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Lucian 120 - 190 (70)

Dreams are great magicians.


QUOTES



Dialogues

of the Dead

A quarrel between Charon and Menlppus for the ferriage.
(In Ancient Greek history Charos was the one who sailed the dead to the underworld-The dead had to have an obolum for the fare)

Lucian , (Greek Lucianos, Latin Lucianus) (120-190) was ancient Greek rhetorician, pamphleteer, and satirist. He was born in in Samosata, a town next to the Euphrates River and died in Athens. Initially he was sent to his uncle's workshop to become a sculptor but he did not like it and was very awkward; soon he turned to literature and studied Greek language and rhetoric. Then he studied sophistic and began to travel and demonstrate his rhetorical skills in various cities of Asia Minor, Greece, Italy. At the age of 40 he went to Athens to study philosophy. He learned various philosophical streams and became in favor of Neoplatonics, Epicureans and Cynicals, admiring their attitude toeards life. He disliked a lot the Stoics (as shown by his works) for dogmatism, their pompous words and their involvement in politics.

In Athens he wrote most of his works, about 80 books are saved today, which usually have a letter or dialog form. His aim was to taunt the philosophical exaggeration, religious naivety, superstition, vanity, intolerance. Among the other works he wrote about space travel and so is considered the father of science fiction. He spent some years in Egypt, where he had a high administrative position. He returned and died in Athens.