Trevor Busch

Recent years have seen something of a renaissance of historical interest in classical history, at least on the Hollywood big screen. Films glorifying the great heroes of Greek and Roman history — mythological, real, or fictional — have been a part of the cinematic tableau.
In the first century A.D., glorifying the past through theatre and historical accounts had also become a high art. Epic poets like Virgil had been contracted to create semi-mythical origins for the Roman state, which was experiencing a golden age of prosperity after the disintegration of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire — growing fat on the spoils of imperial conquest and absolute hegemony through force of arms.
Born into this world was Greek historian Plutarch, and his Parallel Lives survived the Middle Ages to come down to us as fascinating expositions of the great leaders and commanders of Rome and Greece, replete with historical anecdote as well as being interesting and easily readable, even in modern translation. Plutarch’s writings were dispersed widely and were relatively easily available in the early modern era, and had a profound influence on writers and thinkers of this time period. Much of Shakespeare’s historical background for his plays Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Titus Andronicus, among others, were drawn from Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.
Unlike modern histories which often follow linear patterns, Plutarch wasn’t as concerned with historical accuracy as he was in determining the character traits and flaws of his subjects, finding out what made them tick, and arriving at motivations.
His premise, not unique among classical historians, was that individual men shaped historical events, and that their own positive or negative qualities determined their destinies. A modern translation, The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives (Penguin Books, London,1960) is a collection of Plutarch’s Greek lives, which follows the classical history of the city from its mythical beginnings with Theseus to its fall at the hands of the Spartan Lysander.
The Rise and Fall of Athens, however, is a modern grouping of Plutarch’s lives which has been created to more closely follow the Greek figures and historical accounts without confusing a modern reader their Roman parallels. In reality, Plutarch always paired a Greek life with a Roman life, attempting to draw comparisons between the history of Greece and Rome which would have been attractive to his primarily Latin audience — the Romans were proud of their own history, but they also revered that of the Greeks. When his Parallel Lives were first penned, Plutarch’s audience would have been readily familiar with the events of the past 500 years. There would have been no need to collect his lives in the manner in which they are presented here in The Rise and Fall of Athens. Today, however, a reader can appreciate the value of collecting his lives in this pattern, and in an English translation from the original Latin.
Beyond the historical aspect of the works, the Greek lives included in this volume are sweeping narratives with twists and turns and fascinating anecdotal accounts that often read like a modern adventure story — and are part of the reason why Plutarch has remained popular in the almost 2000 years that have passed since he first undertook to write his Parallel Lives.
But from a purely historical perspective, Plutarch, like a number of other classical historians, has his failings. In collecting information and historical accounts for creating his biographical Parallel Lives, again, Plutarch was interested primarily in character and determining motivations. In what would be regarded as a sin by modern historians, Plutarch began his investigations and writings with pre-conceived perceptions of what his Greek and Roman historical figures should be.
When he came across contradictory accounts or information that seemed to take away from his character construction of the individuals in question, he often ignored or discarded it, and only rarely included conflicting accounts of the same event. In other instances, modern translators and historians have often encountered historical inaccuracies in many of Plutarch’s writings, which again emphasizes his focus on character rather than dates or events.
That being said, modern readers shouldn’t be too concerned with Plutarch’s sometime lack of accuracy and his non-linear approach to historical narrative. Those who desire a factual account of classical history can look to any number of modern historical works. On the contrary, people today read Plutarch’s Parallel Lives because they are easily readable and gripping accounts of past historical figures. In this sense, Plutarch never disappoints. Those looking to delve for the first time into a primary classical work should be pleased with the result.