The Last Classical Greek Historian
Plutarch: a brief biography
Plutarch was one of the last Classical Greek historians. He was born about 45AD at Chaeronea in
Boeotia. Plutarch traveled to Egypt and went to Rome. The emperor Hadrian honoured him with a government appointment in Greece and in later life he took up a priesthood at Delphi. He died soon after 120AD.
Plutarch wrote a large number of essays and dialogues on philosophical, scientific and literary subjects and he frequently attacked both Stoics and Epicureans. He wrote his historical works later in life and his Parallel Lives of eminent Greeks and Romans is probably the best known and most influential of his works (Shakespeare used the Alfred North translations as a source for his Roman plays). He wrote not to give a full account of the men‟s lives and careers, but to inspire later generations to emulate their virtues.
Aspects of Plutarch‟s work which need to be remembered by the modern historian are: his casual approach to chronology; his frequent unwillingness to make an accurate judgement of the quality and reliability of his sources; his failure to understand that the political situation in fifth century Greece was very different to his own time and his (understandable) lack of any attempt to assess the effects and historical importance of his subject‟s deeds and policies.
Despite these reservations, Plutarch is a valuable source, especially for the Pentecontaetia (the „fifty-
Year Period‟ 478-432). Without Plutarch our evidence from this period would be very fragmentary indeed. Source
Plutarch, Life of Pericles, Penguin Classics
Buckley, T. (1996) Aspects of Greek History 750-323BC. A Source Based Approach. Routledge,
London
Pericles Study Guide
Chapters 1 & 2
Details you should know:
• In these first two sections Plutarch sets out his philosophy for writing about the lives of eminent citizens. He does so in order to provide examples of public virtues so that the common folk may
be
Plutarch was one of the last Classical Greek historians. He was born about 45AD at Chaeronea in
Boeotia. Plutarch traveled to Egypt and went to Rome. The emperor Hadrian honoured him with a government appointment in Greece and in later life he took up a priesthood at Delphi. He died soon after 120AD.
Plutarch wrote a large number of essays and dialogues on philosophical, scientific and literary subjects and he frequently attacked both Stoics and Epicureans. He wrote his historical works later in life and his Parallel Lives of eminent Greeks and Romans is probably the best known and most influential of his works (Shakespeare used the Alfred North translations as a source for his Roman plays). He wrote not to give a full account of the men‟s lives and careers, but to inspire later generations to emulate their virtues.
Aspects of Plutarch‟s work which need to be remembered by the modern historian are: his casual approach to chronology; his frequent unwillingness to make an accurate judgement of the quality and reliability of his sources; his failure to understand that the political situation in fifth century Greece was very different to his own time and his (understandable) lack of any attempt to assess the effects and historical importance of his subject‟s deeds and policies.
Despite these reservations, Plutarch is a valuable source, especially for the Pentecontaetia (the „fifty-
Year Period‟ 478-432). Without Plutarch our evidence from this period would be very fragmentary indeed. Source
Plutarch, Life of Pericles, Penguin Classics
Buckley, T. (1996) Aspects of Greek History 750-323BC. A Source Based Approach. Routledge,
London
Pericles Study Guide
Chapters 1 & 2
Details you should know:
• In these first two sections Plutarch sets out his philosophy for writing about the lives of eminent citizens. He does so in order to provide examples of public virtues so that the common folk may
be