This is the first book that can be called “science fiction”, although it’s not based on any science. Lucian of Samosota was one of the classical world’s great satirists, having written a number of works poking fun at the common superstitions of his day. His True History is anything but true; it is the tale of a journey to all manner of wild and crazy places. The narrator sails beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar) into the Atlantic Ocean, which at that time was unknown territory. His ship gets caught in a violent storm and ends up on the moon. There they meet the king of the moon and his subjects, all of whom are strange re-arrangements of the parts of various animals.
The moon people are attacked by the people who live on the sun, and a huge battle takes place, bringing in even stranger creatures who are, again, re-arrangements of known animals. They fight their battle, and the moon people win, so they go home and have a big feast to celebrate their victory.
This is just the beginning of a long tale in which the narrator travels from kingdom to kingdom, each consisting of strange people with strange customs. He encounters rivers of milk, rivers of wine, and rivers of honey. In another place, he sees wells that produce milk; wells that produce wine; and wells that produce honey. On one island they need no bread; it simply appears already baked in their ears. Entire structures are built of gold or amethyst; he is especially taken by cinammon trees — which the Greeks knew only through distant trade contacts with the sources in the East Indies.
At one point they are swallowed by a whale so large that inside his stomach there are entire islands with forests and rivers. His mates agree to start a large forest fire to kill the whale and make their escape, but it takes a week of burning to accomplish their goal.
One island corresponds to the Christian concept of heaven; all good and noble people go there after death. The narrator speaks with Homer, Socrates, and all the great names of Greek history. Another island corresponds to hell, where the iniquitous are tormented forever. Interestingly, Lucian puts Herodotus in this hell because, he claims, Herodotus told a great many lies. These days, Herodotus is considered the first historian who went to great lengths to get the facts for his history.
It’s all quite imaginative, yet at the same time, Lucian’s imagination is constrained by the civilization in which he lives. The technologies used are mere variations on the technologies of Lucian’s time. This is a universal flaw of science fiction. Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon envisions a huge cannon that shoots a spaceship to the moon. Flash Gordon flies through space on a rocket ship that buzzes like an airplane; people can jump out of the ship and float to the ground using capes as parachutes. Doubtless the science fiction of today will be the subject of derision in future times.