Ancient Science Fiction

"Was there any? Arthur Koestler claims Kepler’s Somnium for the first real science fiction. Kingsley Amis too rules out Lucian (‘too comic’), but also disqualifies Kepler’s ‘fantasy.’ For Brian Aldiss, Somnium ‘is straightforward non-utopian astronomical exposition, and science fiction no more began with Lucian than space flight with Leonardo.’ While Aldiss grants that science fiction owes much to the Greeks, Amis derides this classical pedigree as scornfully as Aphra Behn’s gibe at ‘reading foolish books, Lucian’s lofty traveller who flew to heaven.’ ..."