Plutarch’s Lives

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This anthology of Plutarch's biographies boasts an excellent and highly readable translation by two scholars of classical literature. In this volume, we hear Plutarch's accounts of several iconic figures from Greek and Roman antiquity. Nominally arranged according to their moral successes and failings of the individuals concerned, the Lives are a stunning insight into how the figures of antiquity were perceived and chronicled relatively soon after passing into history. Written in the 2nd century A.D., the Lives were distributed en masse following the invention of the printing press in the early Renaissance. As well as being compelling biography, certain accounts of rulers such as Pericles are highly regarded as secondary sources by contemporary historians. In multiple cases, Plutarch compared and contrasted several of his biographical subjects. For instance early in this volume we find comparisons between Theseus and Romulus, wherein their morals, characteristics and actions are examined.