caption death_date death_place religion birth_place influences influenced notableworks birth_date image article_title name occupation
a 17th-century fictional portrait of lucian of samosata after 180 ad probably athens pagan . samosata , roman empire -lrb- modern-day turkey -rrb- homer , demonax , epicurus , socrates , plato , menander , menippus apuleius gracián , shakespeare , laurence sterne , voltaire , goethe , , leopardi desiderius erasmus , gil vicente , baltasar '' dead '' , '' dialogues of the gods '' , true '' dialogues of the courtesans '' , '' alexander the history false prophet '' , '' sale of creeds '' , '' '' philopseudes '' , '' dialogues of the ca. 125 ad lucianus.jpg lucian
 lucian novelist , rhetorician
lucian

lucian of samosata -lrb- ; , ; -- after ad 180 -rrb- was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the greek language .
he is noted for his witty and scoffing nature .
although he wrote solely in greek , mainly attic greek , he was ethnically assyrian .
lucian claimed to be a native speaker of a `` barbarian tongue '' -lrb- double indictment , 27 -rrb- which was most likely syriac , a dialect of aramaic .
