A True Story Audiobook By Lucian of Samosata cover art

A True Story

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A True Story

By: Lucian of Samosata
Narrated by: Charles Featherstone
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $10.18

Buy for $10.18

The very first sci fi, written at the height of people making stuff up and pretending it was history (looking at you, Herodotus). Nice to see the art of the spoof is so old...

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.

It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. It has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction". However, the work does not fit into typical literary genres: its multilayered plot and its characters have been interpreted as belonging to science fiction, fantasy, satire or parody, and have been the subjects of scholarly debate.

- From the wiki:

Public Domain (P)2023 Brimir & Blainn Science Fiction Classics Witty World Literature
All stars
Most relevant
I particularly liked his presentation of the stoics as climbing Mount Purgatory, and finding people he knew in hell, both of which devices Dante seems to have borrowed for his Divine Comedy. I also liked Plato's exhile to his own separate heaven wherein he might enact his dreamed of Republic

Oldest sci fi, and likely inspiration to Dante

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.