The game of the name: onymity and the contract of reading in Lucian

Abstract

Lucian's use of various 'masks' or *personae* has been the subject of stimulating debate: some have seen his games as an exploration of his own cultural identity, or more generally, what it means to be Greek; others have interpreted it as Lucian's problematization of authorial identity - a play on anonymity, or a conscious distancing-technique. This article explores another aspect of Lucian's name-games: how Lucian manipulates onymity within the framework of make-believe, pushing the limits of the contract of fictionality between author and reader.