Plutarch's writings, for a long time treated in a fragmentary way as a source for earlier periods and authors, are now studied in their own right. The thirteen original essays in this volume range over Plutarch's relations with his contemporaries and his engagement in philosophical debate, his views on social issues such as education and gender, his modes of expression and his construction of argument. Also treated here are Plutarch's understanding and use of his antecedents, literary and historical, and the sophisticated techniques with which he conveyed his own historical vision. It is a theme of the present book that the writings of Plutarch should be seen as the product of a single, extraordinarily capacious, intelligence.

A collection of original essays examining Plutarch's writings, ranging over Plutarch's relations with his contemporaries and his engagement in philosophical debate, as well as his views on social issues such as education and gender.