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Educational autobiography
Educational autobiography
Educational autobiography
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Fundamentally, the historical context relating to the document that influenced Plutarch to establish such a manuscript stems from his aspiratioFundamentally, the historical context relating to the document that influenced Plutarch to establish such a manuscript stems from his aspiration to accurately portray Alexander the Great’s underlying character, conduct, strengths, shortcomings and to leave behind a applicable historical reference for the future so that others could comprehend Alexander’s overall nature as an individual who is widely recognized. Plutarch’s lives or biography of Alexander was designed to encourage mutual reverence for Greek and Roman culture or the renowned individuals that greatly influence both cultures, in a series of biographies highlighting those individuals’ common virtues and vices. Plutarch was more concerned with writing biography than history, concentrating his efforts on the meritorious actions of his subjects as examples of noble behavior and not so much on the times in which they lived. He wanted Greeks and Romans alike to recognize the tremendous legacy, which they had inherited from the great men of the past that facilitated in profoundly influencing the future through their actions such as Alexander the Great. His aim was therefore clearly didactic. History, for Plutarch, has to do with the morals of these notorious historical figures, in which great individuals rise and fall by their strengths and weaknesses. His lives tend to be anecdotal and to focus on revealing stories.
Sulla’s earlier career had not been that of an orthodox Optimate. Though he belonged to an old patrician family, it had long slid into obscurity and poverty. Plutarch suggests that a legacy from his step-mother and another from a mistress helped him, somewhat late, to a public career (Plutarch, p. 327). Plutarch was a Greek historian who wrote more than a century after Sulla’s death. Some of his pieces are polemical, that is, his writings possibly arise from scurrilous tracts, written by political adversaries of his subjects. As Marius’ quaestor, he had captured Jugurtha and won the loyalty of his fellow soldiers, sparking a later brutal animosity between the pair. This talent for winning the loyalty of soldiers never deserted Sulla, and that fact would have terrible consequences for Rome (Williams, p.139).
While Athens prepared for the encounter of a young man that would change their city, Plutarch exp...
Plutarch presented history through biographical stories of the people that were important and influential during the time period he wished to address. However, after having read some of his work, one realizes that Plutarch inserts his own personal opinion and views of the people at hand into the factual documentation of their lives. For example, in The Life of Crassus, Plutarch expresses a general dislike and negative view of the man, but in The Life of Caesar he portrays the life through a lens of praise. It also seems that he uses his opinions of the people that he writes about to subtly extend moral lessons to the reader. What follows is a further isolation of Plutarch's opinions and lessons from within The Lives of Crassus and Caesar.
The way that the document is written accomplishes this if the person reading it doesn’t know anything else about the history of Augustus as the first emperor of Rome. Augustus only includes his achievements and he leaves out any of his failures and shortcomings as emperor. He also frames every event in a way that makes him look good. Due to this, the document seems more like propaganda than a sincere reflection of his life to someone who knows about the history of his life as emperor. It doesn’t seem like Augustus’s intentions were for it to be a sincere reflection on his life, it seems more like propaganda to make him look good because it leaves out events that may reflect negatively on him. If Augustus had sincerely reflected on his life, I would have expected him to include his failures as well as his achievements. He might have mentioned things that he regrets and wishes he had done differently in his life. However, Augustus chose to only include events that make him look good. Therefore, the document seems more like propaganda to
In the countries who believed Alexander was the son of the devil or the devil himself, will say he is not ‘great’ but a demon who did evil. The countries who were on his side would say he was the greatest conqueror to live. He began as a Macedonian cavalry commander at eighteen, king of Macedonia at twenty, conqueror of Persia at twenty-six and explorer of India at thirty [Foner and Garraty]. The amount of large scale accomplishments he managed to finish in a span of six years is astonishing. Alexander’s tomb was the largest tourist attraction in the ancient world. The tomb was even visited by Julius Caesar, Pompey, Caligula, and Augustus. Alexander the Great’s accomplishments set a bar in which provided a standard that all other leaders would match their careers too. Many leaders after Alexander could not reach the standard left by him [Foner and
His character traits are listed in three main accounts by authors A.J. Koutsoukis, Erik Hildinger, who are both current impartial historical non-fiction writers and, Plutarch. Plutarch was a Greek historian, biographer and essayist, who is most famous for his work Parallel Lives, where he focuses on all of the contributing rulers of the Roman Republic. Plutarch is very even handed and focuses on the influence of character and moral lessons that can be learned from these emperors, good or bad.
