Telling the Truth through Lying about Lying in Lucian's True Stories

Lucian of Samosata’s True Stories (alethondiegematon) is, in part, a parody of Greek allegorical writing and of Greek allegorical interpretation. The parody works through a bizarre narrative that has been said to be the world’s first science fiction story. Before the narrative begins, Lucian an- nounces that he is lying, but is more honest than other liars because he tells you that he is lying. Lucian then plays on various paradoxes without committing himself to a paradoxical content. Using a Gricean account of meaning, which distinguishes between semantic and pragmatic meanings, I explain how Lucian evades paradox while satirising pseudo-profound para- dox mongers.