Lucian

Lucian came from the town of Samosata (modern-day Samsat, Turkey) in the Roman province of Syria. Likely of Semitic background, he learned of the Greek language and culture as an outsider. He had a very short apprenticeship as a sculptor under an uncle and then began his education in earnest, becoming skilled in Greek language and rhetoric. He became a successful speaker on the lecture circuit, a more important part of his career than the law courts. He made his way as far as Gaul (France), and Athens was his home for some time. Around the age of 40 he gave up his vocation as a public speaker to take up philosophy, or rather to write dialogues concerned superficially with philosophical matters but vigorously larded with touches of comedy.

Joel Itzkowitz, “Lucian,” in Encyclopedia of World History, ed. Marsha E. Ackermann et al. (New York: Facts On File, 2008), 1:252–53.