The proems of Plutarch’s lives and historiography

Abstract

In this article I focus on Plutarch’s prologues to the Alexander–Caesar, Nicias–Crassus, and Theseus–Romulus books, all of which discuss Plutarch’s biographical method in relation to history. I suggest that in these prologues Plutarch follows a number of standard themes, ideas, and motifs that are common to the prologues of ancient historians in order to demarcate his generic affiliations with historiography, and bolster and advertise his unique and individual literary genre.