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99-520: The Parallel Lives ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Βίοι Παράλληλοι , Bíoi Parállēloi ; Latin : Vītae Parallēlae ) is a series of 48 biographies of famous men written by the Greco-Roman philosopher, historian, and Apollonian priest Plutarch , probably at the beginning of the second century . It is also known as Plutarch's Lives ( Πλούταρχου Βίοι , Ploútarchou Bíoi ; Plutarchī Vītae ); Parallels ( Παράλληλα , Parállēla ; Parallela );

198-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

297-612: A complete victory. After several weeks, the Persians and their Greek mercenaries under Iphicrates had to re-embark. The expedition against Egypt had failed. It was the end of the career of Pharnabazus, who was now over 70 years old. Pharnabazus was replaced by Datames to lead a second expedition to Egypt, but he failed and then started the "Satraps' Revolt" against the Great King. The Achaemenid defeat in Egypt led to unrest among

396-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

495-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

594-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

693-544: A good memory." The life and reign of Artaxerxes II is mostly attested in classical Greek sources, which generally focuses on the history of the western front. However, due to Artaxerxes II's younger brother Cyrus the Younger recruiting many Greeks during his rebellion against his brother, the reign of Artaxerxes II is well documented until Cyrus' death at the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. Following that, detailed information on

792-457: A large army made up of his initial supporters plus those who had joined him in Phrygia and beyond. Upon hearing of his father's death, Cyrus the Younger declared his claim to the throne, based on the argument that he was born to Darius and Parysatis after Darius had ascended to the throne, while Artaxerxes was born prior to Darius II's gaining the throne. Artaxerxes II initially wanted to resolve

891-582: A review of the 1859 A. H. Clough translation, Plutarch's depictions of Antony, Coriolanus, Alcibiades, and the Cato the Elder were praised as deeply drawn. The reviewer found the sayings of Themistocles to be "snowy and splendid", those of Phocion to be "curt and sharp", and those of Cato "grave and shrewdly humorous". Carl Rollyson lauded the biography of Caesar as proof Plutarch is "loaded with perception" and stated that no biographer "has surpassed him in summing up

990-592: A similar light to his image among those in the Achaemenid Empire. The Greek portrayal highlights his long rule with many conflicts and shortcomings of Artaxerxes II in his ability to control his empire. Greek sources also focus on his problems in his court with his harem and eunuchs , as in Claudius Aelianus 's accounts of Aspasia of Phocaea and Tiridates . Greek sources portray Artaxerxes II as sad in his reign. The Jewish high priest Johanan

1089-621: A strong redoubt at the south-east corner of the enclosure and gave Ecbatana a new apadana and sculptures. The tomb of Artaxerxes II is located at Persepolis , and was built on the model of his predecessors at Naqsh-e Rustam . On the upper register of the tomb appear reliefs of the Emperor, supported by the soldiers of all ethnicities of the Empire. On the lintel over each figure appears a trilingual inscription describing each ethnicity. These are known collectively as "Inscription A2Pa" . Since

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1188-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

1287-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

1386-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

1485-540: Is famous for having lent his name as editor-in-chief to the first complete English translation of Plutarch's Lives . This 17th-century translation is available at The MIT Internet Classics Archive . These translations are linked with D in the table below; those marked (D) in parentheses are incomplete in the HTML version. G : Project Gutenberg contains several versions of 19th-century translations of these Lives , see here and here . The full text version ( TXT ) of

1584-816: Is mentioned in the Elephantine papyri dated to 407 BC, i.e., during Darius II 's reign, and is also mentioned in Ezra 6:10 after the reign of Darius ( Ezra 6:1 ) and during the rule of Artaxerxes ( Ezra 7:1 ), thereby supporting the chronological sequence. Amongst others , it has been suggested that Artaxerxes II was the Ahasuerus mentioned in the Book of Esther . Plutarch in his Lives (AD 75) records alternative names Oarses and Arsicas for Artaxerxes II Mnemon given by Deinon (c. 360–340 BC ) and Ctesias (Artexerxes II's physician ) respectively. These derive from

