Would Plutarch be considered a historian by modern standards?

No. Plutarch would not be considered a historian from the modern standard of academic or professional history. 

Is Plutarch a reliable historian?

Leaning toward the sensational, Plutarch nevertheless relied on available sources for every thing he wrote. He made nothing up himself and can be considered as reliable as his source material.

Why is Plutarch a useful source?

He’s a reliable guide to what people of his time thought about motivations, and he has some charming anecdotes, but he’s far more of a character study than a rigorous historian. Shakespeare made good use of Plutarch in a number of his historical dramas, such as Julius Caesar.

What is history according to Plutarch?

Thus far it has been seen that «history» had different meanings for. Plutarch and his contemporaries, but when not thinking of history as. inquiry or research, Plutarch often regarded it as literature, works written. about the deeds of famous individuals. In Nicias , for example, he relies.

Is Plutarch a primary source for Alexander the Great?

Since Plutarch wrote around 100 A.D., over 400 years after Alexander, he can hardly be considered a primary source. At the same time, he appears to have been very careful in his research, and may be the best source now extant.

What type of philosopher was Plutarch?

Platonist philosopher

Plutarch of Chaeronea in Boeotia (ca. 45–120 CE) was a Platonist philosopher, best known to the general public as author of his “Parallel Lives” of paired Greek and Roman statesmen and military leaders.

Is Plutarch a primary source for Julius Caesar?

STC 20067 About this source: Plutarch’s Lives was William Shakespeare’s primary source for the play “Julius Caesar.” This excerpt come from the life of Julius Caesar and tells about Decius Brutus coming to Caesar’s home.

What can we learn from Plutarch?

Plutarch provided lessons about the relation of virtue to happiness and about both the glories and the pitfalls of popular government. Plutarch assumed that the world, by and large, made sense; it was something that could be usefully investigated.

What sources does Plutarch use?

Plutarch mainly relied on secondary sources (in his work he quotes from 250 different writers) and is often guilty of making serious factual errors. One of the main themes in his work was that Greeks should co-operate with their Roman rulers.



How do you reference Plutarch?

Citation Data

  1. MLA. Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives : Translated from the Original Greek, with Notes, Critical and Historical, and a Life of Plutarch.
  2. APA. Plutarch. ( 1859).
  3. Chicago. Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives : Translated from the Original Greek, with Notes, Critical and Historical, and a Life of Plutarch.


Where did Plutarch get his sources from?

Plutarch mainly relied on secondary sources (in his work he quotes from 250 different writers) and is often guilty of making serious factual errors. One of the main themes in his work was that Greeks should co-operate with their Roman rulers.

Did Plutarch believe in God?

Not only did Plutarch as a priest and politician advance the phenomenon in Delphi, but several of his writings indicate a great appreciation of the gods and the reality of their influence2. He was a religious person and committed everything to the purpose of his god3.



For what work is the Greek biographer Plutarch best known?

the Parallel Lives

Plutarch’s best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices, thus it being more of an insight into human nature than a historical account.

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