The Works of Lucian

Lucian was an effective satirist, something like Voltaire. A Cynic philosopher named Menippus appears in many of his works. Quack philosophers are brutally lampooned, but the Cynics are treated more gently. He almost seems to admire them. One of his essays is a pack of lies entitled "A True Story, " Another satirizes the greed of the people in charge of the oracle of Delphi, who are willing to accept a gift even from the notorious Phalaris of Agrigentum.
In another, Menippus has conversations with various shades in the land of the dead. Another warns against slander.. There is also an encomium honoring Demosthenes. Lucian even directs barbs at the gods of Greece and Rome. In one of his essays, the chief gods decide that too many residents of Olympus do not have proper credentials. They decide to weed out those who do not belong there. Unfortunately, Lucian was not a Christian, and Christians are mildly satirized in "The Death of Proteus Peregrinus." However, Christians are not the principal object of his satire in this essay.