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Lucian of Samosata

Lucian of Samosata

125 CE–180 CE · Samosata

Satirist of the Greek-speaking Roman East, master of the comic dialogue and a sharp critic of superstition and pretension.

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SamosataCommagene (Asia Minor)

What they did here

Born c.125 CE at Samosata, capital of Commagene on the Euphrates; he repeatedly calls himself a Syrian and 'barbarian.' His apprenticeship to a sculptor uncle there is told in 'The Dream' (Somnium).

About Samosata

Capital of the small kingdom of Commagene on the upper Euphrates, remembered above all as the hometown of Lucian, the brilliant satirist who wrote in dazzling Greek though he came from this far eastern frontier.

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Works(71)