Resumen
Resumen de Lucian's True History
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Para quién es
Readers who delight in tall tales, wild invention and sharp wit will love this satirical voyage. It also suits anyone curious about ancient myth seen through a mocking lens, and about the roots of fantasy journeys.
De qué trata este libro
What would you do if a whirlwind lifted your ship off the sea and set it down on the moon, in the middle of a war between the moon and the sun? The hero joins Endymion's army, rides a vulture, benefits from a peace carved on amber, and sails off. Then a whale swallows him.
True History is a comic voyage by Lucian of Samosata, a Greek writer from the banks of the Euphrates who lived in the second century. He tells it as a sailor who leaves the Pillars of Hercules with fifty companions to find the edge of the ocean. You get the whole route, and the joke behind it: every word is a lie, and each lie mocks an older writer who swore his wonders were real.
En este resumen
- 1A writer promises to lie and says soFree
- 2Strange islands carry the crew into the sky
- 3The war of the moon and sun
- 4The moon's customs and a city of lights
- 5Swallowed by a whale and trapped inside
- 6Milk seas and the Isle of the Blessed
- 7The target of every joke is the authorities
- 8A deadpan voice and a ship that never stops
Idea clave 1 de 8
A writer promises to lie and says so
Lucian opens with an excuse instead of a voyage. Scholars, like athletes, need rest from training, he says. The best rest is a book that is pleasant and still gives the mind something to chew on.
Then he names his targets. Ctesias wrote about India, a land he never saw. Iambulus wrote about wonders of the great sea, which everyone knew were inventions. Homer takes the sharpest blow, because Odysseus told his foolish listeners about caged winds and one-eyed man eaters, and they believed every word.
What annoys Lucian is not the lying itself. It is that men who wished to be seen as philosophers and historians told whoppers with a straight face. So he will invent everything too, but he will be honest about it. He tells the reader plainly that nobody should believe a word.
This promise of falsehood becomes the only reliable statement in the book. It also gives you a useful habit. When a writer claims to have seen marvels and demands trust, you can ask what he gains by it.
A storyteller who admits the lie is more honest than one who swears the wonders are true.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Who’s who
- Lucian
- The curious sailor and storyteller who leaves the Pillars of Hercules with fifty companions to find the far shore of the ocean.
- Endymion
- The sleeping shepherd of myth, now king of the moon, who welcomes the Greeks and asks them to help in his war against the sun.
- Phaethon
- King of the sun, who opposes Endymion and his plan to plant a colony on the Morning Star.
- Scintharus
- The Cyprus merchant who lives inside the whale with his son, and who later becomes the ship's pilot.
- Rhadamanthus
- The judge of the Isle of the Blessed, who hears the heroes' cases and decides how long Lucian may stay.
- Homer
- The poet, feasting among the heroes, who answers Lucian's questions about his birthplace and his poems.
- Ulysses
- The hero of the Odyssey, who sends a letter to Calypso through Lucian, regretting that he left her.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 14,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Lucian's True History
What is Lucian's True History about?
It is a comic first-person voyage. A sailor named Lucian crosses the ocean, is carried to the moon, joins a war against the sun, is swallowed by a whale, and visits the Isle of the Blessed.
Is True History a true story?
No, and the author says so at the start. Lucian wrote it in the second century to mock earlier writers who claimed their marvels were real, so the title is a joke.
Who is the narrator of True History?
The narrator is called Lucian, like the author, but he is a comic character. He is a bold, curious and slightly boastful sailor who tells wild events in the calm tone of a historian.
Is True History the first science fiction story?
Many readers call it an early ancestor of science fiction and space travel stories, because it has a trip to the moon, a war between worlds, and strange alien peoples, though Lucian wrote it as satire.
Is Lucian's True History easy to read?
Yes in the sense that it moves quickly. Each episode is short and self-contained, the voice is lively and plain, and the humor of the wild inventions carries you from one island to the next.
Cite this edition
Lucian of Samosata. Lucian's True History. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucian-s-true-history.
Lucian of Samosata. (2026). Lucian's true history. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucian-s-true-history (Original work published ca. 175)
Lucian of Samosata. Lucian's True History. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucian-s-true-history.
@book{lucian2026lucians,
author = {Lucian of Samosata},
title = {Lucian's True History},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lucian-s-true-history},
note = {First published ca. 175}
}
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