Parallel Lives

Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, written in the late 1st century. The surviving Parallel Lives (Greek: Βίοι Παράλληλοι, Bíoi Parállēloi) comprises twenty-three pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman, as well as four unpaired, single lives. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals described, but also about the times in which they lived.

Motivation

As he explains in the first paragraph of his Life of Alexander, Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, but with exploring the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of famous men. He wished to prove that the more remote past of Greece could show its men of action and achievement as well as the nearer, and therefore more impressive, past of Rome. His interest was primarily ethical, although the lives have significant historical value as well. The Lives was published by Plutarch late in his life after his return to Chaeronea and, if one may judge from the long lists of authorities given, it must have taken many years to compile.

Plutarch

Plutarch (/ˈpluːtɑːrk/; Greek: Πλούταρχος, Ploútarkhos, Koine Greek: [plǔːtarkʰos]; later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Λούκιος Μέστριος Πλούταρχος); c. AD 46 – AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works are believed to have been originally written in Koine Greek.

Early life

Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea, which lies approximately eighty kilometres east of Delphi, in the Greek region known as Boeotia. His family was wealthy. The name of Plutarch's father has not been preserved, but it was probably Nikarchus (Nίκαρχoς), from the common habit of Greek families to repeat a name in alternate generations. The name of Plutarch's grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony.

His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogues, wherein Timon in particular is spoken of in the most affectionate terms. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarch's wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not give way to excessive grief at the death of their two-year-old daughter, who was named Timoxena after her mother. Interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation.

Plutarch (crater)

Plutarch is a lunar impact crater that lies near the north-northeastern limb of the Moon, just to the south of the irregular crater Seneca. To the southeast is the flooded crater Cannon. The proximity of this crater to the limb causes it to appear foreshortened when viewed from the Earth, but it is actually a circular formation.

This crater has a well-defined rim edge that is only slightly eroded. A small crater intrudes slightly into the southwestern rim, and another small crater lies near the south-southeastern rim. The inner wall is unusually wide in the southern half of the crater, with the narrowest section along the northern rim. There is some slumping and terraces formed along the inner sides, and a notable central peak near the midpoint of the interior floor.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Plutarch.

References

Plutarch (disambiguation)

Plutarch was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist.

Plutarch may also refer to:

See also