Description: Lucian is one of the most prolific and wide-ranging writers from antiquity and one of the most influential and controversial. His work is deeply embedded in the cultural and religious politics of the Greek world in the Roman Empire, but also played an important role in later periods, particularly during the Renaissance, and was considered a crucial example of the inherited wisdom of classical antiquity. Lucian's prose is limpid and elegant as well as sharply funny and full of great stories, dramatic dialogues, and brilliant satire. This Companion, written by world-leading scholars, introduces the major themes of his corpus and provides more detailed studies of individual works. Readers will be able to appreciate his major contributions to the history of satire, comic dialogues, religion, art, and erotics as well as being given a snapshot of the most important episodes in his work's reception in the West.
Brief description: SIMON GOLDHILL is Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, and Foreign Secretary and Vice President of the British Academy. His books have been translated into twelve languages and won three international prizes. He has lectured and broadcast on radio and television all over the world. His most recent book is The Christian Invention of Time (Cambridge, 2022).