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JONES, C.P., Culture and Society in Lucian. Harvard University Press, Cambrdige (Mass.) / London, 1986. XIV,195p. Original blue cloth with dust wrappers. Spine gilt titled. Dust wrappers to spine a bit yellowed and to upper edge slightly edge worn. ‘The strength of this study is less in new findings or original interpretations than in the judicious application of a wealth of detail. The emphasis throughout is on the evidence for contemporary culture and society in Lucian rather than on his works as rhetorical performances or his aims or techniques as a writer. Jones’ method is to examine a text, or group of texts, seeking parallels between Lucian’s ‘observations’ and those made by his contemporaries or supported by epigraphical or papyrological documents. The thrust of the argument is often to show that Lucian was not operating at one remove from his material but actually knew what he was talking about and that, far from being confined by the parameters of a known tradition, he drew his material from multifarious sources, contemporary and traditional, written and oral. (…) As a complement to this guiding theme of contemporaneity, Jones seeks to make sense of Lucian’s ‘views’ ons such difficult topics as philosophy and religion (chaps. 3-4). His superb knowledge of the literary and epigraphical evidence makes the intricate task of pursuing such themes through Lucian’s large and varied corpus seem easy. The picture of Lucian that emerges, an innovative traditionalist acutely aware of and capable of rendering the varied cultural texture peculiar to his time, is thoroughly persuasive. (…) The riddles involved in assessing the relationship between social life and the products of art are not of course peculiar to any single approach but must be faced in any attempt to understand the literature of the past on its own terms. Within the framework he has chosen, Jones sifts the evidence with meticulous care and succeeds in dispelling many misperceptions. His inquiry provides a solid foundation for further studies, whether literary of historical in focus. As a careful examination of Lucian in an historical context Jones’ study will remain a standard for many years, and I recommend it highly.’ (R. BRACHT BRANHAM in The Classical World, 1988, pp.316-317). € 75.00 (Antiquarian) ISBN: 9780674179745