Review of Kuin, Lucian's laughing gods

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Lucian’s laughing gods: religion, philosophy, and popular culture in the Roman East.

Inger N.I. Kuin, Lucian's laughing gods: religion, philosophy, and popular culture in the Roman East. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2023. Pp. 304. ISBN 9780472220977

Review by
Anna Peterson, Pennsylvania State University. aip12@psu.edu

... In her captivating book, Inger Kuin offers an engaging analysis of Lucian’s depiction of gods that should prove indispensable for future studies on this under-discussed aspect of his corpus. In so doing, she seeks to move beyond previous attempts, which have focused primarily on discussing Lucian’s use of humor[1] or analyzing individual texts.[2] Instead, Kuin incorporates methodologies from religious studies and adopts a synoptic view of the corpus. The result is a study that scholars of both imperial Greek literature and ancient religion will find useful for understanding Lucian’s comedic depictions of the gods and religious practices. ...

I have noted other books about the second century CE satirist Lucian of Samosata here, here, and here.

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