ABSTRACT
Leon Battista Alberti’s most ambitious fictions, the Intercenales and Momus, await definitive editions, but scholars have rendered both works more accessible through annotated translations. In Alberti's choice of subject and setting, moreover, Lucian is a source for the opening of Momus, when the carping deity criticizes various creations of other gods. In Hermotimus, Lucian relates how Momus was asked to judge a contest of skill between three Olympian gods. While Lucian's scattered allusions to Momus have shaped the opening pages of Alberti's Momus, one specific Lucianic work reveals itself as the model for Alberti's narration. This is the dialogue Zeus Rants, which depicts Momus as an important counsellor to Zeus and the Olympian gods during a crisis. Despite Juno's protests, a banquet is given in his honour, during which Momus humorously recounts the various professions which he considered adopting on earth.
