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
42 episodes
Aemilius Paullus
Full Show NotesGreek Parallel - TimoleonImportant PeoplePerseus - A tyrannical Macedonian leader who acts...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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59:57
Titus Flamininus
Full Show Notes - https://plutarch.life/titus-flamininus/Greek Parallel - PhilopoemenImportant ...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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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...
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54:41
Cleomenes
Full Show Notes for Plutarch's Life of CleomenesRoman Parallel - Tiberius GracchusImportant PeopleAratus - The same Aratus from the last life...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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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...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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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...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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25:31
Marcellus
Marcellus - Rome's Sword Against HannibalParallel - PelopidasImportant PeopleArchimedes (sections 15-17; ...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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1:05:17
Comparison - Fabius and Pericles
Fabius Show NotesPericles Show Notes
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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20:00
Fabius Maximus
Full Show Notes: https://plutarch.life/fabiusGreek Parallel - PericlesImportant PeopleTerentius Varro - Mastermind o...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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57:14
Camillus
Full Show Notes for Camillus - Noble Roman DictatorGreek Parallel - ThemistoclesNo Extant Parallel Essay - :(Import...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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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...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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29:59
Coriolanus
https://plutarch.life/coriolanusGreek Parallel - AlcibiadesImportant PeopleVolumnia - Coriolanus’s mother and, ...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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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
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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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
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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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/...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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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/...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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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/...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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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<...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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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://...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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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...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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1:03:45