L'allegoria di Pluto in Luciano

Abstract

Ploutos, the god and hypostasis of richness, was often described in Greek and Roman literary works. The most well-known of these representations is Aristophanes' Ploutos, a comedy which became a landmark for the following generations and also inspired Lucian of Samosata. Lucian's dialogue Timon offers a wonderful and complex characterization of the god, in which Aristophanes' text was combined with elements from the philosophical and rhetorical culture of the Second Sophistic and with the author's original and ingenious creativity.