Glycon cult

16th Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and Stoic philosopher

Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed philosophers and priests, speculative beliefs about the nature of the universe, religious practices, and superstitions. Although his native language was probably Syriac, all of his extant works are written entirely in ancient Greek (mostly in the Attic Greek dialect popular during the Second Sophistic period).

British comic book author (born 1953)

Glycon, also spelled Glykon ( Glýkōn, : Glýkōnos), was an ancient snake god. He had a large and influential cult within the Roman Empire in the 2nd century, with contemporary satirist Lucian providing the primary literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-2nd century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonoteichos. Lucian was ill-disposed toward the cult, calling Alexander a false prophet, accusing the whole enterprise of being a hoax, and claiming that Glycon himself was a hand puppet.

Greek mystic and oracle (c. 105 – c. 170)

thumb|right|Area around AbonoteichosAbonoteichos (, demonym: , ), later Ionopolis (, ; ), was an ancient city in Asia Minor, on the site of modern İnebolu (in Asian Turkey), and remains a Latin Catholic titular see.