A True Story is a work written by Lucian of Samosata, a writer, satirist, philosopher, and rhetorician who composed in Ancient Greek and Syriac during the second century CE.

Lucian was born around 125 CE in Samosata. Over the course of his career he worked across several modes, producing texts as a writer, satirist, philosopher, rhetorician, and biographer. His output included A True Story, Dialogues of the Gods, Dialogues of the Dead, Dialogues of the Courtesans, Dialogues of the Sea-Gods, The Mistaken Critic, and On the Syrian Goddess. Ancient Greek and Syriac were both languages in which he worked, with some sources also associating him with Koine Greek.

Lucian died around 180 CE, with some sources placing his death as late as the close of the second century, and one tradition locating it in Athens. Among the works he left behind, Dialogues of the Dead stands alongside A True Story and On the Syrian Goddess as part of a body of writing that spans satirical, philosophical, and rhetorical registers. On the Syrian Goddess, in particular, connects directly to Samosata, the city of his birth.