A True Story story
A True Story (Ancient Greek: Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα, Alēthē diēgēmata; Latin: Vera Historia or Latin: Verae Historiae), also translated as True History, is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. The novel is a satire of outlandish tales that had been reported in ancient sources, particularly those that presented fantastic or mythical events as if they were true. It is Lucian's best-known work.
33 total · 1 choice · 12 major · 20 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| perilous voyage at sea | choice | The story follows Lucian and his crew of 50 fellow adventurers as they undertake a perilous voyage out beyond the the Pillars of Hercules to discover what wonders lay at the end of the Atlantic ocean. |
| biased sex-ratio society | major | Much was made of the People of the Moon being exclusively male. Lucian described their two curious manners of reproduction in some detail. |
| extraterrestrial being | major | A novelty of the story concern Lucian discovering that the heavens were populated by a host of extraterrestrial beings, including the Moon people, the Sun people, people who live on comets, and the dog-faced people from the star Sirius. |
| interplanetary space travel | major | A novelty of the story concerns Lucian and his crew of 50 fellow adventurers being swept up from the sea and deposited on the Moon by an ominous waterspout. |
| interplanetary war | major | The King of the Moon, Endymion, and the King of the Sun, Phaethon, went to war over control of the as yet uninhabited planet Venus. Phaethon's forces prevailed over those of Endymion in an epic battle. A peace treaty was ultimately signed which saw, among other things, that Venus would be jointly colonized by both peoples, along with any other peoples who wished to do so. |
| Moon people | major | Lucian and his fellow adventurers dwelt for a time among the People of the Moon under the auspicious of their human king, Endymion. These exclusively male lunar inhabitants had numerous distinguishing physical characteristics, including beards growing from their knees, one toenail-less toe on each foot, cabbage-leaf tails, removable eyes, leaves for ears, a belly pocket used to keep children warm in cold weather, and artificial phalluses of ivory or wood. Their noses ran not with honey, and the sweated milk that could be made into a delectable cheese. They carried fetuses to term in a special womb contained in the calf. The rich among them wore garments made of a soft, malleable glass; the poor of a bronze fabric. |
| speculative being | major | Lucian and his fellow adventurers encountered such beings of varying degrees of peculiarity as living torches, living dreams, gods, mythical heroes, grapevine women, giant mosquitoes, mushroom men who used mushroom shields and wielded asparagus spears, dog-faced men from Sirius, formidable "cloud centaurs", lobster men, mermen, cork-footed men who walked on water, bull-men, women with donkey legs who bedazzled men and then ate them, and beings that were part sailor and part ship. |
| the afterlife | major | After escaping from the belly of a leviathan, Lucian and his fellow adventurers soon came across the fabled Island of the Blessed: a paradise on Earth where heroes and select men of renown went after they died. It was a land where no one grew old, it was always spring, and everywhere was in constant bloom. |
| the need for adventure | major | Lucian was compelled to sail to the end of the Atlantic ocean in part to satisfy his self-described desire for adventure. |
| the thirst for knowledge | major | Lucian was compelled to sail to the end of the Atlantic ocean in part out of a desire to satisfy his curiosity about what wonders might exist there. |