Chattering Courtesans and Other Sardonic Sketches

‘If a man isn’t jealous, Chrysis, doesn’t get angry, doesn’t ever hit you or cut off your hair or tear your dress, he can’t be in love any more, can he?’

A Greek-educated Syrian, Lucian was one of the most inventive and scathing satirists of the ancient world, whose witty pieces demonstrate a profound scepticism for religion and philosophy and encourage honest living and good sense. Chattering Courtesans is a series of short dialogues in which the amusing gossip of ‘kept women’ gives rise to a discussion of more serious subjects such as love, sex and marriage. Other comic dialogues in this volume show Lucian making fun of fanaticism and mocking pretension, hypocrisy and the vanity of human wealth and power, while in the Diatribes he targets a range of subjects, from scandal and money to death, to demonstrate the follies of contemporary life.

In his new translation, Keith Sidwell captures Lucian’s lively, informal humour and the rich variety of styles he adopted. The introduction discusses the influence of earlier Greek writers and philosophers on Lucian’s work, its range and diversity, and its importance in later European culture.

In Defence of Originality
Preface
So you Think I'm the Prometheus of the Literary World?
Two Charges of Literary Assault

Favorite Philosophers
Preface
Demonax the Philosophers
The Philosopher Nigrinus

Preface
Slander
A Few Words About Mourning

Old Comic Dialogues
Preface
The Journey Down to Hades, or the Tyrant
Timon the Misanthrope
The Ship, or Prayers

New Comic Dialogues
Preface
Chattering Courtesans

Scythians
Preface
The Scythian, or the Honorary Consul
Toxaris, or Friendship

The Art of the Eulogy
Preface
An Encomium of Fatherland
Praising a Fly
Images
In Defence of Images
About the Parasite: Proof That Parasitic is an Art

The Art of the Lie
Preface
True Histories

Appendix: List of Lucian's Works
Notes
Glossary of Names
References
Index of Names and Subjects
Index of Authors and Works