Peter Thonemann provides the first full-length treatment of Lucian's Alexander in English, including a historical and literary introduction and a detailed commentary on the text. The volume also includes a translation of the surviving fragments of Oinomaos of Gadara's The Exposure of Sorcerers.

Zeus and the other gods of shining Olympus were in reality divine only by popular consent. Over the course of time Olympian luster diminished in favor of religious experiences more immediate to the concerns of people living in an increasingly cosmopolitan ancient world. These experiences were provided by the mysteries, religions that flourished particularly during the Hellenistic period and were secretly practiced by groups of adherents who decided, through personal choice, to be initiated into the profound realities of one deity or another. Unlike the official state religions, in which people were expected to make an outward show of allegiance to the local gods, the mysteries emphasized an inwardness and privacy of worship within a closed band of initiates. In this book, Marvin W. Meyer explores the sacrifices and prayers, the public celebrations and secret ceremonies, the theatrical performances and literary works, the gods and goddesses that were a part of the mystery religions of Greece in the seventh century B.C. to the Judaism and Christianity of the Roman world of the seventh century A.D.

In the 2nd century of our age, a little crook named Alexandros of Abonuteichos made himself guru of a little snake that he called Glycon. And he deified it to deceive and exploit his victims.This complaint by the satirist Lucian of Samosata is the oldest known treatise of the violent conflict between superstition and the rational mind.

A collection of writings by the 2nd century satirist who ridiculed tyrants, philosophers, and even the gods, in his mock dialogues and prose narratives.