Lucian

Lucian was born about AD 125 at Samosata in Syria. His mother tongue was Aramaic, yet he became one of the wittiest masters of Greek prose. After early years as an advocate and travelling lecturer, he turned to satirical dialogues and tales mocking the gods, philosophers, charlatans, superstition and vanity. His work directly influenced Erasmus, Rabelais, Swift and Voltaire, and his True History, with its voyage to the moon, has been called one of the earliest works of science fiction.