Abstract
This thesis uses Lévi-Strauss’ concept of bricolage in order to examine the aesthetic expression of hybridity in Lucian’s oeuvre as a device that allows the author to combine invention with adherence to tradition in his works. I will suggest that the heterogenous audience present at sophistic performances in the Imperial Age, consisting of members of the pepaideumenoi (the highbrow élite) as well as the less sophisticated lower classes, necessitated a “hybrid” approach on the part of the performer which could accommodate the aesthetic preferences of both audience groups. I will further propose that for Lucian’s undertaking to succeed, he had to reject the authority of convention and dogmas, which could potentially undermine his own synthetic show. My hypothesis will be tested on two texts, the prolalia (introductory oration) A Literary Prometheus and the Menippean satire Icaromenippus, and my focus will be on the metapoetic personae of these texts as well as on their associated attributes, sc. Prometheus and clay (πηλός) and Menippus and variegation (ποικιλία) respectively. By including a prolalia and a Menippean satire in the scope of my investigation, I aim to show that though the generic sub-groups of Lucian’s work are often analysed separately by critics, they should in fact be considered as collectively contributing to a distinct kind of Lucianic poetics.