Parallel Lives

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Parallel Lives

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biographies

Biography

A biography is a description of someone's life, usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography by the same person it is about....
of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. The surviving Parallel Lives (in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: Bioi parallèloi), as they are more properly and commonly known, contain twenty-three pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
and one Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, as well as four unpaired, single lives.

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Encyclopedia

Plutarch

Biography

Greek language

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, as well as four unpaired, single lives. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals biographized, but also about the times in which they lived.

As he explains in the first paragraph of his Life of Alexander, Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, as such, but in exploring the influence of character—good or bad—on the lives and destinies of famous men. The first pair of Lives—the Epaminondas

Epaminondas

Epaminondas was a Thebes, Greece general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece polis of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics....
-Scipio Africanus

Scipio Africanus

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus also known as Scipio Africanus, Scipio the Elder, and Africanus the Elder was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic....
—no longer exists, and many of the remaining lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae

Lacuna (manuscripts)

A lacuna is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work.The state of old manuscripts or inscriptions which have weathered or been damaged sometimes gives rise to lacunae ? passages consisting of a word or words that are missing or illegible....
and/or have been tampered with by later writers.

His Life of Alexander is one of the five surviving secondary

Secondary source

In library and information science, historiography and other areas of scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere....
or tertiary sources about Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
and it includes anecdotes and descriptions of incidents that appear in no other source. Likewise, his portrait of Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius , according to legend, was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. After Romulus died, Romans in the city elected a Sabine man to be king, so as to make him loyal to both tribes in Rome....
, an early Roman king, also contains unique information about the early Roman calendar

Roman calendar

The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or 'pre-Julian' calendars....
.

Biographies

Plutarch structured his Lives by alternating lives of famous Greeks ("Grecians") with those of famous Romans. After such a set of two (and one set of four) lives he generally writes out a comparison of the preceding biographies.

The table below links to several on-line English translations of Plutarch's Lives; see also "Other links" section below. The LacusCurtius site has the complete set; the others are incomplete to varying extents.

D Dryden

John Dryden

John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of English Restoration to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden....
is famous for having lent his name as editor-in-chief to the first complete English translation of Plutarch's Lives. This 17th century translation is available at .

These translations are linked with D in the table below; those marked (D) in parentheses are incomplete in the HTML version.

G Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works, as founder Michael Hart said "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."....
contains several versions of 19th century translations of these Lives, see: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=342 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14114

The full text version (TXT

TXT

TXT or txt may refer to:* Text messaging on a phone using letters and symbols.* .txt, a filename extension for text files* SMS language or txt, an Internet slang language commonly used on short message service phones...
) of the English poet, Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough was an England poet, and the brother of Anne Clough....
's translation is available (via download) at .

These translations are linked with G in the table below.

L LacusCurtius

LacusCurtius

LacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in January 2008 it had "2786 pages, 690 photos, 675 drawings & engravings, 118 plans, 66 maps."...
has the Loeb

Loeb

Loeb may refer to:* Loeb , a Canadian chain of supermarket/grocery stores* Loeb's , a fine specialty department store* Loeb Classical Library, a series of books containing the works of Greek and Latin authors with the original text and the English translation on facing pages....
translation by Bernadotte Perrin (published 1914-1926) of part of the Moralia and all the Lives; see http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/home.html

These translations are linked with L in the table below.

P Also the Perseus Project

Perseus Project

The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University that assembles digital collections of humanities resources. It is hosted by the Department of Classics....
has several of the Lives, see: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html

The Lives available on the Perseus website are in Greek and English according to the Loeb

Loeb

Loeb may refer to:* Loeb , a Canadian chain of supermarket/grocery stores* Loeb's , a fine specialty department store* Loeb Classical Library, a series of books containing the works of Greek and Latin authors with the original text and the English translation on facing pages....
edition by Bernadotte Perrin; and/or in English according to an abbreviated version of the Thomas North

Thomas North

Sir Thomas North was an England translator of Plutarch, second son of the Edward North, 1st Baron North....
translations. This last edition concentrates on those of the Lives Shakespeare based his plays upon: Thomas North's translation of most of the Lives, based on a French version published in the 16th century, preceded Dryden's translation mentioned above.

These translations are linked with P in the table below.

There are also four paperbacks published by Penguin Books

Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a United Kingdom publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Lane's idea was to provide quality writing cheaply, for the same price as a pack of cigarettes....
, two with Greek lives, two Roman, rearranged in chronological order, and containing a total of 36 of the lives.

