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Author

Plutarch

46–120

6 non-fiction

Plutarch was a Greek biographer and moral essayist whose Parallel Lives shaped later understanding of Greek and Roman leaders.

Plutarch lived under the Roman Empire and wrote in Greek. His Parallel Lives pair Greek and Roman statesmen, soldiers and rulers, while the Moralia collects essays on ethics, religion, education and cultural practice.

For the site, Plutarch is one of the most useful Classical authors because many historical novelists draw on his portraits of Alexander, Caesar, Antony, Cicero, Brutus and others. His work bridges biography, moral judgement and narrative history.

Periods and events

Athenian Democracy508–322 BCE Caesar’s Civil War49–45 BCE Classical Greece480–323 BCE Imperial Rome27 BCE–476 CE Late Roman Republic133–27 BCE Spartac. 700–371 BCE Sullan Civil War and Proscriptions88–81 BCE

Non-fiction

Non-fiction by Plutarch (6 books)

Reference works, biographies and other non-fiction are kept separate from the historical fiction above.

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