Editing Lucian (section)

===Background and upbringing===
{{Location map+|Turkey|width=340|float=right|caption=Map of [[Anatolia]] showing locations associated with Lucian. Modern Turkey in yellow.|places=
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=37.5704|N|long=38.4640|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Samosata]]}}
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=36.5353|N|long=37.9679|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Manbij|Hierapolis]]}}
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=36.1968|N|long=36.1612|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Antioch]]}}
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=37.9489|N|long=27.3676|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Ephesus]]}}
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=38.4237|N|long=27.1428|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Smyrna]]}}
{{Location map~|Turkey|lat=41.974722|N|long=33.760833|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Abonoteichos]]}}
}}
Lucian was born in the town of Samosata on the banks of the Euphrates on the far eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire.{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xiii}}{{sfn|Marsh|1998|page=1}}{{sfn|Vout|2007|page=16}}{{sfn|Russell|1986|page=670}} Samosata had been the capital of the kingdom of [[Commagene]] until 72 AD when it was annexed by [[Vespasian]] and became part of the Roman province of Syria.{{sfn|Vout|2007|page=229}}{{sfn|Russell|1986|page=670}} The population of the town was mostly [[Assyrian people|Syrian]]{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xiii}} and Lucian's native tongue was probably Syriac, a form of [[Middle Aramaic]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xiii}}{{sfn|Kaldellis|2007|page=31}}{{sfn|Pomeroy|Burstein|Donlan|Roberts|2018|page=532|ref=Pomeroy}}{{sfn|Russell|1986|page=670}}

During the time when Lucian lived, traditional Greco-Roman religion was in decline and its role in society had become largely ceremonial.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=xi–xii}} As a substitute for traditional religion, many people in the Hellenistic world joined [[mystery cults]], such as the [[Mysteries of Isis]], [[Mithraism]], the cult of [[Cybele]], and the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} Superstition had always been common throughout ancient society,{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} but it was especially prevalent during the second century.{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}}{{sfn|Gordon|1996|pages=94–115}} Most educated people of Lucian's time adhered to one of the various [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic philosophies]],{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} of which the major ones were [[Stoicism]], [[Platonism]], [[Peripateticism]], [[Pyrrhonism]], and [[Epicureanism]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} Every major town had its own 'university'{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} and these 'universities' often employed professional travelling lecturers,{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xii}} who were frequently paid high sums of money to lecture about various philosophical teachings.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=xii–xiii}} The most prestigious center of learning was the city of [[Athens]] in Greece, which had a long intellectual history.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=xii–xiii}}

According to Lucian's oration ''The Dream'', which classical scholar [[Lionel Casson]] states he probably delivered as an address upon returning to Samosata at the age of thirty-five or forty after establishing his reputation as a great orator,{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}} Lucian's parents were [[lower middle class]] and his uncles owned a local statue-making shop.{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=xiii}} Lucian's parents could not afford to give him a higher education,{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}} so, after he completed his elementary schooling, Lucian's uncle took him on as an apprentice and began teaching him how to sculpt.{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}} Lucian, however, soon proved to be poor at sculpting and ruined the statue he had been working on.{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}} His uncle beat him, causing him to run off.{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}} Lucian fell asleep and experienced a dream in which he was being fought over by the personifications of Statuary and Culture.{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}}{{sfn|Schlapbach|2018|page=81}} He decided to listen to Culture and thus sought out an education.{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}}{{sfn|Schlapbach|2018|pages=81–82}}

Although ''The Dream'' has long been treated by scholars as a truthful autobiography of Lucian,{{snf|Casson|1962|pages=xiii–3}}{{sfn|Richter|2017|page=334}} its historical accuracy is questionable at best.{{sfn|Swain|1996|page=46}}{{sfn|Richter|2017|page=334}}{{sfn|Russell|1986|page=671}} Classicist [[Simon Swain]] calls it "a fine but rather apocryphal version of Lucian's education"{{sfn|Swain|1996|page=46}} and Karin Schlapbach calls it "ironical".{{sfn|Schlapbach|2018|page=81}} Richter argues that it is not autobiographical at all, but rather a {{lang|grc-Latn|prolalia}} ({{lang|grc|προλᾰλιά}}), or playful literary work, and a "complicated meditation on a young man's acquisition of {{lang|grc-Latn|[[paideia]]}}" [i.e. education].{{sfn|Richter|2017|page=334}} Russell dismisses ''The Dream'' as entirely fictional, noting, "We recall that [[Socrates]] too started as sculptor, and [[Ovid]]'s vision of Elegy and Tragedy (''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' 3.1) is all too similar to Lucian's."{{sfn|Russell|1986|page=671}}