Greek

#Theseus

Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra , and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night....

#Lycurgus
#Solon

Solon

Solon was an Athens statesman, lawmaker, and lyric poetry. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic period in Greece Athens....

#Themistocles

Themistocles

Themistocles was an Ancient Athens soldier and statesman. As archon in 493 BC, he convinced the Athenians that a powerful fleet was needed to protect them against the Persians....

#Pericles

Pericles

Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of History of Athens during the city's Age of Pericles?specifically, the time between the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War wars....

#Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides , was a prominent History of Athens statesman, oratory, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War....

#Timoleon

Timoleon

Timoleon , son of Timodemus, of Corinth was a Greek statesman and general.As the champion of Greece against Carthage he is closely connected with the history of Sicily, especially Syracuse, Italy....

#Pelopidas

Pelopidas

Pelopidas was a Thebes, Greece statesman and general.He was a member of a distinguished family, and possessed great wealth which he expended on his friends, while content to lead the life of an athlete....

#Aristides

Aristides

Aristides or Aristeides was an Athenian soldier and statesman. He was one of the 10 commanders against the Persian Empire in the Battle of Marathon under Miltiades the Younger....

#Philopoemen

Philopoemen

Philopoemen , was a skilled Ancient Greece general and statesman, who was Achaean League Strategos on eight occasions.From the time he was appointed as strategos in 209 BC, Philopoemen helped turn the Achaean League into an important military power in Greece....

#Pyrrhus

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greeks general of the Hellenistic civilization. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became King of Epirus and Macedon ....

#Lysander

Lysander

Lysander was a Spartan General and the commander of the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which was victorious against the Ancient Athens at battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC....

#Cimon
#Nicias

Nicias

Nicias or Nikias was an Ancient Athens politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt....

#Eumenes

Eumenes

Eumenes of Cardia was a ancient Greece general and scholar. He participated in the wars of the Diadochi as a supporter of the Macedonian Argead dynasty royal house....

#Agesilaus

Agesilaus II

Agesilaus II, or Agesilaos II was a king of Sparta, of the Eurypontid dynasty, ruling from approximately 400 BC to 360 BC, during most of which time he was, in Plutarch's words, "as good as thought commander and king of all Greece," and was for the whole of it greatly identified with his country's deeds and fortunes....

#Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Phocion

Phocion was an Athens statesman and strategos, and the subject of one of Plutarch's Parallel Lives.Phocion was a successful politician of Athens....

#Agis

Agis IV

Agis IV , the elder son of Eudamidas II, was the 24th king of the Kings of Sparta dynasty of Sparta. Posterity has reckoned him an idealistic but impractical monarch....
and Cleomenes

Cleomenes III

Cleomenes III was the Kings of Sparta from 235-222 BC. He succeeded to the Agiad throne of Sparta after his father, Leonidas II in 235 BC.From 229 BC to 222 BC, Cleomenes waged war against the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon....

#Demosthenes

Demosthenes

Demosthenes was a prominent Greeks statesman and orator of History of Athens. His oratorys constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC....

#Demetrius

Demetrius I of Macedon

Demetrius I , called Poliorcetes , son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Stratonice , was a king of Macedon . He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty....

#Dion
#Aratus

Aratus of Sicyon

Aratus was a statesman of the ancient Greece city-state of Sicyon in the 3rd century BC. He deposed the Sicyon tyrant Nicocles in 251 BC. Aratus was an advocate of Greek unity and brought Sicyon into the Achaean League, which he led to its maximum extent....
and Artaxerxes

Roman

* Romulus

Romulus

Romulus may refer to any of these articles:...

* Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Marcus Furius Camillus

Marcus Furius Camillus was a Roman soldier and statesman of plebian descent. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus Roman Triumph four times, was five times Roman dictator, and was honoured with the title of Second Founder of Rome....

* Fabius Maximus

Fabius Maximus

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator , was a Roman politician and general, born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was Roman Consul five times and was twice Roman Dictator in 221 and again in 217 BC....

* Coriolanus

Coriolanus

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a possibly legendary ancient Rome general who lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymy title "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli....

* Aemilius Paulus
* Marcellus

Marcus Claudius Marcellus

Marcus Claudius Marcellus , five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War....

