a successful travelling lecturer, visiting Italy and Gaul before settling in Athens, where he developed his original brand of satire. Late in life, he encountered financial difficulties and accepted an official post in Egypt.

Noted for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and his literary versatility, Lucian is primarily celebrated for the lively, cynical wit of his humorous dialogues, in which he satirises human folly, superstition, and hypocrisy. His primary goal was to amuse rather than instruct.

Among his best works are A True Story (the tallest of tall stories 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 (on the degeneracy of modern philosophers), The Carousal or Symposium (philosophers misbehave at a party), Timon (the problems of being rich), Twice Accused (Lucian's defence 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.