Lucian was a versatile and erudite writer who satirized most of the popular literary genres of the second century AD. His biting wit has survived the centuries, and his innovative prose narrative A True Story - which features a voyage to the moon and interplanetary warfare - is often described as the world's first science fiction novel. The translator Jakob Moltzer (1503-58) was a friend of Camerarius and one of the great German Hellenists of the sixteenth century, becoming professor of Greek at Heidelberg. He took the Latinized form of his name from the poor cobbler in Lucian’s Gallus. The other translators referred to anonymously on the title-page are Erasmus, Melanchton and Thomas More.