LUCIAN
Lucian of Samosata was born in Samosata, in Commagene on the Euphrates, around 120 AD.
He began his life as an apprentice sculptor, but soon abandoned sculpture to devote himself to rhetoric and writing. His extensive reading made him a master of the many forms of Attic prose style and gave him deep familiarity with Greek poetry, from Homer to the Alexandrian poets.
Lucian of Samosata wrote around 80 works in the Attic dialect.
He travelled across most of the regions of the ancient Roman Empire, including Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and Gaul. He is believed to have died around 200 AD in Alexandria, Egypt.
Many of his finest works are written in dialogue form, in which he satirises human weaknesses, philosophy, religion, and superstition. One of his best-known works is True History, which is published in this edition in translation by Dimitris Kalokyris, accompanied by his own collages that bring the stories to life.
