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A Lucian for our Times
Editor: Adam Bartley
Date Of Publication: Dec 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1433-1
Isbn: 1-4438-1433-4
Lucian of Samosata, the prolific Greek-speaking satirist of the 2nd century AD, left us a wide range of works ranging from harsh invective against cult-leaders and philosophers to playful pastiche of Herodotus' Histories. Art and artists, teachers of rhetoric, inconsistent myths, parasites in rich households, authors seeking imperial patronage and the rich and powerful themselves all provide rich material for his wit and humour. In this volume the focus is not on the literary values of Lucian's works, but rather on what they show us about the intellectual, political, religious and everyday life of the Imperial period. The articles address themes such as the importance of Latin in the Greek-speaking eastern Empire, rituals of death and mourning, attitudes towards the lands beyond the empire and the role of politics in comedy and satire, both in Lucian's own time and in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. While Lucian's own distinctive personality is impossible to ignore, the picture that emerges is one of both the high intellectual life and everyday behaviour in this vibrant period in the history of the Mediterranean region.

Dr Adam Bartley received his PhD in Greek and Latin Literature at the University of Sydney in 2001. He has conducted research the Georg-August Universität, in Göttingen, Germany and the University College in Cork, Ireland. He is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent.

“Lucian is an author that is much read, but little appreciated and even less studied. Adam Bartley’s stimulating collection, A Lucian for our Times, is based on a conference held at the University of Kent in 2007. It provides solid evidence of why Lucian does deserve to be as studied as much as he is read. A Lucian for our Times offers a collection of articles that leads the reader widely through Lucian’s large extant corpus. The themes of this volume range from the traditional to the postmodern, from the philological to the linguistic, from sociology to religion, and from the art historical to the historiographical. The book itself is has three main emphases. It aims to place Lucian’s works within the contemporary literary culture; it aims also to place them within the dominant contemporary trends in philosophy, religion, and history; it aims as well to place Lucian within the milieu of the second century Second Sophistic. A Lucian for our Times brings its subject to life not just in its era, but for contemporary readers as well.”

—Peter Toohey, University of Calgary

"There are essays here which will be valuable for scholars working on specific issues or for those who wish to keep up to date on Lucianic scholarship"

James Jope in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.05.26

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