1683-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

1782-909: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Artaxerxes II Soon after his accession, Artaxerxes II faced opposition from his younger brother Cyrus

1881-526: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

1980-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2079-471: Is the Greek rendition of the Old Persian Artaxšaçā ("whose reign is through truth "). It is known in other languages as; Elamite Ir-tak-ik-ša-iš-ša , Ir-da-ik-ša-iš-ša ; Akkadian Ar-ta-ʾ-ḫa-šá-is-su ; Middle Persian and New Persian Ardašīr . Greek authors gave Artaxerxes II the epithet "Mnemon" ( Ancient Greek : Μνήμων ; Old Persian : abiataka ), meaning "remembering" or "having

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2178-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2277-792: The Comparative Lives ( Συγκριτικοί Βίοι , Sygkritikoí Bíoi ; Vitae Comparatae ); the Lives of Illustrious Men ( Vitae Illustrium Virorum ); and the Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans ( Βίοι Ῥωμαίων καὶ Ἑλλήνων , Bioi Rhōmaiōn kai Hellēnōn ; Vitae Illustrium Virorum Graecorum et Romanorum or Graecorum Romanorumque Illustrium Vitae ). The lives are arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. The surviving Parallel Lives comprises 23 pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman of similar destiny, such as Alexander

2376-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

2475-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

2574-586: The Lives that Shakespeare based plays on: North's translations of most of the Lives, based on the French version by Jacques Amyot , preceded Dryden's translation mentioned above. These translations are linked with P in the table. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

2673-581: The Old Persian *Ṛšā- ("man", "hero"). He was also widely known by the hypocorism Aršak , which is attested in several Greek forms including Arsikas ( Plutarch ), Arsakas and Arsaces ( Persica ). From Arsaces also derives the name of the Arsacid dynasty , which ruled the Parthian Empire and claimed descent from Artaxerxes II himself. Artaxerxēs ( Αρταξέρξης )

2772-729: The Pelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another way to sail up the Nile . Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the less-defended Mendesian branch. At this point, the mutual distrust that had arisen between Iphicrates and Pharnabazus prevented the enemy from reaching Memphis . Then, the annual Nile flood and the Egyptian defenders' resolve to defend their territory turned what had initially appeared as certain defeat for Nectanebo I and his troops into

2871-577: The Phoenicians in c.  380 BC , and most importantly, the revolts by the western satraps (known as the Great Satraps' Revolt ) in the 360s and 350s BC, led by distinguished figures such as Datames , Ariobarzanes , and Autophradates . The rulers of the Parthian Empire notably considered Artaxerxes II their progenitor . The given name of Artaxerxes II was, as rendered in Greek , Arses ( Ἄρσης ; Babylonian : Aršu ), derived from

2970-704: The Treaty of Antalcidas , he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia and Aeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BC, he campaigned against the Cadusians . Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the Egyptians , who had successfully revolted against him at

3069-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

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3168-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

3267-527: The Achaemenid nobility. From 372 BC, many western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire started to rebel against Artaxerxes II, in the Great Satraps' Revolt , starting with the powerful satrap Datames . Following the failure of Pharnabazus II in Egypt, Datames had been entrusted by the Persian king with the chief command of a force designed for the recovery of Egypt , but the machinations of his enemies at

3366-613: The Athenian general Iphicrates near Mendes in 373 BC. The expedition force was too slow, giving time to the Egyptians to strengthen defenses. Pharnabazus and Iphicrates appeared before Pelusium , but retired without attacking it, Nectanebo I , king of Egypt, having added to its former defences by laying the neighboring lands under water, and blocking up the navigable channels of the Nile by embankments. ( Diodorus Siculus xv. 42; Cornelius Nepos , Iphicrates c. 5.) Fortifications on

3465-528: The Corinthian War. According to Plutarch , Agesilaus said upon leaving Asia Minor, "I have been driven out by 10,000 Persian archers", a reference to "Archers" ( Toxotai ) the Greek nickname for the darics from their obverse design, because that much money had been paid to politicians in Athens and Thebes to start a war against Sparta. The Achaemenids, allied with Athens, managed to utterly destroy

