The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives

Rating:
Summary: Good translation, good read.
Review: I'm reading this translation for a class on 5th century BC Greece. I find Plutarch a fun writer with his emphasis on the moral behavior of his subjects, even when some of them (such as Themistocles) are not moral at all. This is also a very good translation, as Penguin is known for.

Rating:
Summary: Good translation, good read.
Review: I'm reading this translation for a class on 5th century BC Greece. I find Plutarch a fun writer with his emphasis on the moral behavior of his subjects, even when some of them (such as Themistocles) are not moral at all. This is also a very good translation, as Penguin is known for.

Rating:
Summary: Good translation weak commentary
Review: Penguin Classics have gone up in price I see with this new copy -- ah, well, such is publishing it seems. Plutarch was writing in the Roman world so his view of the lives of nine important Athenians is a bit different than their comtempories. The lives examined inclue Theseus (perhaps more legend than history), Solon (also a tad more legend than history), Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lysander. There are two descent maps -- one of the Aegean and one of mainland Greece. The book could really use an index and better footnotes or commentary frankly to be of great use to anyone not just reading it for a introductory level course dealing with Athens or the Archaic and Classical Greek world.

Rating:
Summary: Good translation weak commentary
Review: Penguin Classics have gone up in price I see with this new copy -- ah, well, such is publishing it seems. Plutarch was writing in the Roman world so his view of the lives of nine important Athenians is a bit different than their comtempories. The lives examined inclue Theseus (perhaps more legend than history), Solon (also a tad more legend than history), Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lysander. There are two descent maps -- one of the Aegean and one of mainland Greece. The book could really use an index and better footnotes or commentary frankly to be of great use to anyone not just reading it for a introductory level course dealing with Athens or the Archaic and Classical Greek world.

Rating:
Summary: Plutarch on Athens
Review: While categorized as more of a biographer than a historian, Plutarch is nevertheless one of the most often-cited scholars of antiquity. In Plutarch we gaze at history through the lens of the great avatars of history. This is actually preferable in many ways to Plutarch's original organization. As Plutarch's method was to teach on ethics via the lives of great men, he would write parallel lives of famous Greeks & Romans. Many times the similarities would be stretched and occasionally merely artifical.

Penguin Classics has broken up Plutarch's LIVES into several different books, each focused on a particular historical genre. The current one places its emphasis on Athens. The book covers 7 Athenians (Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades), 1 mythological figure (Theseus) and 1 Spartan (Lysander).

The inclusion of Lysander is due to the fact that Lysander was the primary instrument by which the Spartans conquered the Athenians in 404BCE. Athens would never again be a major player on the world stage, so the section on Lysander's life is one of transitions.

All of the essays in this book are the standard by which contemporary historians write on the world of ancient Greece. That makes this book a must for persons who are even remotely interested in classical history. Even if you were to only read one book on the Greeks, this one might be the one to grab. The book is THAT influential.