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True History
- 148 statements
- 28 feature instances
- 19 referencing feature instances
| True History | type |
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True History | |
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TrueHistory | |
| True History | comment |
True History, or A True Story, is a satirical 2nd century adventure novel by Greco-Syrian writer Lucian of Samosata, parodying then-popular travelogue novels that often reported wild Tall Tales as true events. It is frequently cited as the earliest known work of Science Fiction and/or Science Fantasy, though its actual contents are difficult to classify by modern genre definitions.After a preface in which Lucian admits that everything he's about to tell you is made up, he recounts a tale of his voyages with a group of adventurers, sailing from Greece to the Atlantic Ocean. The book details various "absolutely true" encounters with outlandish and fantastical places, from an island of dryads with a river of wine to the insides of a miles-long whale, and even to outer space, where he recounts the details of a war between the Kingdoms of the Moon and the Sun.While perhaps not the first story to feature space travel (the preface implies that it may have been written as a jab at an earlier travelogue that featured a similar tale), it is the oldest surviving example of the concept in fiction, and contains many Unbuilt Tropes that would come to define the Space Opera centuries later, such as interplanetary conflict and alien lifeforms.The book can be found online here or here. | |
| True History | fetched |
2023-05-10T04:27:01Z | |
| True History | parsed |
2023-05-10T04:27:01Z | |
| True History | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| True History / int_1049848f | type |
Aliens Speaking English | |
| True History / int_1049848f | comment |
Aliens Speaking English: All the strange and far-off peoples the Greek adventurers meet speak Greek — even the people of the moon. | |
| True History / int_1049848f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_1049848f | featureConfidence |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_1161fb48 | type |
Bizarre Alien Biology | |
| True History / int_1161fb48 | comment |
Bizarre Alien Biology: Moon people. Among other traits, they sweat milk (and use it to make cheese), and can remove and replace their own eyeballs and genitals (which are made of gold for the nobles and wood for the poors) at will. | |
| True History / int_1161fb48 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_17058a90 | type |
No Biochemical Barriers | |
| True History / int_17058a90 | comment |
No Biochemical Barriers: Moon food is the same as human food — onions, cheese, milk, etc. — and edible for humans. The moon and sun are located within the Earth's atmosphere, as people believed at the time, so there's no atmospheric mismatch either. | |
| True History / int_17058a90 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_22294000 | type |
Sarcastic Title | |
| True History / int_22294000 | comment |
Sarcastic Title: The story begins by stating that everything in it is an utter lie. | |
| True History / int_22294000 | featureApplicability |
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| True History / int_38e4b69d | type |
Mister Seahorse | |
| True History / int_38e4b69d | comment |
Mister Seahorse: The lunar people are all men, so this trope naturally appears. The sons grow inside the calves of the men, like Zeus did with Dionysus. At the time, calf of the leg was a euphemism for a man's family jewels. | |
| True History / int_38e4b69d | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_3b21fe98 | type |
Boldly Coming | |
| True History / int_3b21fe98 | comment |
Boldly Coming: Some of the narrator's traveling companions have sex with tree-women on a remote island, and end up stuck to them. | |
| True History / int_3b21fe98 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_4eaa9b84 | type |
Author Tract | |
| True History / int_4eaa9b84 | comment |
Author Tract: The book's preface is the only part where the author drops the charade of this being a "True Story", and is primarily a sardonic tirade about how annoyed he is at the popularity and profitability of deceitful, Based on a Great Big Lie "travelogues"... before noting that he's not above cashing in on the trend — thus, this novel. | |
| True History / int_4eaa9b84 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_5c8fa553 | type |
Level Ate | |
| True History / int_5c8fa553 | comment |
Level Ate: The sailors visit an island with rivers of wine, and an island made entirely out of cheese in a sea of milk. The cheese island is a pun on the Phoenician city of Tyre ("Tyros" in Greek), which is the same as the Greek word for cheese. | |
| True History / int_5c8fa553 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_640ebd81 | type |
Bizarre Alien Reproduction | |
| True History / int_640ebd81 | comment |
Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Moon people are all "male" (what we'd probably call hermaphroditic). In addition to the removeable genitals, they reproduce with gay sex, apparently involving kneecaps, then store fetuses in their calves. They can also plant testicle trees that look like giant penises, and grow people on the branches. | |
| True History / int_640ebd81 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_640ebd81 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_77aedc5c | type |
Horse of a Different Color | |
| True History / int_77aedc5c | comment |
Horse of a Different Color: The king and knights of the Moon rides on a vulture-horse. Other aliens ride a wide variety of animals like giant bugs and wingless birds. | |
| True History / int_77aedc5c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_77aedc5c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_8243d94c | type |
All Planets Are Earth-Like | |
| True History / int_8243d94c | comment |
All Planets Are Earth-Like: The Moon, albeit filled with all sorts of wacky monsters, is otherwise earth-like, but it gets even weirder when it turns out there are also civilizations (and people, and trees) on the Sun and several stars. It's hard to tell whether this is a case of Science Marches On, or part of the parody. (It was pretty obvious even at the time that the Sun was something very hot and fire-like, an idea that plays a part in several myths) | |
