#(bc if it was speech it'd all look Bold)

[sisterofiris]

Hello! I was talking with a friend about this and we couldn't think of any examples but I thought if anyone knew it'd be you: Are there any examples of ancient authors writing speculative fiction or "science fiction" so to speak? Originally we were just talking about people writing about time travel but I realized I couldn't think of any ancient science fiction. If there are no examples, why do you think that might be? Is it just because they didn't see technology change much in their lives?

There is actually some form of ancient science fiction! It’s rather different from the modern kind (which is not directly descended from its ancient predecessors), but if we define science fiction as my dictionary does, which is

fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets

then there is Ancient Greek science fiction!

I bolded those bits because they fit perfectly with the main work that has been nicknamed “the first sci-fi novel” - Lucian’s True Story. Lucian’s purpose was not to write speculative fiction but to satirise the geographical accounts of popular ancient authors (especially Homer, Iambulus and Ktesias), which he considered utterly ridiculous. In the introduction to his story, he states that he is about to tell a bunch of big, fat lies and that:

Γράφω τοίνυν περὶ ὧν μήτε εἶδον μήτε ἔπαθον μήτε παρ᾿ ἄλλων ἐπυθόμην, ἔτι δὲ μήτε ὅλως ὄντων μήτε τὴν ἀρχὴν γενέσθαι δυναμένων.

I am therefore writing about things that I have neither seen, nor experienced, nor heard about from others, which do not exist at all anyway and which could not exist in the first place. (Lucian, True Story 1.4, transl. my own)

So as you can see, his goal was a little different from that of modern sci-fi authors, who (usually) intend their work to be scientifically believable. But if we’re talking about content, the True Story fits the definition given above: the narrator and his companions sail into the sky, get caught up in a war between the Sun and the Moon, meet the Moon’s inhabitants, then sail back to Earth and get swallowed by a whale, and eventually find their way to the Isles of the Blessed (the Ancient Greek afterlife for the most fortunate and illustrious heroes). To give you an idea of the text’s style, here’s one of my favourite passages about a city of oil lamps:

Πλεύσαντες δὲ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, περὶ ἑσπέραν ἀφικόμεθα ἐς τὴν Λυχνόπολιν καλουμένην, ἤδη τὸν κάτω πλοῦν διώκοντες. Ἡ δὲ πόλις αὕτη κεῖται μεταξὺ τοῦ Πλειάδων καὶ τοῦ Ὑάδων ἀέρος, ταπεινοτέρα μέντοι πολὺ τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ. Ἀποβάντες δὲ ἄνθρωπον μὲν οὐδένα εὕρομεν, λύχνους δὲ πολλοὺς περιθέοντας καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ καὶ περὶ τὸν λιμένα διατρίβοντας, τοὺς μὲν μικροὺς καὶ ὥσπερ πένητας, ὀλίγους δὲ τῶν μεγάλων καὶ δυνατῶν πάνυ λαμπροὺς καὶ περιφανεῖς. Οἰκήσεις δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ λυχνεῶνες ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ πεποίηντο, καὶ αὐτοὶ ὀνόματα εἶχον, ὥσπερ οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ φωνὴν προϊεμένων ἠκούομεν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς ἠδίκουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ ξένια ἐκάλουν· ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅμως ἐφοβούμεθα, καὶ οὔτε δειπνῆσαι οὔτε ὑπνῶσαί τις ἡμῶν ἐτόλμησεν. Ἀρχεῖα δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐν μέσῃ τῇ πόλει πεποίηται, ἔνθα ὁ ἄρχων αὐτῶν διὰ νυκτὸς ὅλης κάθηται ὀνομαστὶ καλῶν ἕκαστον· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν μὴ ὑπακούσῃ, καταδικάζεται ἀποθανεῖν ὡς λιπὼν τὴν τάξιν· ὁ δὲ θάνατός ἐστι σβεσθῆναι.

Having sailed throughout the following night and day, we reached Lamptown around evening, having already begun our trip downwards. This city is located in the air between the Pleiades and the Hyades, but much lower than the zodiac. As we disembarked, we didn’t see a single person, but many lamps instead, running around and spending time on the agora and near the port. Some were small, as if they were poor, while a few great and mighty ones were very bright and visible from all around. They have homes, and each of them has his own lamp-sconce, and they have names like people, and we heard them speaking, and none of them wronged us, but instead they welcomed us as guests. All the same, we were afraid, and none of us dared to eat or to sleep there. They have a town hall in the middle of the city, where their magistrate sits all through the night calling each of them by name. Whoever does not answer is sentenced to die as a deserter; the death penalty is to be extinguished. (1.29, transl. my own)

It’s hilarious, creative, and I absolutely recommend reading the whole thing. You can find a full translation online here.

Another passage that can qualify as sci-fi is the description of Hephaistos’ creations in Book 18 of the Iliad. This one is probably closer to modern sci-fi in intention: it’s meant to highlight Hephaistos’ skill at creating things which were (at the time) impossible for mortals. When Thetis arrives at his forge, he is making tripods:

... τρίποδας γὰρ ἐείκοσι πάντας ἔτευχεν ἑστάμεναι περὶ τοῖχον ἐυσταθέος μεγάροιο, χρύσεα δέ σφ᾿ ὑπὸ κύκλα ἑκάστῳ πυθμένι θῆκεν, ὄφρα οἱ αὐτόματοι θεῖον δυσαίατ᾿ ἀγῶνα ἠδ᾿ αὖτις πρὸς δῶμα νεοίατο, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι.

He was building tripods, twenty in all, to stand around the wall of his well-built hall, and he had set wheels at the bottom of each of them so that the automats could enter the divine assembly and return home again, a wonder to see. (Homer, Iliad 18.373-377, transl. my own)

And when Hephaistos walks over to greet Thetis, he is helped by two unusual servants:

... ὑπὸ δ᾿ ἀμφίπολοι ῥώοντο ἄνακτι χρύσειαι, ζωῇσι νεήνισιν εἰοικυῖαι. Τῇς ἐν μὲν νόος ἐστὶ μετὰ φρεσίν, ἐν δὲ καὶ αὐδὴ καὶ σθένος, ἀθανάτων δὲ θεῶν ἄπο ἔργα ἴσασιν.

Two golden handmaidens, made to look like living girls, hurried over to support their lord. There is sense in their minds, and speech and strength in them, and they know handiwork thanks to the immortal Gods. (18.417-420, transl. my own)

That’s right - Homer, a poet from the 8th century BC, gave Hephaistos robots.

So all in all, while science fiction as an independent genre didn’t exist in the ancient world, its seeds were already present. Even two thousand years ago, people made their characters go to the Moon and told each other “wouldn’t it be awesome if we had robots, though?”

#ancient greece #ancient history #sci fi

[eatspages-a]

what if i answered these ⏳ asks in uh. 😳 u kno,

#(that transcript format.) #(bc if it was speech it'd all look Bold) #(bc that's smth i'm keeping to now lmao </3) #post. #tbd maybe #(but also bc i think it'd be Neat)