* Plutarch writes his Parallel Lives of Famous Men ( in Greek Βίοι Παράλληλοι ) containing fifty biographies, of which 46 are presented as pairs comparing Greek and Roman celebrities — for example Theseus and Romulus, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, Demosthenes and Cicero.

In it he writes of Isis, describing her as: " a goddess exceptionally wise and a lover of wisdom, to whom, as her name at least seems to indicate, knowledge and understanding are in the highest degree appropriate ..." and that the statue of Athena ( Plutarch says " whom they believe to be Isis ") in Sais carried the inscription " I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered.

Additionally, painters, artists and historians of the 19th century portrayed Cleopatra as applying the asp to her breast even though the most reliable source, Plutarch, writes that she was bitten on the arm.

Plutarch writes that Epimenides purified Athens after the pollution brought by the Alcmeonidae, and that the seer's expertise in sacrifices and reform of funeral practices were of great help to Solon in his reform of the Athenian state.

In his Life of Marius, Plutarch writes that Marius's return to power was a particularly brutal and bloody one, saying that the consul's " anger increased day by day and thirsted for blood, kept on killing all whom he held in any suspicion whatsoever.

Plutarch writes that " whenever anybody else greeted Marius and got no salutation or greeting in return, this of itself was a signal for the man's slaughter in the very street, so that even the friends of Marius, to a man, were full of anguish and horror whenever they drew near to greet him.

Information regarding the life of Demetrius are drawn mainly from inscription as only Plutarch writes of him, in Life of Aratus, and Polybius makes scarce mentions of him.

Plutarch writes that the Romans rampaged through the city, taking much of the plunder and artwork they could find.

Plutarch writes that according to some Janus was a Greek from Perrhebia.

Plutarch writes that Xenocrates once attempted to find the total number of syllables that could be made from the letters of the alphabet.

Plutarch writes of how Gaius removed a law that disgraced Marcus Octavius, the tribune whom Tiberius had deposed, because Cornelia asked him to remove it.

Plutarch also writes that Cornelia may have helped Gaius undermine the power of the consul Opimius by hiring foreign harvesters to help provide resistance.

Plutarch writes that Gaius stated:

Plutarch writes:

Plutarch writes in his biography of Artaxerxes II that Mithridates, sentenced to die in this manner in 401 BC for boasting about killing Cyrus the Younger, survived 17 days before dying.

Plutarch writes Roman Questions as a series of questions and answers.

First, individual freedom was restricted, since as Plutarch writes " no man was allowed to live as he wished ", but as in a " military camp " all were engaged in the public service of their polis.

By the time Plutarch writes about Egypt, even Lycurgus has visited the place.

However, this point is controversial since Plutarch writes that eight generations of kings of Pontus stemmed from him before Roman subjection.

In much the same way, we recognize the importance of Shakespeare's familarity with Plutarch and Montaigne, of Shelley's study of Plato's dialogues, and of Coleridge's enthusiastic plundering of the writings of many philosophers and theologians from Plato to Schelling and William Godwin, through which so many abstract ideas were brought to the attention of English men of letters.

However, Plutarch indicates that many of Pericles ' rivals viewed the transfer to Athens as usurping monetary resources to fund elaborate building projects.

The Pompeion and many other buildings in the vicinity of the Sacred Gate were razed to the ground by the marauding army of the Roman dictator Sulla, during his sacking of Athens in 86 BC ; an episode that Plutarch described as a bloodbath.

To reconcile the contradictory aspects of his character, as well as to explain how Minos governed Crete over a period spanning so many generations, two kings of the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and rationalizing mythologists, such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch — " putting aside the mythological element ", as he claims — in his life of Theseus.

" Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in traditional ancient Greek religion, writing, " many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal.

Plutarch reports that " many things horrible and dreadful to see " occurred during the infliction of punishment, which was witnessed by the rest of Crassus ' army.

The cohesive account by Plutarch, which deals mainly with this portion of the myth, differs in many respects from the known Egyptian sources.

Set — whom Plutarch, using Greek names for many of the Egyptian deities, refers to as " Typhon "— conspires against Osiris with seventy-three other people.

All of these symptoms match the experience of the Pythia in action, as related by Plutarch, who witnessed many prophecies.

Historical facts are also sometimes changed: in Plutarch Antony's final defeat was many weeks after the battle of Actium, and Octavia lived with Antony for several years and bore him two children: Antonia Major, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Nero and maternal grandmother of the Empress Valeria Messalina, and Antonia Minor, the sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, mother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger.

A few men were executed but ( according to Plutarch ), many Romans disapproved of Sulla's actions ; some who opposed Sulla were actually elected to office in 87 BC.

Plutarch, in his vita of Pericles, 24, mentions lost comedies of Kratinos and Eupolis, which alluded to the contemporary capacity of Aspasia in the household of Pericles, and to Sophocles in The Trachiniae it was shameful for Heracles to serve an Oriental woman in this fashion, but there are many late Hellenistic and Roman references in texts and art to Heracles being forced to do women's work and even wear women's clothing and hold a basket of wool while Omphale and her maidens did their spinning, as Ovid tells: Omphale even wore the skin of the Nemean Lion and carried Heracles ' olive-wood club.

Although the story appears in many different credible ancient sources, such as Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Livy, with variations, many historians have been skeptical of the story.

The artistic unity of his work suffered severely from the frequent and lengthy digressions, of which the most important was On the Athenian Demagogues in the 10th book of the Philippica, containing a bitter attack on many of the chief Athenian statesmen, and generally recognized as having been freely used by Plutarch in several of the Lives.

He was called " Tigranes the Great " by many Western historians and writers, such as Plutarch.

Plutarch says "... Alexander's grief was uncontrollable ..." and adds that he ordered many signs of mourning, notably that the manes and tails of all horses should be shorn, the demolition of the battlements of the neighbouring cities, and the banning of flutes and every other kind of music.

Plutarch recounts that Alexander took Barsine as his mistress, but on the arguably spurious grounds that she was recommended to him by Parmenion ( despite the many disagreements between him and Alexander, and Alexander's apparent contempt for his judgement ).

He also exiled many more to Italy and confiscated their belongings in the name of Rome but according to Plutarch, keeping too much to himself.

Plutarch narrates transferrals similar to that of Theseus for the bodies of the historical Demetrius I of Macedon and Phocion the Good which in many details anticipate Christian practice.

Plutarch states that Nicias was also exceedingly generous with his wealth, using his money for charitable activities in Athens and funding many religious festivals.

The principal historical sources covering the two are Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War ( VI, 56-59 ) and The Constitution of the Athenians ( XVIII ) attributed to Aristotle or his school, but their story is documented by a great many other ancient writers, such as Herodotus and Plutarch.

Their last appearance is at Actium, where Mark Antony is said by Plutarch to have had many " eights ".