3564-592: The Elder, Philopoemen, Flamininus, Pyrrhus, Marius, Lysander, Sulla, Cimon, Lucullus, Nicias, Crassus. Volume 2. Sertorius, Eumenes, Agesilaus, Pompey, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Phocion, Cato the Younger, Agis, Cleomenes, Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Demetrius, Mark Antony, Dion, Marcus Brutus, Aratus, Artaxerxes II, Galba, Otho. Of the biographies in Parallel Lives , that of Antonius has been cited by multiple scholars as one of

3663-500: The Great and Julius Caesar , or Demosthenes and Cicero . 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. Parallel Lives was Plutarch's second set of biographical works, following the Lives of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Vitellius . Of these, only the Lives of Galba and Otho survive. As he explains in

3762-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

3861-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

3960-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4059-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

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4158-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

4257-448: The Persian court, and the risks to which he was in consequence exposed, induced him to change his plan, and throw off his allegiance to the king. He withdrew with the troops under his command into Cappadocia , and made common cause with the other satraps who were revolting from Persia. The Pharaoh Nectanebo provided financial support to the rebelling satraps and re-established ties with both Sparta and Athens. Artaxerxes II finally quashed

4356-616: The Persian name Khshayarsha as do "Ahasuerus" ("(Arta)Xerxes") and the hypocoristicon "Arshu" for Artaxerxes II found on a contemporary inscription ( LBAT 162 ). These sources thus arguably identify Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II in light of the names used in the Hebrew and Greek sources and accords with the contextual information from Pseudo-Hecataeus and Berossus as well as agreeing with Al-Tabari and Masudi's placement of events. The 13th century Syriac historian Bar-Hebraeus in his Chronography , also identifies Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II citing

4455-667: The Spartan fleet at the Battle of Cnidus (394 BC). After that, the Achaemenid satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia , Pharnabazus II , together with former Athenian admiral Conon , raided the coasts of Peloponnesia , putting increased pressure on the Spartans. This encouraged the resurgence of Athens, which started to bring back under her control the Greek cities of Asia Minor, thus worrying Artaxerxes II that his Athenian allies were becoming too powerful. In 386 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in

4554-541: The Spartans' attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies through his envoy Timocrates of Rhodes ; in particular, the Athenians , Thebans , and Corinthians received massives subsidies. Tens of thousands of darics , the main currency in Achaemenid coinage , were used to bribe the Greek states to start a war against Sparta. These subsidies helped to engage the Spartans in what would become known as

4653-721: The Spartans, soon followed by the Athenians, the Arcadians, the Argives, the Eleans, the Thebans, and other Greek city-states, sent envoys to Susa in attempts to obtain the support of Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II in the Greek conflict. The Achaemenid king proposed a new peace treaty, this time highly tilted in favour of Thebes, which required Messenia to remain independent and that the Athenian fleet to be dismantled. This Peace proposal

4752-560: The Spartans. After four years of preparations in the Levant, Pharnabazus gathered an expeditionary force of 200,000 Persian troops, 300 triremes, 200 galleys, and 12,000 Greeks under Iphicrates . The Achaemenid Empire had also been applying pressure on Athens to recall the Greek general Chabrias , who was in the service of the Egyptians, but in vain. The Egyptian ruler Nectanebo I was thus supported by Athenian General Chabrias and his mercenaries. The Achaemenid force landed in Egypt with

4851-475: The Younger , who assembled an army composed of troops from his Lydian and Ionian satrapies as well as Greek mercenaries in his bid for the throne. The forces of the brothers clashed at Cunaxa in 401 BC, which resulted in the defeat and death of Cyrus. Following this, Artaxerxes II had to contend with several other revolts; a revolt by Evagoras I ( r.  411–374 BC ) in Cyprus between 391–380 BC, by

4950-652: The Younger. This conflict was remembered due to the power vacuum that followed, allowing the Satrap Revolt and the rebellion of Egypt . Artaxerxes II was also remembered for his works to restore monuments of his predecessors. His largest restoration was that of the Palace of Darius in Susa . He would also be remembered for his tomb in Persepolis. The image of Artaxerxes from contemporary foreign sources depicts him in

