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Journal articles on the topic "Plutarch. – Lives"
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Juchnevičienė, Nijolė. "The Lives of Women in Plutarch’s Lives." Literatūra 62, no. 3 (December 14, 2020): 31–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/litera.2020.3.3.
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Plutarch’s works often serve as a starting point for feminist criticism – the writer is called both a feminist who surpassed his times and a spokesperson for the traditional patriarchal society who sees women as passive and inferior to men. Others are certain that Plutarch hates women and atributes all possible character flaws to them. According to some, Plutarch despises educated women, yet others, contrarily, state that he enjoyed the company of educated women no less than that of educated men. Such a vast range of different expert opinions may be due to Plutarch’s vast literary legacy as well as the peculiarity of his way of thinking and his “generic sensibility”: the tendency to change his approach in consideration of different generic demands. Nevertheless, it is impossible to disagree that Plutarch did write the lives of men, and not of women. However, in the remaining Lives of famous Greeks and Romans, we meet plenty of women whose acts and moral principles may serve as examples not only for women, but also for men. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that Plutarch, despite of sometimes relying on stereotypes, regards women according to the same ethical principles as he applies to men. Plutarch depicts women not as passive and submissive, but as autonomous and mature characters who are active not only in their private world, but in the political world too. They overstep the traditional social boundaries of the stereotype “feminine matrix.” He accentuates two of women’s social roles that, according to his judgement, are of the greatest importance: motherhood and partnership. In Plutarch’s narrative, women are associated with love – the selfless motherly love, or marital love based on the community of thoughts and feelings. Plutarch draws attention not to the physical beauty of women, which is traditionally related to feminine sexuality in masculine psychology, but to the integrity of their characters. Love between a husband and wife, based not only on eros, but on devotion and friendship, is the primary representation of erotic love in his Lives.
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Warren, Lunette. "Reading Plutarch’s Women: Moral Judgement in the Moralia and Some Lives." Ploutarchos 15 (October 30, 2018): 97–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/0258-655x_15_6.
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Plutarch has two distinct bodies of work: the Moralia and the Lives. Increasingly, however, questions about the unity of Plutarch’s work as a whole have been raised, and it has become of some concern to scholars of ancient biography to establish the level of philosophical content in the Lives. A comparative study of the women of the Lives and those in the Moralia may provide some insight into Plutarch’s greater philosophical project and narrative aims. Plutarch’s writings on and for women in the Conjugalia praecepta, Mulierum virtutes, Amatorius, De Iside et Osiride, and Consolatio ad uxorem lays a firm groundwork for the role of Woman in society and the marital unit. The language in these works is consistent with the language used to describe women in the Lives, where historical women appear as exempla for the moral improvement of his female students. This case study of five prominent women in the Lives reveals an uncomfortable probability: Plutarch presents women in the Lives in accordance with the principles set out in the Moralia and uses certain concepts to guide his readers towards a judgement of the exempla that agrees with his views on the ideal Woman.
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Ładoń, Tomasz. "Obraz wojny domowej z lat 83-82 przed Chr. w Żywocie Lucjusza Korneliusza Sulli Plutarcha z Cheronei." Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal 7, no. 2 (December 1, 2017): 247–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.24917/20841043.7.2.4.
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An image of the civil war of the years 83–82 BCE in Plutarch’s the Life of Sulla The author of this article is interested in how Plutarch of Chaeronea created the picture of the Sullan War in Parallel lives, especially in the Life of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Firstly, the author notes that in presenting the civil war Plutarch was dependent on the Memoirs of Sulla. But not only. There are fragments from other source too, probably the same that Appian of Alexandria used. Therefore the Author wonders to what extend Plutarch was tendentious in presenting the Sullan War. Secondly, the author shows which moments of the Sullan War were of especial interest to Plutarch of Chaeronea and tries to answer why some of the events (for example the negotiations between Sulla and Scipio) Plutarch was to described so briefly. Finally, the author indicates why this report of Plutarch of Chaeronea remains a very important source for any historian of the civil wars in Rome.
