The Plutarch Podcast
Tom Cox from grammaticus.co explores Plutarch’s Parallel Lives to introduce you to antiquity, encourage you in your education, or refresh your perspective on people and politics by stepping outside the news cycle. Biography invigorates the study of history by bringing it to life. Plutarch was the first master of this form, examining in a person the relationship between fortune, virtue, and excellence. Whether you just want to study antiquity from your armchair, sit at the feet of the greatest teachers of the West, or expand your own classical education, Plutarch’s Parallel Lives and the podcast are here to serve. Plutarch wrote almost 50 lives exploring the greatest leaders of the Greek and Roman world before Christ. His lives have been foundational to education for centuries, but they are often wrapped in the obscurity of older translations or bog the reader down with specific political and social terms from Athens or Rome. Let Tom translate the jargon and enliven the journey by outlining and explaining each essay encouraging you to dive in and learn from the teacher himself, or guide your students through his essays. Whether you learn or teach in a classroom or at home, join Plutarch—and Tom—in examining what it means to live well, by considering those who have lived before us.
Episodes
Full Show Notes
Greek Parallel - Timoleon
Important People
Perseus - A tyrannical Macedonian leader who acts as a foil to Aemilius's virtues. They are like parallel lines running in opposite directions, even down to their family lives.
Tubero - An obscure character worth keeping an eye on. Raised in a frugal, Roman home supporting Roman virtue, he rises to a trusted position in Aemilius’s army and continue...
Full Show Notes - https://plutarch.life/titus-flamininus/
Greek Parallel - Philopoemen
Important People
Philip V - The second-to-last Macedonian king because the Romans play fair in this generation and allow Philip to remain on the throne even after soundly defeating him in battle twice. Philip also has to give up over-lordship of Greece which allows Titus to declare them free.
Antiochus III - Antiochus swoops ...
Full Show Notes
Roman Parallel – Titus Flamininus
Important People
Epaminondas – A personal hero of Philopoemen’s; he can imitate him in nearly everything except his calmness (cf. Section 3). Epaminondas sets a high water mark for Theban military and political power which Philopoemen is not able to replicate with Megalopolis.
Nabis – Spartan tyrant
Machanidas – Spartan tyrant who dies in an epic one-v-one ag...
Full Show Notes for Plutarch's Life of Cleomenes
Roman Parallel - Tiberius Gracchus
Important People
Aratus - The same Aratus from the last life, but older and more experienced now. Between Aratus, Cleomenes, and Philopoemen, it becomes clear that the Greeks themselves are the architects of their own undoing. None of these three men cooperates with the other and this dissension makes easy target ...
Important People
Lycurgus - ancient lawgiver, whose biography Plutarch also wrote, and to whom everyone refers constantly in this life as the original set of laws they are trying to hearken back to.
Leonidas - one of two kings of Sparta (along with Agis, the protagonist of this life) who first secretly and then openly resists and thwarts Agis’s reforms at every turn.
Lysander - Not the Lysander who was a contemporary of ...
Pelopidas Show Notes
Marcellus Show Notes
How do these two hasty generals compare? Who had the greater victories? Who had the greater flaws? What lessons are there for us over two centuries later?
Marcellus - Rome's Sword Against Hannibal
Parallel - Pelopidas
Important People
Archimedes (sections 15-17; 19)
Important Places
Nola - A small settlement near Naples.
Tarentum -The Greek colony that had called Pyrrhus over to help them fight the Romans about eighty years before this Second Punic War. They switch sides several times, but their location on the spur of the calf of Italy makes them strategically...
Full Show Notes: https://plutarch.life/fabius
Greek Parallel - Pericles
Important People
Terentius Varro - Mastermind of Cannae, survivor of the same battle, much to his shame.
Marcellus - The sword to Fabius’s shield. Marcellus, whose life Plutarch also wrote, and Fabius together kept the Romans in their war against Hannibal without shameful or crippling setbacks.
Scipio (Africanus) - The young and amb...
Full Show Notes for Camillus - Noble Roman Dictator
Greek Parallel - Themistocles
No Extant Parallel Essay - :(
Important People
Brennus - Gallic chieftan, unscrupulous and forceful, but without much character development as Plutarch did for other villains (see, for example, Alexander of Pherae's character development in the Life of Pelopidas or Dionysius II's tyrannical character as developed in the L...
So how do Coriolanus and Alcibiades actually compare? One seems like an angry fireball of revenge, the other a self-serving but talented chameleon. Coriolanus couldn't care less about his reputation, but wants the excellence that lives up to his own standard. Alcibiades can accept anyone's standards of behavior... as long as there is something in it for him. How do these two very different men stand in their...
https://plutarch.life/coriolanus
Greek Parallel - Alcibiades
Important People
Volumnia - Coriolanus’s mother and, because his father died young, the woman on whom Coriolanus will pour all his filial piety.
Tullus Aufidius - The leader of the Volscians against the Romans. When Coriolanus switches sides, it is Tullus who is eclipsed.
The Senate - Yes, the Senate acts as a character in this Life, so much so that the...
plutarch.life/pyrrhus
Pyrrhus, tempted to fight in the old Homeric style of one on one, strikes me as a man born in the wrong era. With the rise of the Macedonian phalanx, his tactical brilliance sees some success but his personal appetite for risk and voracious craving for the next adventure over the horizon cause him to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too many times in his life.
From Fabric...
Roman Parallel - Marius (157-86 BC)
Important People
- Demetrius (337-283) - Neighbor and even, for a time, brother-in-law. Son of Antigonus I and father of Antigonus II, Demetrius rules in Greece, Macedon (for seven years), Asia Minor but was ultimately conquered by Seleucus and imprisoned until he died of his own drinking habit.
- Cassander (355-297) - Son of Antipater, who had served as regent of Macedon during Alexan...
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/demetrius
Roman Parallel: Mark Antony (83-30 BC)
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Key Vices and Virtues
- Luxury or Softness (τρυφή) - At first, Demetrius seems to have control over this vice, but it turns out that it’s a symptom of a larger lack of self-contr...
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/phocion
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Roman Parallel - Cato the Younger (95–46 BC)
Phocion was three years old when Socrates died in 399 and then lives through the reigns of Philip, Alexander, and dies under Cassander's takeover of Athens. Though less w...
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/eumenes
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Key Virtues and Vices
- Bravery (ἀνδρεῖος) - Eumenes, in spite of being the head secretary, is no pencil pusher. Plutarch wants to emphasize this even from the beginning. His education in and prowess in wrest...
Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/alexander
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Key Virtues and Vices
Generosity (μεγαλόδωρος) - When his wealth becomes nearly in...
Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/alexander
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Important People
-Bucephalus - Yes, a horse is an important character! Fi...
Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.
Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/timoleon
Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com
Important People
Timophanes - Timoleon’s brother and the first tyrant we meet in this story. ...
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