The Plutarch Podcast

Tom Cox from grammaticus.co explores Plutarch’s Parallel Lives to introduce you to antiquity, encourage you in your education, or refresh your perspective on people and politics by stepping outside the news cycle. Biography invigorates the study of history by bringing it to life. Plutarch was the first master of this form, examining in a person the relationship between fortune, virtue, and excellence. Whether you just want to study antiquity from your armchair, sit at the feet of the greatest teachers of the West, or expand your own classical education, Plutarch’s Parallel Lives and the podcast are here to serve. Plutarch wrote almost 50 lives exploring the greatest leaders of the Greek and Roman world before Christ. His lives have been foundational to education for centuries, but they are often wrapped in the obscurity of older translations or bog the reader down with specific political and social terms from Athens or Rome. Let Tom translate the jargon and enliven the journey by outlining and explaining each essay encouraging you to dive in and learn from the teacher himself, or guide your students through his essays. Whether you learn or teach in a classroom or at home, join Plutarch—and Tom—in examining what it means to live well, by considering those who have lived before us.

Episodes

Aemilius Paullus

Full Show NotesGreek Parallel - TimoleonImportant PeoplePerseus - A tyrannical Macedonian leader who acts...

June 12, 2024 • Season 5 • Episode 7 • 59:57

Titus Flamininus

Full Show Notes - https://plutarch.life/titus-flamininus/Greek Parallel - PhilopoemenImportant ...

April 11, 2024 • Season 5 • Episode 6 • 48:58

Philopoemen - The Last of the Greeks

Full Show NotesRoman Parallel – Titus FlamininusImportant PeopleEpaminondas – A personal hero of Philopoemen’s; he can imitate him in nea...

March 11, 2024 • 54:41

Cleomenes

Full Show Notes for Plutarch's Life of CleomenesRoman Parallel - Tiberius GracchusImportant PeopleAratus - The same Aratus from the last life...

February 15, 2024 • Season 5 • Episode 9 • 1:22:34

Agis

Important PeopleLycurgus - ancient lawgiver, whose biography Plutarch also wrote, and to whom everyone refers constantly in this life as the original set of laws they are tryi...

January 11, 2024 • Season 5 • Episode 8 • 49:24

Marcellus and Pelopidas Compared

Pelopidas Show NotesMarcellus Show NotesHow do these two hasty generals compare? Who had the greater victories? Who had the greater flaw...

December 22, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 7 • 25:31

Marcellus

Marcellus - Rome's Sword Against HannibalParallel - PelopidasImportant PeopleArchimedes (sections 15-17; ...

December 11, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 6 • 1:05:17

Comparison - Fabius and Pericles

Fabius Show NotesPericles Show Notes

November 22, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 5 • 20:00

Fabius Maximus

Full Show Notes: https://plutarch.life/fabiusGreek Parallel - PericlesImportant PeopleTerentius Varro - Mastermind o...

November 11, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 4 • 57:14

Camillus

Full Show Notes for Camillus - Noble Roman DictatorGreek Parallel - ThemistoclesNo Extant Parallel Essay - :(Import...

October 11, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 3 • 1:06:55

Comparison - Coriolanus and Alcibiades

So how do Coriolanus and Alcibiades actually compare? One seems like an angry fireball of revenge, the other a self-serving but talented chameleon. Coriolanus couldn't care less about his reputation, but wants the excellence that lives up to hi...

September 22, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 2 • 29:59

Coriolanus

https://plutarch.life/coriolanusGreek Parallel - AlcibiadesImportant PeopleVolumnia - Coriolanus’s mother and, ...

September 11, 2023 • Season 5 • Episode 1 • 1:17:44

Pyrrhus - Episode 2

plutarch.life/pyrrhusPyrrhus, tempted to fight in the old Homeric style of one on one, strikes me as a man born in the wrong era. With the rise of the Macedonian phalanx, his tactical brillian...

February 11, 2023 • Season 4 • Episode 9 • 28:07

Pyrrhus

Roman Parallel - Marius (157-86 BC)Important PeopleDemetrius (337-283) - Neighbor and even, for a time, brother-in-law. Son of A...

January 11, 2023 • Season 4 • Episode 8 • 52:30

Demetrius

Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/demetriusRoman Parallel: Mark Antony (83-30 BC)Season 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 2...

December 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 7 • 1:04:26

Phocion

Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/phocionSeason 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at

November 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 6 • 1:04:17

Eumenes

Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/eumenesSeason 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at

October 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 5 • 56:16

Alexander the Great Part 2

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/...

September 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 4 • 1:05:06

Alexander

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/...

August 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 3 • 1:08:39

Timoleon

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me. Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/...

July 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 2 • 45:51

Dion

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.Full show notes available at https://plutarch.life/dion<...

June 11, 2022 • Season 4 • Episode 1 • 1:03:19

Pelopidas

Human sacrifice, debauched tyrants, and The Sacred Band of Thebes are all woven together in Plutarch's Life of Pelopidas, friend of Epaminondas and great Theban general.Full show notes: https://...

February 11, 2022 • Season 3 • Episode 8 • 56:25

Agesilaus

Full Show Notes: https://plutarch.life/agesilausImportant PeopleAgis II - The Spartan king and older brother of Agesilaus who led Sparta during most of the latter half of the P...

January 11, 2022 • Season 3 • Episode 7 • 1:03:45

Lysander

This wily Spartan commander defeated Athens, and his authority even eclipses that of the Spartan kings. Did Lysander corrupt the Spartans with luxury?Important PeopleSpartansAgesilausCallicratid...

October 11, 2021 • Season 3 • Episode 6 • 40:40

Alcibiades

Alcibiades fought and strategized for Athens, Sparta, Persia, Athens (again), and Thrace, proving that he fought the entire time only for himself. Was it vanity or pride? Enjoy the first truly negative portrayal Plutarch tries to give, though P...

September 11, 2021 • Season 3 • Episode 5 • 48:17