Abstract
This article examines Lucian's Necyomantia and Euripidean tragedy. It shows that the original context of the Necyomantia's Euripidean quotations, particularly those from the Heracles and the Hecuba, is relevant to the work's major theme: the mutability of Fortune and the precarity of human existence. It argues further that Lucian invokes comedy by quoting from Euripides' Andromeda, which Dionysus reads in Aristophanes' Clouds. The analysis therefore illuminates the Necyomantia itself, Lucian's intertextuality in general, and the broader context of Lucian's work, suggesting that Lucian's engagement with his hypotexts is more profound than is often supposed.