Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

Lucian’s Allusive Journey 111
marvel-ridden stuff to the Phaeacians, unsophisticated people that they were.
(I.3)
Thus this sort of buffoonery, which Lucian also propagates, is attributed to the
epic figure of Odysseus. Lucian’s travelogue is rooted in an epic tradition; it
comprises a genre of exaggerated deeds and stories. Lucian qualifies his use of
falsehoods by associating with wily Odysseus: Lucian, like the artist Homer and
the character Odysseus, makes use of these tales as part of a narrative strategy
rather than a historical or truthful account. Before Odysseus begins to recount
his tales to Alcinuous he says, “My Lord Alcinuous, what could be finer than
listening to a singer of tales such as Demodocus, with a voice like a god’s . . .
But you have a mind to draw out of me my pain and sorrow . . . where shall I
begin, where end my story” (Homer, 1961: 9.5-15)? The juxtaposition of Odysseus
with Demodocus, a storyteller, reminds the audience that the stories of the
bondage of winds, one-eyed men and Sirens are simply tales. Homer as the
narrator distances his voice from Odysseus’ fanciful stories. Lucian’s
association with Odysseus further emphasizes his own text’s fiction. This
association also speaks to the structure of Lucian’s narrative for, like Books IX-
XII narrated by Odysseus, A True Story offers a first-person retrospective.
Discussion in the prologue of Odysseus’ narrative strategy also serves as a
critique and warning to Lucian’s readers not to behave like “the Phaeacians,
unsophisticated people that they were,” but to be active, critical readers.
Lucian employs a number of Homeric allusions to further his narrative
journey. That Homer’s epic tales appear alongside allusions to Herodotus’
Histories and other references to historical and geographic texts forces the
reader to consider the truthfulness of what is recorded. Lucian succinctly mimics
the hyperbole of epic and exaggerates it in narrative. For instance, Lucian
weathers a storm which takes on epic proportions and lasts seventy-nine days.
The inclusion of epic flourishes and allusions to the Odyssey seem exaggerated
given that the pastiche is primarily one of travel writing, and not epic. However,
by referencing Homer, Lucian may also be poking fun at various historians’ and
geographers’ uses of Homer as a reliable and truthful source. If Pomponius Mela
can refer to Homer’s Iliad to suggest that the known world is surrounded by
water 1 and Strabo can give Homer the title and privilege of “founder of the
science of geography,” 2 then Lucian’s inclusion of such Homeric locations as
Calypso’s island has a precedent. That Lucian chooses those elements of Homer
that seem the most fanciful or allegorical again forces the reader to question
retrospectively the works of scholars who have accepted the historical and
geographic descriptions in Homer as the truth.
In addition to informing Lucian’s narrative style, the use of Homer as a figure
in the text Homer’s appearance in the text allows for playful commentary on
1 Hom. Il 21.196-97, From Mela. 3.45
2 From Strabo, I.2