Plutarch

Born in Chaeronea in Boeotia around AD 46 and active into the early 2nd century, Plutarch was a Greek writer, philosopher, and priest at Delphi. Ancient sources and modern reference works describe him as deeply involved in public and religious life as well as literature, which helps explain the practical, human tone of his writing.

He is most famous for the Parallel Lives, a series that sets Greek and Roman figures side by side to explore character, virtue, ambition, and failure. He also wrote the Moralia, a wide-ranging collection of essays and speeches on ethics, religion, politics, and everyday conduct.

Plutarch was less interested in strict chronology than in what a life could teach. That approach made his work enormously influential: later historians, essayists, and dramatists—including Shakespeare—drew on him for stories, moral reflection, and memorable portraits of great figures.