7 moments

1. Birth at Samosata

   0125-01-01 · Samosata (modern Samsat), Adıyaman Province, Turkey

   

   Lucian was born at Samosata on the Euphrates, in Roman Syria. This is the starting point of the documented itinerary of the satirist later known as Lucian of Samosata. The year is conventionally approximate (c. 125), not an exact birth year.

2. Return to Ionia as a celebrated lecturer

   0160-01-01 · Ionia, western Anatolia, Turkey

   

   After a successful itinerant rhetorical career, Lucian returned to Ionia as a wealthy and well-known public figure. The date is approximate; the coordinate is a representative point for the ancient region of Ionia.

3. Visit to his home town

   0160-01-01 · Samosata (modern Samsat), Adıyaman Province, Turkey

   

   During his eastern return around 160, Lucian visited Samosata, his native town. The visit is dated only broadly by the surrounding statement that he returned to Ionia 'in around 160'.

4. Documented stay at Antioch

   0162-01-01 · Antioch on the Orontes (modern Antakya), Hatay Province, Turkey

   

   Lucian is specifically recorded at Antioch during his eastern sojourn, shortly before he settled in Athens. The source permits either 162 or 163; 162 is used as the chronological anchor rather than as an exact resolution of the uncertainty.

5. Attendance at the Olympic festival

   0165-01-01 · Olympia, Elis, Greece

   

   Lucian attended the Olympic festival and described himself as a spectator; his account places him among the witnesses to Peregrinus's final appearance. The accompanying editorial introduction dates the Olympic festival and Peregrinus's cremation to AD 165.

6. Midnight journey to Harpina

   0165-01-01 · Harpina, Pisatis, Elis, Greece

   

   After the Olympic festival, Lucian traveled at midnight to Harpina to witness the pyre of Peregrinus, providing a rare first-person itinerary point. The text and its editorial introduction place this journey after the Olympic festival of AD 165. Harpina's archaeological location is uncertain; coordinates are an approximate representative point east of Olympia consistent with the text's distance and direction.

7. Settlement and literary residence in Athens

   0165-01-01 · Athens, Attica, Greece

   

   Lucian bought a house in Athens, brought his parents to live there, and began the roughly decade-long residence in which he shifted from lecturing to writing. The settlement date is approximate ('around 165'); the residence continued for roughly a decade.