Playing the Historian: Lucian's Historiographical Parodies in Context 159 views

This dissertation examines how Lucian of Samosata constructs a series of mock-didactic narrators which parody aspects of Greek historiography. It focuses on parody found in three key texts: How to Write History, True Stories, and On the Syrian Goddess. By playing the role of different historians, or by engaging in distinct historiographical “modes,” Lucian satirizes a number of postclassical writers: Dionysius of Halicarnassus and his rhetorical criticism, Arrian of Nicomedia and his Periplus Euxini, and Pausanias and his Periegesis. Lucian’s sophisticated parodies constitute a direct attack on the pretensions of those who would seek to define and delimit the Greek experience under Rome, and who would compete with Lucian’s own fictional worlds.

PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Lucian; Greek Historiography; Parody

English

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2024-04-03