Who was Plutarch and what did he do?
L. Mestrius Plutarchus, better known simply as Plutarch, was a Greek writer and philosopher who lived between c. 45-50 CE and c. 120-125 CE. A prodigious and hugely influential writer, he is now most famous for his biographical works in his Parallel Lives which present an entertaining history of some of the most significant figures from antiquity.
When was Plutarch’s Moralia translated into English?
Plutarch’s Lives were translated into English, from Amyot’s version, by Sir Thomas North in 1579. The complete Moralia was first translated into English from the original Greek by Philemon Holland in 1603.
How many pairs of Parallel Lives does Plutarch have?
Plutarch’s best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives.
Who are the Roman emperors that Plutarch wrote about?
Plutarch’s first biographical works were the Lives of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Vitellius. Of these, only the Lives of Galba and Otho survive. The Lives of Tiberius and Nero are extant only as fragments, provided by Damascius (Life of Tiberius, cf.
Top Questions. Plutarch was a Greek biographer and author born in the 1st century CE whose works strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century.
How many books did Plutarch write and when did he die?
Plutarch, Greek Plutarchos, Latin Plutarchus, (born 46 ce, Chaeronea, Boeotia [Greece]—died after 119 ce ), biographer and author whose works strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century. Among his approximately 227 works,…
How is the Order of the lives of Plutarch determined?
Internal evidence suggests that the Lives were composed in Plutarch’s later years, but the order of composition can be only partially determined; the present order is a later rearrangement based largely on the chronology of the Greek subjects, who are placed first in each pair.