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Duff, Timothy E. "Models of education in Plutarch." Journal of Hellenic Studies 128 (November 2008): 1–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0075426900000033.
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Abstract:This paper examines Plutarch's treatment of education in the Parallel Lives. Beginning with a close reading of Them. 2, it identifies two distinct ways in which Plutarch exploits the education of his subjects: in the first, a subject's attitude to education is used to illustrate a character presented as basically static (a ‘static/illustrative’ model); in the second, a subject's education is looked at in order to explain his adult character, and education is assumed to affect character (a ‘developmental’ model). These two models are often associated with two different forms of discourse: anecdotal for the static/illustrative model and analytical for the developmental. The developmental model, furthermore, is closer to Plutarch's thinking in theoretical discussions of character in the Moralia; the static/illustrative model to Plutarch's treatment of character in the Lives more generally, where anecdotal treatments predominate. The coexistence of these two models is probably to be seen as the result of a tension between Plutarch's philosophical thinking and his biographical practice: those few passages in the Lives which assume a developmental model occur in contexts where either Platonic texts or the activity of philosophers are being discussed.
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Hillard, T. W. "Plutarch’s Late-Republican Lives: Between The Lines." Antichthon 21 (1987): 19–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0066477400003531.
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A great deal of modern scholarship has been expended on the subject of Plutarch’s sources and on the manner in which he composed hisLives. As a result of the painstaking analyses of the fifty or so cross-references in theLives, a rough order in which they were probably written can now be descried and this has been a great boon for those who would use the information therein for historical purposes. As regards thoseLivesdealing with the luminaries of the late Republic, it can be said that theLucullusand probably theSertoriuswere among the first four sets to be written, that theCiceroappeared with theDemosthenesin the fifth set, then came theSulla, theBrutus, theCaesar, thePompeius, and subsequently theCrassus, Cato minor, AntonyandMarius. (The order of the last four cannot be fixed, nor can the place of theLivesof the Gracchi.) A knowlege of this sequence explains the differences and occasional contradictions between individualLivesby exposing Plutarch’s earlier unfamiliarity with certain traditions and suggesting divergent source traditions which surfaced only when Plutarch was researching a particular character. (This, of course, makes the material even more valuable.)
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Kampianaki, Theofili. "Plutarch's Lives in the Byzantine chronographic tradition: the chronicle of John Zonaras." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 41, no. 1 (March 16, 2017): 15–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/byz.2016.26.
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This article focuses on the presence of material from Plutarch's Lives in Byzantine chronicles, particularly that of John Zonaras, the only chronicler to draw heavily on Plutarch's biographies. Zonaras’ strong appreciation of Plutarch is evident when he repeatedly digresses from the main narrative to incorporate Plutarchean material related to secondary topics. His method of selection from Plutarch's Roman Lives is governed by particular principles: Zonaras’ individual literary tastes, as well as those of his contemporary audience, and the adaptation of Plutarch's material to the Byzantine social and cultural context. These considerations reveal Zonaras to be not merely a copyist of earlier writings, but instead a compiler with his own authorial agenda.
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Nikolaidis, Anastasios. "Quaestiones Convivales: Plutarch’s Sense of Humour as Evidence of his Platonism." Philologus 163, no. 1 (May 29, 2019): 110–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/phil-2017-0029.
