Lucian of Samosata (Greek: Λουκιανός ο Σαμοσατεύς, Latin: Lucianus; c. A.D. 125 - after A.D. 180) was an Assyrian rhetorician, and satirist, who wrote in the Greek language.

He is known for his witty and scoffing nature.

Lucian almost certainly did not write all the more than eighty works attributed to him -declamations, essays both laudatory and sarcastic, satiric epigrams, and comic dialogues and symposia with a satiric cast, studded with quotations in alarming contexts and allusions set in an unusual light, designed to be surprising and provocative.

His name added luster to any entertaining and sarcastic essay: over 150 surviving manuscripts attest to his continued popularity. [...]