The compositional Style of Lucian's Minor Dialogues

This article is an examination of the ‘minor’ dialogues of Lucian of Samosata, namely the Dialogues of the Sea Gods, the Dialogues of the Gods, the Dialogues of the Dead and the Dialogues of the Courtesans. Previous commentators have attempted to display either no relationship between these works at all or to over-interpret these relationships so as to show some order in which they were composed. The article shows that while the final point is not attainable, there are nevertheless common features between the groups of dialogues which can be usefully considered from an analytical viewpoint, giving insights into the influences that Lucian has drawn upon in their composition.