| True History / int_8243d94c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_8243d94c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_8a5dc833 | type |
It Runs on Nonsensoleum | |
| True History / int_8a5dc833 | comment |
It Runs on Nonsensoleum: The point of this book. | |
| True History / int_8a5dc833 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_8a5dc833 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_9255105a | type |
To Be Continued | |
| True History / int_9255105a | comment |
To Be Continued: The ending. It seems that Lucian never actually wrote a continuation (and probably never intended to). | |
| True History / int_9255105a | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_986bd638 | type |
This Is a Work of Fiction | |
| True History / int_986bd638 | comment |
This Is a Work of Fiction: The earliest known example is the disclaimer at the beginning. Lucian wanted to be very clear that he did not want to actually contribute to the Based on a Great Big Lie nature of the typical Travelogue Show at the time. | |
| True History / int_986bd638 | featureApplicability |
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| True History / int_986bd638 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_9be7c205 | type |
Giant Spider | |
| True History / int_9be7c205 | comment |
Giant Spider: Space invasions are accomplished by getting ginormous spiders to spin webs between the Moon and Sun, so the armies can walk across, while the Moon and Sun are sailing around the sky. Don't fall off! | |
| True History / int_9be7c205 | featureApplicability |
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| True History / int_9be7c205 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_b20fdfc8 | type |
Ur-Example | |
| True History / int_b20fdfc8 | comment |
Ur-Example: The earliest surviving Science Fiction and, possibly, literary Tall Tale. As well as the earliest that acknowledges itself as such. | |
| True History / int_b20fdfc8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_b20fdfc8 | featureConfidence |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_b2e94341 | type |
Based on a Great Big Lie | |
| True History / int_b2e94341 | comment |
Based on a Great Big Lie: Parodied. Despite the story being an utterly outrageous tall tale, with the preface outright admitting it's a lie, the narrator and the title itself contend that it is entirely true and actually, really happened. | |
| True History / int_b2e94341 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_b2e94341 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_b53077b3 | type |
Take That! | |
| True History / int_b53077b3 | comment |
Take That!: Against Herodotus and generally the Greek authorities. | |
| True History / int_b53077b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_b53077b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_b747dbd8 | type |
Tall Tale | |
| True History / int_b747dbd8 | comment |
Tall Tale: The book is a big Trope Maker for the literary tall tale and had a huge influence on later works in that genre. | |
| True History / int_b747dbd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_b747dbd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
True History / int_b747dbd8 | |
| True History / int_b97c1d0b | type |
Standard Hero Reward | |
| True History / int_b97c1d0b | comment |
Standard Hero Reward: Possibly parodied and turned upside-down: Our heroes help the Moon People in their war against the Sun People and are defeated. Nevertheless, the Moon King still rewards the main character with goods and give him his son as a spouse. | |
| True History / int_b97c1d0b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_b97c1d0b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_bbcdd673 | type |
One-Gender Race | |
| True History / int_bbcdd673 | comment |
One-Gender Race: The lunar people are all male. | |
| True History / int_bbcdd673 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_bbcdd673 | featureConfidence |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_c03860d2 | type |
Womb Level | |
| True History / int_c03860d2 | comment |
Womb Level: The belly of the whale. | |
| True History / int_c03860d2 | featureApplicability |
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| True History / int_c03860d2 | featureConfidence |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
| True History / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: One of the many places Lucian "visits" is Cloudcuckooland from Aristophanes' satire The Birds. | |
| True History / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
True History / int_c75df49a | |
| True History / int_d698c3c4 | type |
Travelogue Show | |
| True History / int_d698c3c4 | comment |
Travelogue Show: Written as a vicious lampooning of the genre as a whole at the time. | |
| True History / int_d698c3c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_d698c3c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_ddb233c1 | type |
Mid-Season Twist | |
| True History / int_ddb233c1 | comment |
Mid-Season Twist: The explorers go to the moon. | |
| True History / int_ddb233c1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_ddb233c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_e78aa97d | type |
Rubber-Forehead Aliens | |
| True History / int_e78aa97d | comment |
Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Moon People have leaves for ears and tails, removable eyes and genitals, and only one toe per foot, but otherwise they basically look human. | |
| True History / int_e78aa97d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| True History / int_e78aa97d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_f5eda11 | type |
Mix-and-Match Critters | |
| True History / int_f5eda11 | comment |
Mix-and-Match Critters: The vulture-horses of the moon. | |
| True History / int_f5eda11 | featureApplicability |
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| True History | hasFeature |
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| True History / int_name | type |
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| True History / int_name | itemName |
True History |
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