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Reference.org
Parallel Lives
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<p>The <i>Parallel Lives</i> is a series of 48 biographies of famous men written in <a href="/facts/Greek_language/pzDd6eIz">Greek</a> by the Greco-Roman philosopher, historian, and <a href="/facts/Temple_of_Delphi/kmf9G00q">Apollonian priest</a> <a href="/facts/Plutarch/p3bywktN">Plutarch</a>, probably at the beginning of the <a href="/facts/Second_century/unyynCHP">second century</a>. The lives are arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. </p><p>The surviving <i>Parallel Lives</i> comprises 23 pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greece/PTVBrWXq">Greek</a> and one <a href="/facts/Ancient_Rome/cGqIuxPd">Roman</a> of similar destiny, such as <a href="/facts/Alexander_the_Great/8N3gLElj">Alexander the Great</a> and <a href="/facts/Julius_Caesar/ptR603Gv">Julius Caesar</a>, or <a href="/facts/Demosthenes/DsHWIYlW">Demosthenes</a> and <a href="/facts/Cicero/A37U7jaN">Cicero</a>. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals described, but also about the times in which they lived. </p>