Analysis
A True History, written by the Hellenized Syrian writer Lucian of Samosata in the second century CE, takes readers on a series of fantastical and absurd journeys that parody myths and epics of Greek mythology and literature. In the fictional “history,” sailors embark upon an epic odyssey in which they are subject to many bizarre events. They encounter various half-human creatures and exotic lands, become stranded upon the Moon, are swallowed by a two-hundred-mile-long whale, are frozen in wintry seas, witness and take part in absurd battles fought by even more absurd creatures and beasts, and sail through seas of milk to the islands of the Blessed and the Damned.
In this text, Lucian exaggerates the already fantastical elements of Greek mythology and literature to absurd effect, emphasizing the ridiculousness of presenting clearly mythological and fictitious stories as truth. In Lucian's era, presenting mythology as fact was a common occurrence in literature; Lucian pokes fun at this practice in his outrageous satirical text. He tells readers at the beginning of A True History that the stories in his book are utter lies and that readers must not believe a word of them. This claim serves to underscore Lucian's focus on the preposterousness of framing mythology as fact.
Lucian’s text is rich in symbolism as well as humor. The ocean on which the sailors voyage stands for all the unknown world and, in keeping with the tradition of the ancient Greek poet Homer, is depicted as wildly unpredictable, much like life itself. It can also be interpreted as representing Lucian’s own novel, with the sailors, like the readers, setting out on a strange journey full of bizarre experiences. The Isles of the Blessed and the Damned, meanwhile, represent Greek notions of the afterlife, which Lucian mercilessly lampoons. The Moon, too, represents a stage in the Greek afterlife, which Lucian likewise parodies. Even the inside of the whale that swallows the sailors turns out to be a symbolic setting, representing as it does Plato’s allegorical cave, where people dwell in ignorance. Finally, like the ocean, the enigmatic Other Continent—where Lucian abruptly ends his story—represents the unknown and the mysterious. While it may be a continent the sailors have truly never encountered before, it is also possible that it is the same continent from which they set out, now unrecognizable to them after their harrowing voyage.
In addition to its rich symbolism and biting satire, Lucian’s novel is of great importance to the literary world because it is often considered the first work of science fiction ever published. The text contains many aspects of what would later come to characterize science fiction writing, including the story of the ship becoming stranded upon the Moon, the interstellar battles and fights between the armies of the Sun and the armies of the Moon, alien life-forms, otherworldly physical laws and atmospheres, and the existence of robot-like creatures. With A True History, Lucian challenged the culture of his time and presented the Roman literary world with new and fantastical themes, motifs, symbols, and settings that hadn’t been seen before.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Barry. Studies in Lucian. Toronto: Hakkert, 1973. An evaluation of Lucian and his works by an expert scholar. Chapter 5 includes comments on Lucian’s view of the writing of history. Also includes a useful bibliography.
Fredericks, S. C. “Lucian’s True History as SF.” Science Fiction Studies 3 (March, 1976): 49-60. Suggests that A True History is an early instance of science fiction writing. The landscape of Lucian’s journey can be seen as an “alternative world” through which the author...
(This entire section contains 178 words.)
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explores the features and problems of the real world.
Jones, C. P. Culture and Society in Lucian. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986. A good general study of Lucian’s many works. Locates them in the social and intellectual conditions of his time, the Greco-Roman imperial age. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss A True History in connection with Lucian’s views on truth and lies.
Robinson, Christopher. Lucian and His Influence in Europe. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979. A thorough account of Lucian’s influence on such later European writers as Henry Fielding. Offers a historical account and critical evaluation.
Places Discussed
Sea
Sea. This work’s voyage takes place over a boundless ocean, which lies beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. The sea is the realm of the unknown beyond the Mediterranean, a realm where fantastic creatures dwell in all sorts of imagined locations. Drawing on the tradition of Homer’s Odyssey (c. 800 b.c.e.), Lucian uses the sea as a symbol of the unpredictability of human fortune and of sudden, unexpected turns of events. The sea also represents the literary text, as the sailors in the ship become analogous to the readers, striving to make sense of what they encounter in this fantastic narrative.
*Moon
*Moon. The first full episode of the story occurs on the Moon, when the ship is whisked up to the heavens in a whirlwind. After a battle between the Sun and the Moon, in which both entities clearly stand for warring nations down on Earth, Endymion, the king of the Moon, takes the narrator and his crew on a tour of the lunar landscape, which is populated by bizarre life-forms. This appears to be Lucian’s parody of Greek ideas about the dead, which included the notion that souls of departed humans spent time on the Moon. Thus the Moon is both a strange, yet oddly familiar, otherworld—much in the mode of modern science fiction—and an abode of the dead.
Whale
Whale. Upon their return to the sea, and the land of the living, the voyagers are promptly swallowed by a huge whale, inside which whole communities of beings live. The travelers spend several months in the company of an old man and his son, who have cultivated a farm in the whale’s stomach. The whale appears to be a parody of Plato’s Cave, where men live in intellectual darkness until they find their way out to the sun, through philosophical enlightenment. Once again, the voyagers get caught up in a war before escaping back to the sea by burning a hole in the whale’s side.
Islands of the Dead
Islands of the Dead. The third major episode takes the sailors to a group of islands lying far across the ocean. It turns out, after some initial confusion on the part of both the voyagers and readers, that these islands are the mythical Isles of the Blessed and the Damned. Both places afford Lucian the chance to parody all sorts of nonsense which was circulating about the afterlife, promulgated by philosophers, poets, and other notorious “liars.” So, for instance, the city on the Isle of the Blessed, which has buildings of gold and an emerald wall and is surrounded by a river of perfume, is an elaborate pastiche of the Greek tradition of Utopia: the ideal city, where everyone lives in luxurious and harmonious equality. The city is populated by heroes of mythology and historical personages, including Homer, who again offer ample opportunity for satirical comment. The Isle of the Damned is also described, again drawing upon the long tradition of accounts of Tartarus and Hades.
Other Continent
Other Continent. After a few minor episodes, including a visit to Lucian’s version of the land of the Sirens, the ship is wrecked in a storm and the travelers struggle ashore on what is mysteriously termed the “Other Continent,” at which point the narrator breaks off his story. The Other Continent may be the land at the end of the ocean, of which the Greeks had only a vague notion—that is to say, a place which is so radically different that it defies description. Alternatively, it may be the land from which the voyagers originally set out—their own land which they now fail to recognize, after the journey of philosophical and psychic enlightenment they have endured.
In terms of the symbolism of reading and making meaning, the Other Continent is the as yet unencountered literary work, which readers will have to explore and interpret. After passing through the initiation of Lucian’s parodic satire, however, readers are now better prepared for this task.