Trips to the Moon: Unabridged

Trips to the Moon is a second century satire by Lucian of Samosata. He ridicules the tendencies of Greek historians to enlarge the explorations of their fellow citizens. He condemns these practices in the first part: Instructions for Writing History. The next part of the work is The True History, which depicts a trip to the moon as a mockery to his magnifying contemporaries. The book ends with Icaro-Menippus—A Dialogue. Excerpt from the first part: 'Another famous writer has given an account of everything that passed, from beginning to end, in Armenia, Syria, Mesopotamia, upon the Tigris, and in Media, and all in less than five hundred lines; and when he had done this, tells us, he has written a history. The title, which is almost as long as the work, runs thus: 'A narrative of everything done by the Romans in Armenia, Media, and Mesopotamia, by Antiochianus, who gained a prize in the sacred games of Apollo.' I suppose, when he was a boy, he had conquered in a running match.' Artist Bio Author: Lucian of Samosata (c. 125-c. 180) was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in Greek. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.