Credible Theories
ProfileSources (3)Mentioned in (13)
Plc. 46–after 119
Person · Historical

Plutarch

Greek biographer and essayist; priest at Delphi

Born
c. 46 CE, Chaeronea, Boeotia, Greece
Died
After 119 CE
Works
Parallel Lives; Moralia (incl. On Isis and Osiris)
Office
Priest at Delphi

The Greek biographer whose Lives record a flaming silver jar falling between two armies and name Solon's Egyptian teachers.

What is Plutarch known for?

Plutarch was a Greek writer from Chaeronea in Boeotia who served as a priest at Delphi. His Parallel Lives pair biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, and his Moralia collects essays on ethics, religion, politics and natural questions. About 227 works are attributed to him, and he strongly influenced European biography and essay writing from the Renaissance on.

Several of his works matter for this site. His Life of Lucullus, written around 100 CE, reports that in 73 BCE, as Roman and Pontic armies were about to engage in Phrygia, the sky burst open and a huge flame-like body shaped like a wine jar and the color of molten silver fell between them, and both sides withdrew. He presents it as an omen.

His Life of Solon names the Egyptian priests Solon studied with, Psenophis of Heliopolis and Sonchis of Sais. In On Isis and Osiris he describes Persian dualism, naming Oromazes and Areimanius (Ahura Mazda and Ahriman). Historians value him as a careful collector, while noting he wrote moral biography rather than critical history.

Why it is on Credible Theories

He is the source for the silver jar at Lucullus' battle, Solon's Egyptian teachers, and an early Greek description of Ahriman.

Mentioned on these pages

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Plutarch'Reference
  2. Plutarch, Life of Lucullus (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius)Primary text
  3. Wikipedia, 'Plutarch'Reference

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