5049-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

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5148-472: The age of 15 or 16, Cyrus was appointed the satrap of Lydia , Greater Phrygia , and Cappadocia . He also succeeded Tissaphernes as the commander-in-chief of the Persian force stationed at Castolus , east of the city of Sardis . Cyrus was given the title of karanos ( Old Iranian : *Karana ), which greatly expanded his authority both politically and militarily, and allowed him to become largely autonomous. Before his accession, Arsaces married Stateira ,

5247-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

5346-434: The beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC under the command of Pharnabazus , satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia , was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years, the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia . In 377 BC, Pharnabazus was reassigned by Artaxerxes II to help command a military expedition into rebellious Egypt, having proven his ability against

5445-409: The campaign against Artaxerxes II. Notably, Cyrus found support from a Persian kingdom of Cilicia , who contributed to the effort through funds. During this time, due to Tissaphernes' reports, Artaxerxes II began to build up a force to contend with his younger brother's revolt. By the time of Darius II's death, Cyrus had already been successful in defeating the Syrians and Cilicians and was commanding

5544-435: The conflict peacefully, but the negotiations fell through. Cyrus also ran into issues with the locals, who were loyal to Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes defended his position against his brother Cyrus the Younger, who with the aid of a large army of Greek mercenaries called the " Ten Thousand ", attempted to usurp the throne. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at the Battle of Cunaxa in Babylon (401 BC), Cyrus himself

5643-405: The coronation of Arsaces at the southern capital of Pasargadae , Cyrus allegedly attempted to have his brother assassinated. The plan was exposed by Tissaphernes, but Cyrus was spared following the intervention of Parysatis and sent back to Asia Minor. The authenticity of this event is deemed uncertain by modern historians. According to Binder, the transition of power between Darius II and Arsaces

5742-426: The daughter of the Persian nobleman Hydarnes , who was descended from Hydarnes , one of the seven Persian conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo-Smerdis . The marriage was part of a political alliance that Darius had sought during his early reign, due to facing opposition against his rule. Amestris was also married to Hydarnes' son Terituchmes , while Hydarnes was appointed the satrap of Hyrcania . When Darius II

5841-434: The early Roman calendar . Plutarch has been praised for the liveliness and warmth of his portrayals, and his moral earnestness and enthusiasm, and the Lives have attracted a large circle of readers throughout the ages. Plutarch structured his Lives by pairing lives of famous Greeks with those of famous Romans. After each pair of lives he generally writes out a comparison of the preceding biographies. The table below gives

5940-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

6039-431: The early 360s". Darius II and Parysatis had thirteen children, most of whom died prematurely. Thus the only known full siblings of Arsaces were his younger brothers Cyrus, Ostanes , Oxathres, and an older sister, Amestris. With the exception of Arsaces and Cyrus, not much is known about the children of Darius II and Parysatis. Cyrus was most likely born in 424/423 BC, just after the accession of Darius II. In 408 BC, at

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6138-448: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

6237-483: The essence of a life – perhaps because no modern biographer has believed so intensely as Plutarch did in 'the soul of men'. John Langhorne, D.D. and William Langhorne, A.M.'s English translation, noted that Amiot, Abbe of Bellozane, published a French translation of the work during the reign of Henry II in the year 1558; and from that work it was translated into English, in the time of Elizabeth I . No other translation appeared until that of John Dryden . D : Dryden

6336-456: The first paragraph of his Life of Alexander , Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, but with exploring the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of famous men. He wished to prove that the more distant past of Greece could show its men of action and achievement as well as the more recent past of Rome. Plutarch's interest was primarily ethical ("For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives."), although

6435-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

6534-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

6633-414: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

6732-430: The list of the biographies. Its order follows the one found in the Lamprias Catalogue , the list of Plutarch's works made by his hypothetical son Lamprias. The table also features links to several English translations of Plutarch's Lives available online. In addition to these 48 Parallel Lives , Plutarch wrote an additional four unpaired biographies that although not considered part of Parallel Lives , can be included in

