====== Lucian of Samosata Essays and Expositions ======

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:alexander|Alexander the Oracle-Monger]]  - An account of the fraudulent prophet Alexander of Abonoteichus.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:a-literary-prometheus|A Literary Prometheus]]  - Lucian's defence of his own literary style.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:apology-for-dependent-scholar|Apology for 'The Dependent Scholar']]  - Literary reply to 'The Dependent Scholar'.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:a-slip-of-the-tongue-in-salutation|A Slip of the Tongue in Salutation]]  - Lucian analyses a slip of the tongue he made when greeting his patron.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:life-of-demonax|Life of Demonax]]  - A biography of the philosopher Demonax. It is not known whether he really existed or whether he is Lucian's creation.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:dionysius|Dionysus, an Introductory Lecture]]  - A short essay about the god Dionysus and his journey to India.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:dipsas|Dipsas, the Thirst-Snake]]  - A description of the dipsas or thirst-snake.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:harmonides|Harmonides]]  - An anecdote about the flute-player Harmonides.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:heracles|Heracles, an Introductory Lecture]]  - A short essay on the Gaulish god Ogmios, who Lucian associates with the Greek Heracles.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:of-mourning|Of Mourning]]  - A diatribe on mourning from a Cynic perspective.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:of-sacrifice|Of Sacrifice]]  - A short diatribe on sacrifices from a Cynic perspective.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:patriotism|Patriotism]]  - A highly conventional rhetorical piece in praise of patriotism.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:phalaris-i|Phalaris, I]]  - A paradoxical defence of the notorious tyrant Phalaris.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:phalaris-ii|Phalaris, II]]  - The second part of Phalaris.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:illiterate-book-fancier|Remarks Addressed to an Illiterate Book-Fancier]]  - A diatribe against a Syrian book-collector.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:slander|Slander, a Warning]]  - An essay against believing slander too readily. Lucian's description of a painting by Apelles in this work influenced many later artists, including Botticelli.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:swans-and-amber|Swans and Amber]]  - The author visits the River Eridanos and is disappointed to find it has neither swans nor amber (as in the myth of Phaeton).

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:peregrine|The Death of Peregrine]]  - An account of the death of the Cynic philosopher Peregrinus Proteus who committed suicide by cremating himself on a funeral pyre at the Olympic Games in 165 AD.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-dependent-scholar|The Dependent Scholar]]  - A Hogarthian sketch of the life led by educated Greeks who attached themselves to the households of great Roman lords - and ladies.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-disinherited|The Disinherited]]  - Another fictitious declamation, this time about a disowned son.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-fly|The Fly, an Appreciation]]  - A paradoxical encomium of the insect of the title.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-hall|The Hall]]  - A description of a magnificent building.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:rhetorician|The Rhetorician's Vade Mecum]]  - A satire on contemporary oratory.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-scythian|The Scythian]]  - The story of the Scythian Toxaris and his visit to Athens. This short work was possibly intended as an introduction to Toxaris or Friendship.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-syrian-goddess|The Syrian Goddess]]  - A description of the cult of the goddess Atargatis. Written in Ionic Greek in emulation of Herodotus.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-true-history|The True History]]  - One of Lucian's most famous works. A parody of travellers' tales. The narrator and his companions set out on a voyage and are lifted up by a giant waterspout and deposited on the Moon. There they find themselves embroiled in a full-scale war between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun. On returning to Earth, the adventurers become trapped in a giant whale. The narrator and his companions escape from the whale, reach a sea of milk, an island of cheese and the isle of the blessed, where a whole host of heroes and literary figures are to be found.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-tyrannicide|The Tyrannicide]]  - A declamation on a fictitious subject. The speaker had planned to assassinate a tyrant but was only able to kill his son instead. On hearing the news of his son's death, the tyrant committed suicide. The speaker now claims he is owed a reward as a tyrannicide.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-vision|The Vision]]  - Lucian tells how a vision inspired him to abandon a career in sculpture for one in literature.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:the-way-to-write-history|The Way to Write History]]  - Lucian's criticism of contemporary historians.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:trial-in-the-court-of-vowels|Trial in the Court of Vowels]]  - The consonant sigma sues the consonant tau for stealing words from him. The case is heard by a jury of the seven vowels.

[[home:texts_and_library:essays:zeuxis-and-antiochus|Zeuxis and Antiochus]]  - Anecdotes about the painter Zeuxis and the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter. It contains a description of a painting of a centaur by Zeuxis.