The Plutarch Podcast

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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.  A...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 dissensi...

Send us Fan Mail 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 - N...

Send us Fan Mail 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? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail Fabius Show Notes Pericles Show Notes Support the show

Send us Fan Mail 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 (African...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 hi...

Send us Fan Mail 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 serv...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 ta...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 i...

Send us Fan Mail 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! Fie...

Send us Fan Mail 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 t...

Send us Fan Mail 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/dion Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing . Use coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% and free shipping in the US and Canada. Important People Dionysius I (the elder) - Tyrant of Syracuse taking power shortly after the Pelo...

Send us Fan Mail Human sacrifice, debauched tyrants, and The Sacred Band of Thebes are all woven together in Plutarch's Life of Pelopidas, friend of Epaminondas and great Theban general. Full show notes: https://plutarch.life/pelopidas Important People Epaminondas - Best friend of Pelopidas and philosopher-soldier-statesman of Thebes, Epaminondas is best known for his work on the battlefield...

Send us Fan Mail Full Show Notes: https://plutarch.life/agesilaus Important People Agis II - The Spartan king and older brother of Agesilaus who led Sparta during most of the latter half of the Peloponnesian War. After his death around 398 BC, the Spartans must decide whether his son, whose father could be Alcibiades, has a legitimate claim to the throne or whether they should grant the kingship t...

Send us Fan Mail This wily Spartan commander defeated Athens, and his authority even eclipses that of the Spartan kings. Did Lysander corrupt the Spartans with luxury? Important People Spartans Agesilaus Callicratidas Gylippus Persians Cyrus Pharnabazus Athenians Alcibiades Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Alcibiades fought and strategized for Athens, Sparta, Persia, Athens (again), and Thrace, proving that he fought the entire time only for himself. Was it vanity or pride? Enjoy the first truly negative portrayal Plutarch tries to give, though Plutarch in all his humanity can still defend Alcibiades from his most malicious detractors. Parallel: Coriolanus Important People Spartans:...