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AbstractGiven Plutarch’s fragmentary piece on Aristophanes and Menander (Mor. 853A–854D), a piece of Table Talk on almost the same topic (Mor. 711A–713F) and various attacks on comic poets scattered through the Lives, one might believe that Plutarch is a staid, conservative and humourless author. But several other instances in his writings reveal a playful, facetious, witty and humorous Plutarch. This paper will focus on the Quaestiones Convivales, which bear ample witness to this aspect of Plutarch’s personality and authorial technique. It will examine the ways in which he introduces and describes the various interlocutors, discuss certain comments (or arguments) with which he tries to ridicule his philosophical opponents, notably the Stoics and the Epicureans, try to distinguish the various manifestations of Plutarch’s humour (spontaneous reaction, literary device, pleasantry, witticism, irony) and finally suggest that Plutarch’s stance and attitude towards playfulness, comic situations and laughter may ultimately be affected, at least in part, by his allegiance to Plato.
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Freitas, Vanderley Nascimento. "AS PAIXÕES EM PLUTARCO: O PAPEL DO SILÊNCIO NA CURA DA TAGARELICE." Sapere Aude 10, no. 19 (July 14, 2019): 73–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.5752/p.2177-6342.2019v10n19p73-92.
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Plutarco de Queroneia (45-125), maior expoente do médio platonismo, é autor de uma vasta obra, cujos textos conservados foram divididos em dois grandes grupos, as Vidas Paralelas (Bioi Paralleloi) e as Obras Morais (Moralia). Interessa-nos aqui examinar os vários âmbitos em que é possível reconhecer uma reflexão acerca das paixões em Plutarco, inserindo-a na busca pela boa vida preconizado pelo filósofo, a fim de evidenciar os caminhos para a cura de um páthos em particular: a tagarelice. No presente artigo, examinaremos mais de perto quatro tratados do corpus de Plutarco, a saber, Sobre a Tagarelice, Como Ouvir, O Banquete dos Sete Sábios e Das Doenças da Alma e do Corpo: quais as mais nefastas? Entrevendo o horizonte do bem viver, buscaremos mostrar como o filósofo faz com que o silêncio emerja como um ingrediente particular ao se pensar no tratamento de uma alma flagelada pelas paixões. Buscaremos, ainda, trazer à luz as fontes do pensamento antigo nas quais Plutarco se inspira, sobretudo no que diz respeito ao tema relacionado às paixões.ABSTRACTPlutarch of Chaeronea (45-125), the highest exponent of Middle Platonism, is the author of a vast work, whose conserved texts were divided into two great groups, the Parallel lives (Bioi Paralleloi) and the Moral works (Moralia). We are here interested in examine the various fields in which it is possible to recognize a reflection upon the passions in Plutarch, inserting it in the search for the good life recommended by the philosopher, in order to highlight the ways for the healing of a particular pathos: the chatter. In the present article, we will look over more closely four treatises on Plutarch's corpus, namely, On talkativeness, On listening to lectures, Dinner of the seven wise men and Whether the affections of the soul are worse than those of the body. Glimpsing the horizon of well-being, we shall try to show how the philosopher makes silence emerge as a particular ingredient in thinking about the treatment of a soul plagued by passions. We will also try to bring to light the sources of ancient thought in which Plutarch inspired himself, above all regarding the theme related to the passions.KEYWORDS: Plutarch. Passions. Ethic. Silence. Soul.
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Promisel, Michael E. "How Lives Form Leaders: Plutarch’s Tripartite Theory of Leadership Education." Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought 38, no. 2 (May 7, 2021): 277–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/20512996-12340326.
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Abstract Plutarch’s Parallel Lives was once considered a preeminent source of ethical and leadership instruction. But despite generations turning to the Lives for leadership education, we lack clarity concerning how the Lives cultivate leadership. In fact, Plutarch offers the key to this puzzle in a tripartite theory of leadership education evident throughout his corpus. Leaders should be educated through: 1) philosophical instruction, 2) experience in public life, or 3) literary synthesis – and, ideally, some combination of all three. Plutarch’s Lives, this article contends, exemplifies the third form of education, literary synthesis, which exhibits the influence of philosophical principle and moral character on political conduct. Understanding the Lives as a model of literary leadership education reveals the conditions for written works to cultivate virtuous leaders – the closing consideration of this article.
