Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder
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Karen ní Mheallaigh
Abstract
This paper focuses on Lucian’s critique of the wonder-working of the second century CE prophet of Asclepius, Alexander of Abonouteichos, in Alexander or the False Prophet. It explores meta-literary depths of the essay which have not been scrutinized before. The analysis unfolds in three sections. In the first, Alexander emerges from an intertextual reading with Hippolytus’ polemic against magic (Ref. 4.28-42) as a creative innovator of the common magician’s repertoire, making his magic a cypher for Lucian’s own literary techniques. In the second section, I argue that Alexander’s ‘autophone’ oracles dramatize Lucian’s poetics in a particularly pointed way, embroiling author and subject in a dialogue of mutual exposure. Overlaps emerge between Lucian’s technoprophet and the discourse of Orakelkritik, which sharpen and lend nuance to Lucian’s attack, whilst comparison with Hero of Alexander’s mechanical wonders opens up a more ambivalent interpretation of the professed scepticism of both Lucian and his readers. Having examined the ways in which Lucian implicates himself in Alexander’s fraud, connections are explored with other Lucianic works-of-wonder such as Lover of lies, True Stories and the prolaliai, showing that magic and religious fraud are deeply connected with fiction in Lucian’s oeuvre. This lends uniquely rich complexity to Lucian’s thaumatology, since he meditates not only on the nature of wonders, but on the nature of reading about wonders as well.
Abstract
This paper focuses on Lucian’s critique of the wonder-working of the second century CE prophet of Asclepius, Alexander of Abonouteichos, in Alexander or the False Prophet. It explores meta-literary depths of the essay which have not been scrutinized before. The analysis unfolds in three sections. In the first, Alexander emerges from an intertextual reading with Hippolytus’ polemic against magic (Ref. 4.28-42) as a creative innovator of the common magician’s repertoire, making his magic a cypher for Lucian’s own literary techniques. In the second section, I argue that Alexander’s ‘autophone’ oracles dramatize Lucian’s poetics in a particularly pointed way, embroiling author and subject in a dialogue of mutual exposure. Overlaps emerge between Lucian’s technoprophet and the discourse of Orakelkritik, which sharpen and lend nuance to Lucian’s attack, whilst comparison with Hero of Alexander’s mechanical wonders opens up a more ambivalent interpretation of the professed scepticism of both Lucian and his readers. Having examined the ways in which Lucian implicates himself in Alexander’s fraud, connections are explored with other Lucianic works-of-wonder such as Lover of lies, True Stories and the prolaliai, showing that magic and religious fraud are deeply connected with fiction in Lucian’s oeuvre. This lends uniquely rich complexity to Lucian’s thaumatology, since he meditates not only on the nature of wonders, but on the nature of reading about wonders as well.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
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I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
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II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
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III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