In the preface to The Alexiad, Anna Comnena shows the purpose of undertaking the history of her father. She says "the tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time…As many as history has taken over; it abides together" (Comnena 1). This statement clearly shows the importance of history writing. It also shows the particular rationale that motivated Anna to write the Alexiad. She argues that, the events of the past will in many times be lost: they should be preserved for future reference by diligent historians (Dalven 2). Anna puts into records the reign of her father to ensure that its memories survive. This explicitly stated intent, gives her recorded material credibility as compared to other historians. Her intimate relationship with the recorded subjects, for example, her mother and father; make her work serve a greater and more personal goal that any other Byzantine historian (Peterson 23). In addition to explicitly asserting her reason to preserve her father's...
Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great
Procopius of Caesarea was a scholar and contemporary historian from Palaestina, who wrote about the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian during the time of 527-560 AD . One of the most interesting and important writing by Procopius is Anecdota or better known as “Secret History”. The Secret History was written around 550 AD and it includes Procopius’s true thoughts and criticisms of Justinian as a person and as an emperor.
Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedon took the throne at nineteen years of age in 336BCE and with this single event the Hellenic culture abounded. Philip did not want Alexander to be a course and boorish Macedonian so he gave Alexander a tutor, Aristotle. Between Philip and Aristotle, Alexander was raised in the Hellenic culture. The Hellenic culture’s aim was to...
In Titus Livius’, The Early History of Rome, Livy takes on the task of documenting Rome’s early history and some of the famous individuals who help contribute to the ‘greatness’ of Rome. Livy dedicates an entire portion of his writing to describe the reigns of the first seven kings of Rome; all who influence the formation and governance of Rome in some way. However, of the seven kings in early Roman history, King Romulus and King Numa Pompilius achieved godlike worship and high esteem from their fellow Romans. While both highly important and respected figures in Rome’s history, the personalities and achievements of King Romulus and King Numa Pompilius are complete opposites of one another. Despite the differences found in each king and of their rule over Rome, both Romulus and Numa Pompilius have a tremendous influence in the prosperity and expansion of Rome in its early days.
It is unknown whether Alexander intended to adopt these practices; if he adopted the policies that he liked; or if he adopted policies for political purposes. No matter his intentions, Alexander’s changes in leadership pol...
Very few reliable sources on Alexander the Great’s reign remain in existence today. Of these sources, the four major ones are histories by Plutarch, Diodorus, Arrian and Quintus Rufus. The earliest of these sources was written in the first century BC, so it is clear to see that the author’s own personal outlook may have influenced by their times and personal experiences in life that may or may not have changed since Alexander was alive since he died about three-hundred BC. In addition to the times that these histories were written, it is important to know more about the authors of these histories, Their views and approaches to writing their histories, and more about the histories in general in order to determine the accuracy and biases that
The author recounts in great detail how men like Ptolemy, Seleucus, Perdiccas, Lysimachus and a numerous others attempted to become the new Alexander, but were unsuccessful. The narrative moves chronology through the successor wars, their repercussions, the fate of the main characters, to even the last standing successors and their impact on the Hellenistic world. While this approach abandons strict chronology, the narrative nevertheless flows smoothly from Successor to Successor and from one war to the next. Numerous books outside of Waterfield’s focus on the successful successors such as Ptolemy, Seleukid, and Antigonids; where as he provides a character list to show all the people involved. The Wars of the Successors are a perplexing series of “alliances, marriages, battles, treachery and violence, involving a long list of characters, most of whom are little known to the modern reader” (d). He included rulers who control vast resources and have plausible bids to being successful. Robin Waterfield does focus on the characters that are significant in the end of the Hellenistic Era. The conventional style and detailed timeline of Dividing the Spoils creates an emphasis on individual
The two Greeks Herodotus and Thucydides started the practice of reporting truth and personal knowledge of historical events above prose and poetry (vis-à-vis Homer), as well as removing much of the theological-centric content. The Roman historians that came after improved on this practice, particularly Tacitus, who used the better developed record-keeping of the times to write more concise, accurate histories with personal knowledge of the movers and shakers of the realm, both the senate and of the emperors. Tacitus’ style of history writing more closely resembles the ideal of what a historian should be, in quality, accuracy and freedom of personal idealism or slant.