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Schneider, Marion Theresa. "„Da setzen wir noch eins drauf!“." Millennium 16, no. 1 (October 21, 2019): 93–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/mill-2019-0007.
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Abstract As the interpretation of Plutarch’s prooemium to the Parallel Lives of Sertorius and Eumenes shows, an author’s capacity of irony often lies in the eyes of the beholder: While most historians take for granted that this passage is meant to make fun of Plutarch’s contemporaries for drawing ridiculous conclusions from historical parallels like namesakes or similar external attributes, most translators fail to see its humorous undertone. It becomes clear, though, that it is possible to establish objective criteria for ironic speech in Plutarch that can be found in the prooemium as well, if one takes a closer look at ironic strategies in his polemical or colloquial writings. One of these is the ironic use of allusive names for dialogue partners or even the invention of characters bearing telling historical names. With this special ironic technique in mind one might even reconsider the authenticity of (Ps.‐)Plutarch’s Parallela Minora commonly termed spurious because of its cunning invention of fictitious sources on similar principles as those of the ironic Plutarch.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Plutarch. – Lives"
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Duff, Tim. "Plutarch's "lives" : exploring virtue and vice /." Oxford [u.a.] : Clarendon Press, 1999. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0606/98040794-d.html.
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Duff, T. E. "Moralising in the Parallel Lives of Plutarch." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.598667.
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The focus of my thesis is this question: in what ways are Plutarch's Lives moralising texts? My contention is that the Lives are moralistic, but it is a moralism which does not simply affirm the norms of Plutarch's society and Plutarch's own value-system; rather it is, in some Lives at least, exploratory and challenging. A second contention is that the Lives must be read in the pairs in which they were published. The first part of my thesis includes a theoretical analysis of the place of moralising within the ancient historiographical tradition, and an exposition of Plutarch's own statements as regards his work - key passages for our understanding of ancient conceptions of historiography and biography. The central chapters contain close readings of three problematic Plutarchan texts, the Phocion Cato Minor, Lysander-Sulla and Coliolanus-Alcibiades. The second part of my thesis seeks to place Plutarch's work within the context of the second-century world. In this section, I examine Plutarch's Lives of Julius Caesar, Galba and Otho alongside the biographies of the same figures by Suetonius: even when dealing with Roman sources, Plutarch brings to bear upon his material a moral outlook which is drawn, partly at least, from the age of Classical Greece, in particular from Plato. Throughout the Lives, Roman figures are evaluated by means of Greek ethical concepts. This self-confident response to Rome is seen also in the very structure of the Lives, in which Greek figures are paired with Roman; a final chapter analyses this paired structure and demonstrates, by a detailed study of the Pyrrhus-Marius that no Life can properly be understood without its partner.
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Lucchesi, Michele Alessandro. "Plutarch on Sparta : cultural identities and political models in the Plutarchan macrotext." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5581f70d-9333-4d89-b483-bc996171761d.
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Can we consider Plutarch's Parallel Lives a historical work? Can we read them as a unitary series? These are the initial questions that this thesis poses and that are investigated in the Introduction, five main Chapters, and the Conclusion. In the Introduction, a preliminary status quaestionis about ancient biography is presented before clarifying the methodology adopted for reading the Parallel Lives as a unitary historical work and the reasons for choosing the Lives of Lycurgus, Lysander, and Agesilaus as the case studies to examine in detail. Chapter 1 discusses the historiographical principles that emerge from the De sera numinis vindicta: for Plutarch history is primarily the history of individuals and cities, based on the interpretation of historical events. Chapter 2 tries to verify the hypothesis that the Parallel Lives correspond to the historical project delineated in the De sera numinis vindicta. This Chapter, moreover, reassesses the literary form of the Parallel Lives by employing the concepts of 'open macrotext' and 'cross-complementarity' between the Lives. Chapter 3 analyses the Life of Lycurgus, focusing on the formation of the cultural identity and the political model of Sparta. In the Life of Lycurgus, Plutarch indicates already the intrinsic weaknesses of Sparta and the probable causes of Spartan decline in the fourth century BC. Chapter 4 is devoted to the Life of Lysander, where Plutarch narrates how after the Peloponnesian War Sparta established its hegemony over the Greeks and, simultaneously, began its rapid moral and political decline into decadence. Plutarch also seems to suggest that in this historical period of extraordinary changes not only Sparta and Lysander but all the Greeks were guilty of distorting moral values. Chapter 5 concentrates on Agesilaus, who could have led Sparta and the Greeks to great success against the Persians, but, instead, had to save Sparta from complete destruction after the Battle of Leuctra. The Conclusion recapitulates the main points of the thesis and proposes possible arguments for future research on Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.
