Plutarch

Athens was famous for being the purest, most extreme form of democracy in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The constitution of Athens progressed in time moving from harsh laws, as written by Draco, to more lenient once. However, the Athenian Constitution was not written down on a piece of paper; according to Roderick T. Long it was ‘to speak of the way the Athenian policy was constituted, i.e., what the structure of the political system was.’ Yet despite this, The Athenian constitution has…

Many people have many different opinions on different people. One person that fits under this category is Alexander the Great. Some people think that he was not a good ruler and others believe that Alexander the Great was a great leader. Based on the documents, Alexander the Great was a great leader because he is prepared, genuine, and was fair to his people. To start, Alexander the Great was known to be prepared. If something ever changed, he knew what to do. For example, in The Campaigns of…

learnt the importance of recognising Rome. This resulted in her political and personal ambition to restore glory of Ptolemaic Empire and secure Egypt for the thrones of her descendants, a motivation that was evident throughout her ruling. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra could speak 9 languages including Egyptian, Hebrew, Mecedes, Syrians, Ethiopians and Parthians, being able to “pass from one language to another”. This assisted her in diplomatic and mercantile negotiation, which would…

Although Gaius Julius Caesar was a brilliant man who did many things to benefit the people of Rome, the conspirators were completely justified in the decision to assassinate him. Towards the end of his life and political career, Caesar became a tyrannical and dictatorial man who violated widely accepted values of being a just ruler. He seemed to desire copious amounts of power which could not be granted by following the rules. An example of this would be the fact that he appointed himself…

Shakespeare invented great words, phrases, and terms. His plays are considered the best of the english language. He is famous for his plays Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. Some things that impacted Shakespeare were other writers such as plutarch (46-120 AD) and Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400). These writers influenced S. Also traveling made an impact on him because he learned other things and met many new people. He influenced people with his plays, and taught people a new form of…

In second century Italy life all around was changing socially, economically, and politically due to war expansion. Socially, early Romans liked to think they were hardworking famers living in a society in which family mattered. People strived to be a moral member of society and liked the think of continuity of generation to generation of gilding family members. Before the Punic Wars, most families owned farms in which they depended on. Families used the labor of clients, tenants and hired…

Democracy was a revolutionary development of the Ancient Greek society; it was an innovative idea which gave the citizens of Ancient Greece the freedom to participate in the governmental system and contribute in the processes and decisions, this in turn helped Ancient Greece succeed politically and economically. This democratic society, not only helped Greece succeed in the Mediterranean region, but also influenced modern day society in relation to our democratic system. The Ancient Greeks…

The Roman republic was formed on the backbone of having a formidable army, consisting of several legions that pooled their numbers from all parts of the Republic. The sheer size of the Roman army, approximately 300,000 soldiers, made them unrivalled in the region. This numerical superiority significantly aided them in their conquests, leading to victories more often than not. The triumphant conquest of territories strengthened the power of Rome’s ruling elites, and brought about an increase in…

dead, Antony was, in theory at least, the most powerful man in Rome.” After returning to Egypt to check on her dynasty, Antony summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus in 41 BCE. Once again, we see Cleopatra use beauty to form an alliance with Marc Antony. As Plutarch wrote, “she was going to visit Antony at the very time when women have the most brilliant beauty and are at the acme of intellectual power.” She was so beautiful that “Antony the triumvir was reduced to the uncertainty of a naive boy,…

The image that the Spartan’s projected of their society painted them as a fearsome, suicidal collective to other Greeks. However, while this image is certainly rooted in truth, I take Spartan society to be more complex, which may have been interpreted as a weakness and perhaps if they were seen as complex by the other Greek poleis they might not have appeared so formidable. Firstly, Jean Ducat notes that the educational system in Sparta held greater significance than any other Greek city-states…