Search results
The repeated expression of certain positions by Lucian himself and by what would seem to be sympathetic voices do suggest that Lucian believed the divine to be an all-good, all-giving entity that was completely self-sufficient and so was deaf to the blandishments of prayer and sacrifice.
Abstract. Fritz Graf considers the criticism of sacrifice by the Syrian Greek satirist, Lucian of Samosata. He argues that sacrifice, in Lucian as in other writers, is never contested by itself; rather, these discussions are always developed as part of a larger rethinking of religious traditions, which aimed at emphasizing the goodness of the ...
Aug 5, 2013 · To get at what Lucian himself thought is difficult. There are a number of reasons for this. For a start, Lucian virtually never, while speaking in his own voice, commits himself to a position on the nature of the gods and their place in the cosmic order.
Lucian of Samosata[ a ] (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, c. 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstition, religious practices, and belief in the paranormal.
The second-century ad satirist and belletrist Lucian is not primarily associated with biography as a genre, but he has nonetheless left two substantial satirical pamphlets which include many biographical claims about their victims, the religious activists Peregrinus of Parium and Alexander of Abonotichus.
Countless passages simply say that the Messenger’s oppo- nents have ascribed partners ( ašrakū ) to God; some passages say that they “have given God peers ( g ̌aʿ alū li-llāhi andādan )” (14, 30; 39, 8; 41, 9; cf. 34,
In Nigrinus Lucian makes a Platonic philosopher censure the evils of Rome, contrasting the pretentiousness, lack of culture, and avarice of the Romans with the quiet, cultured life of the Athenians. Lucian is particularly critical of those whom he considers impostors.