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Duff, Timothy Elliott. "Signs of the soul : moralising in the parallel lives of Plutarch." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321169.
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Oliver, Devin. "Military leadership in Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives'." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31539.
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This dissertation is a study of Plutarch's portrayal of military leadership in his Parallel Lives. I investigate Plutarch's use of extended military narrative to provide examples of good generalship for his readers, his conception of the importance and dangers of a military education, his attitude toward the moral use of deception in warfare, and the importance of synkrisis to the reader's final assessment of a general's military ability. I conclude with a case study of the Pyrrhus-Marius, in which I examine how Plutarch uses military narrative throughout the pair to compare the generalship of the two men. I demonstrate that Plutarch's conception of generalship in the Parallel Lives is nuanced, consistent, and often significant to the interpretation of a pair. Plutarch constructs his military narratives in such a way as to identify specific acts of generalship through which the military leaders among his readership could evaluate and improve their own generalship. Plutarch's treatment of the morality of generalship is consistent with his views on education and character; while he accepts the necessity and appreciates the effectiveness of military deception, he also recognizes its limitations and holds up for criticism those generals who do not use it appropriately. I also examine the importance of the formal synkrisis at the end of each pair of Lives to the structural integrity of the Plutarchan book and the evaluation of military leadership in each pair. These concluding synkriseis demonstrate that Plutarch had a consistent set of criteria for evaluating the generalship of his subjects, and encourage the reader to make similar judgments on military ability themselves. This process of evaluation and comparison of military leadership is particularly important to my reading of the Pyrrhus-Marius, as comparing the military careers of its subjects allows for a more complete reading of the pair than is otherwise possible.
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Dubreuil, Raphaëla Jane. "Theatrica and political action in Plutarch's Parallel Lives." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/23432.
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This thesis explores Plutarch’s use of metaphors and similes of the theatre in order to represent, explore and criticise political action in his Parallel Lives. Most of the studies available on Plutarch’s use of the theatre have tended to address his understanding and employment of the tragic, that is what is defined as tragedy as a genre from the conventions of language, plot and characterisation. This approach belongs to the textual, literary aspect of theatrical production, the word of the writer, and the interpretation of the reader. Although interlinked with my study, this is not what my thesis examines. I am concerned with the performative aspect of the theatre. This envelops all the components which define the activity of the theatrical spectacle: the professionals involved in the production, from the sponsors, to the musicians and dancers, the actors and their performance, from its preparation to its presentation, the costumes, the props and the sets, the intention of the performance, the impact on and the reaction of the audience. Plutarch has two means of approaching the theatrical world. He draws on the reality of theatrical productions, showing an awareness of the technical demands involved in the creation of spectacle and drama. He also draws upon the tradition of theory and definitions of the theatre which had been laid down by philosophers and playwrights. But whether his understanding stems from a familiarity with theatrical productions or a reading of theoretical discourse, Plutarch’s deployments are consistent: they become a tool to assess morally the statesman or political body he is observing. While Plutarch’s judgement tends to be severe, he recognises the impact and effectiveness of histrionic politics. This thesis concentrates on three political structures: kingship, oratory and the relationship between statesman and assembly. Plutarch’s moral assessment is consistent, and yet he draws on different aspects and different theories to represent not only these different structures but also individual approaches to the office of statesman. While absolute monarchs tend to resort to staging, some put the emphasis on spectacle and the experience of the observer and others concentrate on their own person by styling themselves as actors. If some orators draw on techniques used by actors, they do not equally resort to the same methods but according to their character and origin, choose different aspects of the acting profession. Although several assemblies take place in the theatre, their histrionic behaviour depends on the statesman who influences them. While other studies have notes the theatrical quality of Plutarch’s Lives, this thesis offers the first in-depth analysis of the intricacy and richness of Plutarch’s understanding of theatre as a political tool. Other works have tended to put characterisation at the centre of Plutarch’s use of theatre. I propose, however, to focus on political action, revealing Plutarch’s attitude not only towards the spectacular, but also, and crucially, towards some of the most important political structures of antiquity.
