Roman History

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Analysis of Plutarch Parallel Lives
Source Critique
Parallel Lives are a collection of work by Plutarch is the best known, and include a compilation of biographies of great Roman and Greek figures. Plutarch lived approximately five hundred years after the death of most of the people he penned down their biographies. He had gained access to a number sources, although all these have been lost, and they included Cleitharchus, the Royal Diary, Aristobulus, Ptolemy, Callisthenes, and Onesicritus. Moreover, there were claims that he read different letters by Alexander and other high public officials; however, there was no proof that the letters were genuine. The sources were unreliable, and Plutarch had full knowledge that the sources were erratic, and there were complains that time clouds the truth that existed in the past, and contemporary writers mask and shape truth out of adulation and malevolence. Throughout the translations of the works, it is quite noticeable that Plutarch relies on phase it is said to advise his readers in areas that he was unsure on the credibility of the source and story.
Several history experts agree that the work remains the best-known and surviving source of the historical figures, and throughout the time they were published they provided new information to people thought existed only through myth. The works show Plutarch’s interests in history, having a defined character (Plutarch…