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hawkwing_lbBooks 2010: 127
127. Lucian, Selected Dialogues. Translated by C.D.N. Costa, Oxford, 2005.
Lucian, born at Samosata on the Euphrates, wrote in Greek during the second century CE. His prominence is literary, not political: after a career as an orator, it seems he turned to comic dialogue and literary satire.
Much of his humour is opaque to me, since it relies on contemporary references and classical allusions, but his work rarely fails of being interesting. And I would seriously recommend everyone to read the two books of his 'A True History' (full parallel Greek/English text available at that link), the story of Lucian's voyage to the moon, the way between the Selenites and the Heliots, his stay in the belly of a whale, and his sojourn on the Isles of the Blest.
The Oxford Classics edition has several dialogues, a couple of encomiums - "In Praise of a Fly," a humourous one, and an encomium on the philosopher Demonax - a very scurrilous attack on the philosopher Empedocles, Lucian's "How to Write History," a piece of advice to historians of the recent Parthian Wars, the "True History," and selections from the "Dialogues of the Courtesans."
All in all, very interesting. And! It even mentions doctors!
127. Lucian, Selected Dialogues. Translated by C.D.N. Costa, Oxford, 2005.
Lucian, born at Samosata on the Euphrates, wrote in Greek during the second century CE. His prominence is literary, not political: after a career as an orator, it seems he turned to comic dialogue and literary satire.
Much of his humour is opaque to me, since it relies on contemporary references and classical allusions, but his work rarely fails of being interesting. And I would seriously recommend everyone to read the two books of his 'A True History' (full parallel Greek/English text available at that link), the story of Lucian's voyage to the moon, the way between the Selenites and the Heliots, his stay in the belly of a whale, and his sojourn on the Isles of the Blest.
The Oxford Classics edition has several dialogues, a couple of encomiums - "In Praise of a Fly," a humourous one, and an encomium on the philosopher Demonax - a very scurrilous attack on the philosopher Empedocles, Lucian's "How to Write History," a piece of advice to historians of the recent Parthian Wars, the "True History," and selections from the "Dialogues of the Courtesans."
All in all, very interesting. And! It even mentions doctors!