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Giroux, Chandra. "Morality in Plutarch's "Life of Cimon"." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35198.
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Understanding Plutarch’s Parallel Lives as a literary text is the focus of current scholarship. However, to this date, no one has looked at Plutarch’s Life of Cimon to analyze what it reveals about morality. My thesis endeavours to understand how Plutarch shapes Cimon as a literary character to bring to light the moral focus of this Life. It first investigates Plutarch’s life and the atmosphere in which he lived to understand what influenced his writing. Chapter One follows with a discussion of the composition of the Lives to understand how they are organized. The insistence on reading each book’s four parts (proem, Life 1, Life 2, synkrisis) to fully appreciate their moral relevance leads to Chapter Two, which dissects the main components of Plutarch’s moral mirror. This provides the necessary background needed for Chapter Three’s case study of Plutarch’s Cimon. Here, I argue that the main moral message contained therein is the importance of generosity and euergetism.
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Martin, John Benjamin. "Post-Coloniality in Plutarch's Lives of Philopoemen and Flamininus." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2019. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7586.
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Plutarch’s Life of Philopoemen and Life of Titus Flamininus are often overlooked in favor of Plutarch’s more famous subjects. However, this biographical pair uniquely treats contemporary figures on opposing sides of the conflicts of the early 2nd century BCE: Philopoemen as the last great Greek general fighting for freedom, and Flamininus as the Roman general whose actions brought about Greece’s subjugation to Rome. Reading these biographies through a post-colonial lens reveals Plutarch’s internal resistance to the Roman subjugation. I argue that, although Plutarch does not outwardly denigrate the Roman conquest, he uses Flamininus and his flaws to criticize Rome’s subjugation of Greece. He simultaneously shows a preference for Philopoemen and the cause of Greek freedom throughout both works. He not only praises Greece’s former glory, but also condemns Rome’s dominant position over Greece. Despite Plutarch predating the traditional subjects of post-colonialism, this act of literary resistance to the Roman occupation justifies a close reading of these texts through a post-colonial lens.
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Clark, Andrew Charles. "Parallel lives : the relation of Paul to the apostles in the Lucan perspective." Thesis, London School of Theology, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.320124.
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Chrysanthou, Chrysanthos Stelios. "Narrative, interpretation, and moral judgement in Plutarch's 'Lives'." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d7647c1c-22c9-4c4e-95e2-c93209592990.
