Lucian′s Laughing Gods – Religion, Philosophy, and Popular Culture in the Roman…

Lucians Laughing GodsReligion, Philosophy, and Popular Culture in the Roman East\nAuthor(s): Inger NI Kuin\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: The University of Michigan Press, United States\nImprint: The University of Michigan Press\nISBN-13: 9780472133345, 978-0472133345\nSynopsis\nNo comic author from the ancient world features the gods as often as Lucian of Samosata, yet the meaning of his works remain contested. He is either seen as undermining the gods and criticizing religion through his humor, or as not engaging with religion at all, featuring the gods as literary characters. His humor was traditionally viewed as a symptom of decreased religiosity, but that model of religious decline in the second century CE has been invalidated by ancient historians. Understanding these works now requires understanding what it means to imagine as laughing and laughable gods who are worshipped in everyday cult.\n\n In Lucian's Laughing Gods, author Inger N. I. Kuin argues that in ancient Greek thou.