6831-523: The lives, those of Epaminondas and Scipio Africanus or Scipio Aemilianus , are lost, and many of the remaining lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae and/or have been tampered with by later writers. Plutarch's Life of Alexander is one of the few surviving secondary or tertiary sources about Alexander the Great , and it includes anecdotes and descriptions of incidents that appear in no other source. Likewise, his portrait of Numa Pompilius , an early Roman king, contains unique information about

6930-417: The masterpieces of the series. In 1895, George Wyndham wrote that the first rank consists of the biographies of Themistocles, Alcibiades, Marius, Cato the Elder, Alexander, Demetrius, Antonius, and Pompey. Peter D'Epiro praised Plutarch's depiction of Alcibiades as "a masterpiece of characterization." Academic Philip A. Stadter singled out Pompey and Caesar as the greatest figures in the Roman biographies. In

7029-458: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

7128-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

7227-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

7326-600: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

7425-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

7524-498: The reign of Darius the Great ( r.  522–486 BC ), Achaemenid inscriptions make mention of unnamed gods alongside Ahura Mazda , who was considered the supreme god of the Zoroastrian pantheon by the royal family. It was first under Artaxerxes II that the identities of these gods were uncovered. In a trilingual inscription at Susa , he invokes the deities Anahita and Mithra alongside Ahura Mazda. Artaxerxes II

7623-424: The rest of Artaxerxes II's reign become much more sparse. Plutarch, when writing his Life of Artaxerxes II , used Ctesias, Dinon, Xenophon, and a few others as references. The work is the only biography of an Achaemenid king. According to the modern historian Carsten Binder, Plutarch's work is an "eloquent but hardly reliable source of information" and that it "should be treated with the greatest caution". Arses

7722-527: The revision of Dryden's translation by the English poet Arthur Hugh Clough is available (via download) Gutenberg here . These translations are linked with G in the table below. L : LacusCurtius has the translation by Bernadotte Perrin of part of the Moralia and all the Lives , published in the Loeb Classical Library 1914–1926; see here . These translations are linked with L in

7821-520: The revolt of the satraps by 362 BC. Artaxerxes again attempted to mediate in conflicts between the Greek city-states at the time of the Theban hegemony , especially the Theban–Spartan War . He sent Philiscus of Abydos , a hyparch (vice-regent) and military commander of the Achaemenid satrap Ariobarzanes , to Delphi in order to help the Greek negotiate peace. The objective of Philicus of Abydos

7920-480: The start of the 3rd century AD, the temple was repaired and adorned by the Persian Sasanian family , who acted as the hereditary caretakers of the temple. The Persian Empire under Artaxerxes II was viewed as a political power that had many unfortunate complications, such as the many wars with Greece. One aspect of his legacy which would have great influence upon his successors was his conflict with Cyrus

8019-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

8118-544: The table below. LV : LibriVox has many free public-domain audiobooks of the Parallel Lives , Volumes I, II, and III. These translations are linked with LV in the table below. P : The Perseus Project has several of the Lives , see here . The Lives available on the Perseus website are in Greek and in the English translation by Bernadotte Perrin (see under L above), and/or in an abbreviated version of Thomas North 's translations. This edition concentrates on those of

8217-416: The term Plutarch's Lives . The subjects of these four biographies are Artaxerxes , Aratus , Galba , and Otho . All dates are BC . The two-volume edition of Dryden's translation contains the following biographies: Volume 1. Theseus, Romulus, Lycurgus, Numa, Solon, Publicola, Themistocles, Camillus, Pericles, Fabius, Alcibiades, Coriolanus, Timoleon, Aemilius Paulus, Pelopidas, Marcellus, Aristides, Cato

8316-473: The work has significant historical value as well. The Lives was published by Plutarch late in his life after his return to Chaeronea and, if one may judge from the long lists of authorities given, it must have taken many years to compile. The chief manuscripts of the Lives date from the 10th and 11th centuries, and the first printed edition appeared in Rome in 1470. Thomas North 's 1579 English translation