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In the Parallel Lives Plutarch does not absolve his readers of the need for moral reflection by offering any sort of hard and fact rules for their moral judgement. Rather, he uses strategies for eliciting from readers an active engagement with the act of judging. This study, building upon and verifying further recent research on the challenging and exploratory, rather than affirmative, moral impact that the Lives are designed to have on their readers, offers the first systematic analysis of the representation of 'experimental' moralism of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. It seeks to describe and analyse the range of narrative techniques that Plutarch employs to draw his readers into the process of moral evaluation and expose them to the complexities and difficulties involved in making moral judgements. Through illustrating Plutarch's narrative techniques, it also sheds significant light on Plutarch's sensibility to the artistic qualities of historical narrative as well as to the challenges and dangers inherent in recounting, reading, and evaluating history. Chapter 1 considers the interrogatory nature of the moralism of the Lives and their narrative sophistication, which the insights of recent literary theories can help us to unfold and analyse. Chapter 2 is concerned with Plutarch's projection of himself and his readers, and, more specifically, with the devices that Plutarch exploits to build his authority with his readers, establish their complicity, and draw them into engaging all the more actively with the subjects of his Lives. Chapter 3 examines how Plutarch's delving into the minds of the in-text characters generates in readers empathy that keeps them alert up to the end of the Life to the complex and provisional character of a clear-cut moralising judgement. Chapter 4 reflects especially upon Plutarch's tendency to refrain from offering an overall moral conclusion in the closing chapters of the biographies. It examines several closural devices (such as anecdotes, the aftermath of cities, literary allusions, and generalised moral statements) that are effective in drawing readers to review in retrospect moral themes and questions which matter to the book as a whole, and (in the case of the endings of the second Lives) help a neat transition to the final comparative epilogue (Synkrisis) - whenever this follows. Chapter 5 explores how the Synkriseis expose readers to the particular challenges involved in deciding an overarching concluding judgement. It also closely examines the books that (as they now stand) do not have a Synkrisis and makes the case that no 'terminal irregularity' can justify and explain any deliberate omission of their comparative epilogues. Finally, Chapter 6 focuses on Plutarch's essay On the malice of Herodotus and explores how far Plutarch's techniques in the Lives escape and how far they are vulnerable to the criticisms that Plutarch makes of Herodotus. This analysis brings together the main strands of the earlier chapters so as to illuminate further Plutarch's narrative strategies; it also discusses the possibility that Plutarch exploits the rhetorical agonistic framework of the essay in order to elicit a similar sort of attentive and acute reader response to historical narrative, as in the Lives, and to arouse awareness of the precarious act of exercising moral judgement.
Books on the topic "Plutarch. – Lives"
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Plutarch. Plutarch: Lives that made Greek history. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2012.
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Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. Ottawa: eBooksLib, 2005.
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Plutarch. Plutarch's lives. 2nd ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006.
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Plutarch. Plutarch's lives. 2nd ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006.
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Plutarch. Plutarch: The lives of the noble Grecians and Romans. New York: Modern Library, 1992.
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Plutarch's lives: Parallelism and purpose. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2010.
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Plutarch. Selections from Plutarch's Lives. St. Petersburg, Fla: Red and Black Publishers, 2009.
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Plutarch. Selections from Plutarch's Lives. St. Petersburg, Fla: Red and Black Publishers, 2009.
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Plutarch. Plutarch: Life of Kimon. London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, 1989.
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Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives of illustrious men. London: Chatto and Windus, 1988.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Plutarch. – Lives"
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Geiger, Joseph. "The Project of theParallel Lives." In A Companion to Plutarch, 292–303. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118316450.ch20.
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Sellers, M. N. S. "Plutarch’s Lives." In American Republicanism, 77–82. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1994. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13347-5_14.
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Fraser, Robert. "Biography as Representation: Plutarch’s Parallel Lives." In Palgrave Studies in Life Writing, 73–98. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35169-4_3.
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Opsomer, Jan. "Plutarch's Unphilosophical Lives: Philosophical, after All?" In Bios Philosophos. Philosophy in Ancient Greek Biography, 101–26. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/m.phr-eb.5.113198.
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Sansone, David, David Sansone, and David Sansone. "Introduction." In Plutarch: Lives of Aristeides and Cato, 1–18. Liverpool University Press, 1989. http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9780856684210.003.0001.