* Cato the Elder

Cato the Elder

Marcus Porcius Cato was a Ancient Rome statesman, surnamed the Censor , the Wise , the Ancient , or the Elder , to distinguish him from Cato the Younger ....

* Flamininus

Titus Quinctius Flamininus

File:Quinctius_Flamininus.jpgTitus Quinctius Flamininus was a Roman Republic politician and general instrumental in the Roman conquest of Greece....

* Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman Republic general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic Marian Reforms of Roman legion, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens and reorganizing the structure of the legions into separate Cohort ....

* Sulla
* Lucullus

Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus , is one of the canonical great men of Roman history, always included in the biographical collections of leading generals and politicians, two of which survive today despite the slender surviving literature from the antiquity....

* Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman Republic general and politician who commanded Sulla's decisive victory at Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the Slavery revolt led by Spartacus and entered into a secret pact, known as the First Triumvirate, with Pompey and Julius Caesar....

* Sertorius
* Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....

* Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

* Cato the Younger

Cato the Younger

File:Silver_denarius_of_Cato_47_46_BCE.jpgMarcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoicism philosophy....

* Tiberius Gracchus

Tiberius Gracchus

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Ancient Rome politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a tribune, he caused political turmoil in the Roman Republic by his attempts to legislate agrarian reforms....

and Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Ancient Rome politician of the 2nd century BC. He was the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus and, like him, pursued a popular political agenda that ultimately ended in his death....

* Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Ancient Rome philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Constitution of the Roman Republic. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest rhetoric and prose stylists....

* Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....

* Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus

File:Portrait Brutus Massimo.jpgMarcus Junius Brutus or Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman Senate of the late Roman Republic....

* Galba

Galba

Servius Sulpicius Galba , also called Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus, was Roman Emperor from June 8, 68 until his death. He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors....
and Otho

Otho

For other uses, see Otho .Marcus Salvius Otho , also called Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus, was Roman Emperors from 15 January to 16 April 69, the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors....

Comparisons

*
*
*
* (N/A)
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (N/A)
*
*
*
*
*
* (N/A)
* (N/A)
*

*
*
*
* (N/A)

Notes

The last line of the table contains the four "unpaired" lives, as mentioned above.
The Perseus project also contains a biography of Caesar Augustus appearing in the North translation, but not coming from Plutarch's Parallel Lives:
Though the majority of the Parallel Lives were written with the Greek hero (or heroes) placed in the first position followed by the Roman hero, there are three sets of Lives where this order is reversed : Aemilius Paulus-Timoleon, Coriolanus-Alcibiades and Sertorius-Eumenes.
At the time of composing this table there appears some confusion in the internal linking of the Perseus project webpages, responsible for this split in two references.

Chronology of the lives (by date of death, birthdate is often uncertain)

All dates are BC except Galba and Otho.

Theseus 1234 – 1204 (myth)
Romulus 771 – 717 (myth)
Numa Pompilius d. 673 (thought to be mythical)
Lycurgus circa 700 – 630 (thought to be mythical)
Solon 638 – 558
Poplicola d. 503
Coriolanus c. 475 (thought to be mythical)
Aristides 530 – 468
Themistocles 524- 459
Cimon 510 – 450
Pericles 495 - 429
Artaxerxes d. 424
Nicias 470 – 413
Alcibiades 450 - 404
Lysander d. 395
Camillus 446 - 365
Pelopidas d. 364
Agesilaus 444 – 360
Dion 408 - 354
Timoleon 411 - 337
Alexander the Great 356 - 323
Demosthenes 384 - 322
Phocion 402 – 318
Eumenes 362 - 316
Demetrius d. 283
Pyrrhus 318 - 272
Agis c. 245
Cleomenes d. 219
Aratus 271 – 213
Marcellus 268 - 208
Fabius Maximus 275 – 203
Philopoemen 253 - 183
Flamininus 228 - 174
Aemilius Paulus 229-160
Cato the Elder 234 – 149
Tiberius Gracchus 163 - 132
Gaius Gracchus 154 - 121
Gaius Marius 157 - 86
Sulla 138 - 78
Sertorius b. c. 123 – d. 72
Lucullus 118 - 56
Crassus 115 - 53
Pompey 106 - 48
Cato the Younger 95 – 46
Julius Caesar 100 or 102 - 44
Cicero 106 – 43
Brutus 85 – 42
Mark Antony 83 - 30
Galba 3 BC – 69 AD
Otho 32 AD – 69 AD

External links

- Free E-book in PDF format.