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Lucian's True History

Lucian of Samosata

Novels & StoriesEnglish
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Lucian warns his readers before he begins that everything he is about to tell is a lie, and then sets off on an outrageous voyage beyond the Pillars of…

Catalogue details

Author
Lucian of Samosata
Category
Novels & Stories
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

Lucian warns his readers before he begins that everything he is about to tell is a lie, and then sets off on an outrageous voyage beyond the Pillars of Hercules. A whirlwind carries his ship to the Moon, where the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun are at war over the colonisation of the Morning Star; later the travellers are swallowed by a whale two hundred miles long, live for months inside it, and visit the Isle of the Blessed, where they meet Homer and the heroes of the Trojan War.

Context and significance

Lucian (about 125–after 180), born at Samosata on the Euphrates in Roman Syria and writing in Greek, composed this parody of the travellers' tales of his day in the second century, and it is often called the first work of science fiction. This edition, in Francis Hickes's translation of 1634, has illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, William Strang and J. B. Clark. Compare Gulliver's Travels.

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