Plutarch

Writer / Historian

Plutarch is the most famous biographer of the ancient world and the author of a famous collection now known as Plutarch's Lives. Plutarch's original title was Parallel Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans, and that describes his unique approach: the biographies are presented in pairs, the life of one Greek contrasted with that of a similar Roman. Plutarch's subjects were statesmen, generals and public figures including Alexander the Great, Solon, Pyrrhus and Marc Antony, and together the biographies present a basic history of all Greece and Rome up to Plutarch's times. Hence Plutarch has been a favorite of scholars and schoolteachers for centuries. Plutarch's other famous work is the Morals, a collection of essays on topics ranging from religion and zoology to marriage.

Extra credit: Plutarch was for many years a priest at the famous oracle at Delphi.

Plutarch earns a brief mention in our loop Seven Horses of Highly Effective People.

Other famous historians include Herodotus, Barbara Tuchman, Pliny the Elder and Thomas Carlyle.