Editing Lucian (section)

===''A True Story''===
{{Main|A True Story}}
[[File:William Strang spider battle in 1894 True History.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Illustration from 1894 by [[William Strang]] depicting a battle scene from Book One of Lucian's novel ''[[A True Story]]'']]

Lucian was one of the earliest novelists in [[Western world|Western]] civilization. In ''[[A True Story]]'' ({{lang|grc|italic=yes|Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα}}), a fictional narrative work written in prose, he parodies some of the fantastic tales told by [[Homer]] in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' and also the not-so-fantastic tales from the historian [[Thucydides]].{{sfn|Robinson|1979|pp=23–25}}<ref>Bartley, A. (2003) "The Implications of the Reception of Thucydides within Lucian's 'Vera Historia'", Hermes Heft, 131, pp. 222–234.</ref> He anticipated modern [[science fiction]] themes including voyages to the moon and Venus, [[extraterrestrial life]], interplanetary warfare, and artificial life, nearly two millennia before [[Jules Verne]] and [[H. G. Wells]]. The novel is often regarded as the earliest known work of science fiction.{{sfn|Grewell|2001|pp=30f}}<ref>Fredericks, S.C.: [http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/fredericks8art.htm “Lucian's True History as SF”], ''Science Fiction Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 1 (March 1976), pp. 49–60.</ref><ref>Swanson, Roy Arthur: [http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/10/swanson10art.htm "The True, the False, and the Truly False: Lucian's Philosophical Science Fiction"], ''Science Fiction Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 3 (November 1976), pp. 227–239.</ref>{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|page=46}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|loc=Introduction}}<ref>Gunn, James E.: ''The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', Publisher: Viking 1988, {{ISBN|978-0-670-81041-3}}, p. 249.</ref>

The novel begins with an explanation that the story is not at all "true" and that everything in it is, in fact, a complete and utter lie.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=13–15}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=51–52}} The narrative begins with Lucian and his fellow travelers journeying out past the [[Pillars of Heracles]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=15}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} Blown off course by a storm, they come to an island with a river of wine filled with fish and bears, a marker indicating that [[Heracles]] and [[Dionysus]] have traveled to this point, and trees that look like women.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=15–17}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} Shortly after leaving the island, they are caught up by a whirlwind and taken to the [[Moon]],{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=17–18}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} where they find themselves embroiled in a full-scale war between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun over colonization of the [[Venus|Morning Star]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=18}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} Both armies include bizarre hybrid lifeforms.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=18–21}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} The armies of the Sun win the war by clouding over the Moon and blocking out the Sun's light.{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=22}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}} Both parties then come to a peace agreement.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=22–23}} Lucian then describes life on the Moon and how it is different from life on Earth.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=23–25}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=53–155}}

After returning to Earth, the adventurers are swallowed by a 200-mile-long whale,{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=27–28}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=156–177}} in whose belly they discover a variety of fish people, whom they wage war against and triumph over.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=27–33}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=156–177}} They kill the whale by starting a bonfire and escape by propping its mouth open.{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=34}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=156–177}} Next, they encounter a sea of milk, an island of cheese, and the [[Fortunate Isles|Island of the Blessed]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=35–37}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=156–178}} There, Lucian meets the heroes of the [[Trojan War]], other mythical men and animals, as well as Homer and [[Pythagoras]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=35–45}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=178–232}} They find sinners being punished, the worst of them being the ones who had written books with lies and fantasies, including [[Herodotus]] and [[Ctesias]].{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=46}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=178–232}} After leaving the Island of the Blessed, they deliver a letter to [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]] given to them by [[Odysseus]] explaining that he wishes he had stayed with her so he could have lived eternally.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=45–49}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=178–232}} They then discover a chasm in the Ocean, but eventually sail around it, discover a far-off continent and decide to explore it.{{sfn|Casson|1962|pages=49–54}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=178–232}} The book ends abruptly with Lucian stating that their future adventures will be described in the upcoming sequels,{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=54}}{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|pages=232–233}} a promise which a disappointed ''[[scholia]]st'' described as "the biggest lie of all".{{sfn|Casson|1962|page=57}}