Fake News: Speech, Writing, and Deception in Lucian's <i>Dialogues of the Courtesans</i>

Abstract This article argues that fake news (interpreted as written and/or oral disinformation with a spiteful intent to deceive, which is disseminated with the aim of harming its victim and benefitting its creator) is a prominent motif in Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans. Fake news of various sorts is used in these dialogues to emphasize the precarity and vulnerability of many of the female protagonists, but also to explore the often-complex gendered power dynamic of sexual relationships between client and courtesan, and finally to generate humor in the dialogues.