Get It Now Lucian: Dialogues Of The Dead. Dialogues Of The Sea-Gods. Dialogues Of The Gods. Dialogues Of The Courtesans. (Loeb Classical Library No. 431) Penned By Lucian Of Samosata Available Through Digital Edition

me, HErmes, where are the beauties of both sexes Show me round, as I'm a newcomer,

HERMES
I have no time, Menippus, But just look over there to your right, where you'll see Hyacinthus, Narcissus, Nireus, Achilles, Tyro, Helen, and Leda, and, in fact, all the beauties of old.


MENIPPUS
I can only see bones and bare skulls, most of them looking the same,

HERMES
Yet those are what all the poets admire, those bones which you seem to despise,

MENIPPUS
But show me Helen, I can't pick her out myself,

HERMES
This skull is Helen,


And for that skull a thousand Greek ships were launched towards the Trojan shores,

Irony, sarcasm, and incisive deadpan humour characterise Lucian's Dialogues to the point of making them seen like a product of modern cynicism, And yet they reach us across eighteen centuries,

One of the central characters is Menippus, a Greek cynic and debater who actually existed and who lends his name to the Menippean satire known for mocking the vain and the fake, exposing the ridiculousness of societal rules, expectations, and tacit assumptions.
For example, when Menippus meets Tantalus they have an interesting metadiscussion, where Tantalus explains that he is artificially thirsty because that is his punishment, To which Menippus replies: "But what do you find so terrible in that Are you afraid of dying of lack of drink I can't see another Hades after this one, or a death hereafter taking us elsewhere.
"

Indeed. The end result of each dialogue is often a humorous kind of bewilderment, followed by a question, In this case: is eternal thirst as bad as that when you know you cannot die of it Eternal life in hell is still eternal life, and Menippus almost makes it feel like a reward.
ancient mfs are quite funny Lucian mocks the full range of GrecoRoman beliefs about gods and death in his works, none more focused and educational than in Dialogues of the Dead.
Some acquaintance with the pantheon enriches the humor, I find these dialogues of the Dead, of the SeaGods, of the Gods, of the Courtesans instructive not just for Lucian's point of view but for a second century Lucianwindow on beliefs and life details artifacts, so to speak.
In that latter sense, Dialogues of the Courtesans was especially poignant, I imagined Lucian as a beatreporter, writing after many firsthand interviews and searching observations, I read this book in Attic Greek and I must say that it was fun, I enjoyed all of them, especially the dialogues of the dead, It was really interesting to see the gods, the dead etc, interact with each other. I will definitely reread this sometime, what does it say when a syrian writes greek mythology better than the greeks did Lucian ca,CE, the satirist from Samosata on the Euphrates,

started as an apprentice sculptor, turned to rhetoric and visited Italy and Gaul as a successful travelling lecturer, before settling in Athens and developing his original brand of satire.
Late in life he fell on hard times and accepted an official post in Egypt,

Although notable for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and his literary versatility, Lucian is chiefly famed for the lively, cynical wit of the humorous dialogues in which he satirises human folly, superstition and hypocrisy.
His aim was to amuse rather than to instruct, Among his best works are "A True Story" the tallest of tall stories about a voyage to the moon, "Dialogues of the Gods" a 'reductio ad absurdum' of traditional mythology, "Dialogues of the Dead" on the vanity of human wishes, "Philosophies for Sale" great philosophers of the past are auctioned off as slaves, "The Fisherman" the degeneracy of modern philosophers, "The Carousal" or "Symposium" philosophers misbehave at a party, "Timon" the problems of being rich, "Twice Accused" Lucian's defence of his literary career and if by Lucian "The Ass" the amusing adventures of a man who is turned into an ass.


The Loeb Classical Library edition of Lucian is in eight volumes, The best Syrian writer in old ages, . . When Ancient world becomes Modern times, Utterly hilarious. Me gustó demasiado este libro, Me emocioné al leer sobre algunos de mis heroes de la mitologia griega, Incluso para los que no hemos leído la iliada o la odisea, es un libro fácil de leer y ameno, Fundamental para entender la historia de la literatura Grata sorpresa la de Luciano de Samósata! Diálogos muy breves que se tornan muy disfrutables dado que varían la temática de manera constante.
Los diálogos de los muertos diría que realmente son una extensión temática de los de los dioses, y que se distinguen mínimamente de los de las cortesanas, siendo estos últimos más historiográficos y los primeros más literarios a mi juicio.
Hay diálogos absolutamente sublimes y que merecen varias relecturas por lo bizarro, por lo novedoso contextualmente hablando y por lo humorístico, Read Dialogues of the Dead, It's always a pleasure to discover such with and insight in a work of art so distant, Very good, rich satire. Lucian of Samosata was a Greek educated Syrian rhetorician, and satirist who wrote in the Greek language, He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature, .