This selection of ten Lives traces the history of Hellenistic Greece from the rise of Macedon and Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire to the arrival of the Romans. Plutarch's biographies of eminent politicians, rulers, and soldiers combine vivid portraits of their subjects with a wealth of historical information; they constitute a uniquely important source for the period. We see how Greek politics changed as Macedon's power grew, and we learn of the warlords who followed Alexander. Resistance to Macedon is reflected in the Lives of Demosthenes and Aratus, and that of Agis and Cleomenes, two revolutionary kings of Sparta. The volume concludes with the emergence of Rome in Greek affairs, and the life of Flamininus, the Roman general who defeated Philip V of Macedon.

Plutarch's elegant style combines anecdote and erudition, humour and psychological insight, consummately translated by Robin Waterfield and introduced by Andrew Erskine. These Lives from the Hellenistic period complement Greek Lives and Roman Lives in Oxford World's Classics.


About the Author:

Robin Waterfield is a writer, living in Greece. His previous translations for Oxford World's Classics include Plato's Republic and five other editions of Plato's dialogues, Aristotle's Physics, Herodotus' Histories, Polybius' Histories, Plutarch's Greek Lives and Roman Lives, Euripides' Orestes and Other Plays and Heracles and Other Plays, Xenophon's The Expedition of Cyrus, Demosthenes' Selected Speeches and The First Philosophers: The PreSocratics and the Sophists. He is the author of Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire (Oxford, 2011). Andrew Erskine is the author of The Hellenistic Stoa: Political Thought and Action (Duckworth/Bristol Classical Presss 1990, 2011), Troy between Greece and Rome: Local Tradition and Imperial Power (Oxford, 2001), and Roman Imperialism (Edinburgh UP, 2009). He has edited a number of books including A Companion to the Hellenistic World (Wiley-Blackwell, 2003). He is a general editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient History (2012).