Book Description

Plutarch (c. AD 46 - AD 120), later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, (ΛΟύΚΙΟς ΜέΣΤΡΙΟς ΠΛΟύΤΑΡΧΟς) was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his life serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his literary work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving and the personalities who lived or traveled there. One of his most important works is the "Why Pythia does not give oracles in verse" (Moralia 11) ( "ΠΕΡὶ ΤΟῦ Μὴ ΧΡᾶΝ ἔΜΜΕΤΡΑ ΝῦΝ ΤὴΝ ΠΥ&thΗίΑΝ"). Even more important is the dialogue "On the E in Delphi" ("ΠΕΡὶ ΤΟῦ Εἶ ΤΟῦ ἐΝ ΔΕΛΦΟῖς"), which features Ammonius, a Platonic philosopher and teacher of Plutarch, and Lambrias, Plutarch's brother. According to Ammonius, the letter E written on the temple of Apollo in Delphi originated from the following fact: the wise men of antiquity, whose maxims were also written on the walls of the vestibule of the temple, were not seven but actually five: Chilon, Solon, Thales, Bias and Pittakos. However, the tyrants Cleobulos and Periandros used their political power in order to be incorporated in the list. Thus, the E, which corresponds to number 5, constituted an acknowledgment that the Delphic maxims actually originated from the five real wise men. The portrait of a philosopher exhibited at the exit of the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, dating to the 2nd century AD, had been in the past identified with Plutarch. The man, although bearded, is depicted at a relatively young age. His hair and beard are rendered in coarse volumes and thin incisions. The gaze is deep, due to the heavy eyelids and the incised pupils. The portrait is no longer thought to represent Plutarch. Next to this portrait stands a fragmentary hermaic stele, bearing a portrait probably of the author from Chaeronea and priest in Delphi. Its inscription, however, reads: ΔΕΛΦΟὶ ΧΑΙΡΩΝΕῦΣΙΝ ὁΜΟῦ ΠΛΟύΤΑΡΧΟΝ ἔ&thΗΗΚΑΝ | ΤΟῖς ἈΜΦΙΚΤΥόΝΩΝ ΔόΓΜΑΣΙ ΠΕΙ&thΗόΜΕΝΟΙ. (Syll.3 843=CID 4, no. 151) The citizens of Delphi and Chaeronea dedicated this to Plutarch together, following the precepts of the Amphictyony.