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of Plutarch's Lives, which represent a valuable ancient source for the more interesting periods of Greek and Roman history. However, it is not as a historian, or even as a biographer in the modern sense of the word, that Plutarch has been so highly valued. Rather, those who regard Plutarch as among the greatest of ancient authors appreciate him principally as a moralist and as a purveyor of political wisdom. To understand what kind of biography Plutarch was writing (or thought he was writing), the chapter considers what the art of biography was like in Plutarch's lifetime. Plutarch is in large measure responsible for the importation of ethical concern into the biographical genre. The chapter then looks at the Lives of Aristeides and Cato. While Cato is wholly admirable for his ability to be satisfied with the absolute minimum, his virtue is somewhat tainted, as far as Plutarch is concerned, by an excessive interest in commercial enterprise and by an obsession with money. For this reason, Aristeides is more virtuous and more nearly divine.
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Martin, Jessica. "Reading Plutarch, Writing Lives." In Walton’s Lives, 32–65. Oxford University Press, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270157.003.0002.
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Stadter, Philip A. "Plutarch’s Lives." In Plutarch and his Roman Readers, 216–30. Oxford University Press, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718338.003.0016.
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Stadter, Philip. "Plutarch and Delphi." In Plutarch's Cities, 47–58. Oxford University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192859914.003.0003.
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Chapter 2 looks at (a) Plutarch’s various roles at Delphi: as a member of the Amphictyonic council, a priest of Apollo, a citizen of Delphi, a wealthy provincial, and a Roman citizen (b) the presence of history at Delphi—especially the Roman presence—and Plutarch’s realization that Delphi’s continued prosperity was not guaranteed; (c) the divine enigmas of Delphi and Apollo’s presence, and (d) the influence of Delphi on Plutarch. It argues that Delphic art and architecture, far from being a mere tourist attraction, exercised a deep influence on Plutarch’s conception of history and the way he viewed political power, statesmanship, and the nature of heroism. It further suggests that the juxtaposition of Greek and Roman artefacts of successive periods and of statues of Greeks and of Roman generals and emperors offered Plutarch the incentive to consider larger historical and cultural issues and may have had a decisive impact his conception of the Parallel Lives.
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Jillions, John A. "Plutarch." In Divine Guidance, 113–28. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190055738.003.0008.
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Plutarch straddled the first and second century, Greece and Rome, philosophy and religion, the rational and the mystical. He was a Greek who spent many years in Rome, and he admired the combination of contemplation and action that he saw in the best examples of heroic Greek and Roman lives. He returned to serve as a priest of Delphi, overseeing the famous shrine. He understood the perils of superstition and was highly sympathetic to atheists’ rejection of the mystical world based on what they had seen of religion. Even the gods, he says, would rather not exist than be burdened with the ugly characters ascribed to them by false religion. And yet Plutarch felt that his own experience testified to the reality and beauty of the divine. He was thus equally sympathetic to those who came to Delphi with their humble requests for guidance and those willing to take initiative and action.
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Kirkland, N. Bryant. "Parallel Authors." In Herodotus and Imperial Greek Literature, 105—C3.N113. Oxford University PressNew York, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197583517.003.0004.
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Abstract This chapter studies Plutarch’s On the Malice of Herodotus, in particular its framing and hermeneutic principles, and further explores ideas of ethical authorship introduced earlier in the book. It argues that Plutarch’s treatise should be contextualized within the broader weave of Plutarchan ideas on mimesis and ethos and that the Malice functions as a work of quasi-biography, of a piece with Plutarch’s Lives. Plutarch prods readers to evaluate Herodotus’s character, discernible through actions both textual and biographic, as they might judge historical figures. The chapter demonstrates that the treatise partakes of many of Plutarch’s recurrent concerns: ethical legibility, the authority of the past, and the educative capacity of literature. Plutarch’s intervention plays to his own self-presentation, making Herodotus a foil for a notion of responsible authorship.