8415-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

8514-539: Was able to continue the war. Among the mercenaries whom he had recruited, Philiscus gave 2,000 to the Spartans. He also probably provided funds to the Athenians and promised them, on behalf of the King, to help them recover the Chersonese militarily. Both Philiscus and Ariobarzanes were made citizens of Athens, a remarkable honor suggesting important services rendered to the city-state. During autumn of 367 BCE, first

8613-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

8712-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

8811-738: Was an important source-material for Shakespeare . Jacob Tonson printed several editions of the Lives in English in the late 17th century, beginning with a five-volume set printed in 1688, with subsequent editions printed in 1693, 1702, 1716, and 1727. The most generally accepted text is that of the minor edition of Carl Sintenis in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana (five volumes, Leipzig 1852–1855; reissued without much change in 1873–1875). There are annotated editions by I. C. Held, E. H. G. Leopold, Otto Siefert and Friedrich Blass and Carl Sintenis, all in German; and by Holden, in English. Two of

8910-486: Was however diverted when it became obvious that Ariobarzanes had entered frontal conflict with the Achaemenid king. An Athenian mercenary force under Chabrias was also sent to the Egyptian Pharaoh Tachos , who was also fighting against the Achaemenid king. Much of Artaxerxes' wealth was spent on building projects. He restored the Palace of Darius I at Susa , and also the fortifications; including

9009-638: Was killed in the exchange by Mithridates, rendering his victory irrelevant. The Greek historian Xenophon , himself one of the leaders of the Greek troops, would later recount this battle in the Anabasis , focusing on the struggle of the now-stranded Greek mercenaries to return home. Artaxerxes became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Spartans, during the Corinthian War (395-387 BC). The Spartans under their king Agesilaus II had started by invading Asia Minor in 396–395 BC. To redirect

9108-539: Was on his deathbed, Arsaces was by his side. According to Xenophon, Darius II summoned Cyrus, who arrived with Tissaphernes and 300 Greek hoplites . Plutarch, however, reports that it was Parysatis who summoned Cyrus, as she favoured him over Arsaces. He further adds that she attempted to convince Darius II to choose Cyrus as his heir, as the position was still vacant. Modern historians question Plutarch's account, and state that Arsaces must have already been chosen as heir previously, probably several years earlier. During

9207-424: Was rejected by most Greek parties except Thebes. Sparta and Athens, dissatisfied with the Persian king's support of Thebes , decided to provide careful military support to the opponents of the Achaemenid king. Athens and Sparta provided support for the revolted satraps, in particular Ariobarzanes . Sparta sent a force to Ariobarzanes under an aging Agesilaus II , while Athens sent a force under Timotheus , which

9306-488: Was seemingly peaceful. During his investiture , Arsaces adopted the throne name of Artaxerxes. Tissaphernes noted that Cyrus the Younger's claims to be on a military expedition to attack the Pisidians had many flaws that led him to believe that Cyrus was planning to revolt. These claims became realized when Cyrus began to seek political support for his campaign. Cyrus found support from Sparta , who sent soldiers to aid

9405-405: Was such to help broker a Common Peace between the Greek belligerents reunited at Delphi . The negotiation collapsed when Thebes refused to return Messenia to the Spartans. Before returning to Abydos, Philicus used Achaemenid funds to finance an army for the Spartans, suggesting that he was acting in support of the Spartans from the beginning. With the Achaemenid financing of a new army, Sparta

9504-516: Was the eldest son of Darius II , who ruled the Persian Achaemenid Empire from 424 to 405/4 BC. His mother was Parysatis , a half-sister of Darius II. His age at death is variously given as 86 ( Lucian ) and 94 ( Dinon ) years, which would place his birth around 453 or 445 BC. Briant simply notes that Arses was born before his father's accession in 424, while another author states that he was "at least in his late seventies in

9603-516: Was thus the first known Achaemenid king to recognize Anahita, who was the divinity of "the Waters" and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. He promoted the worship of Anahita, erecting temples and statues of the goddess across the empire. This included the cities of Ecbatana , Susa, and Babylon . The temple of Anahita in Istakhr was also most likely founded by Artaxerxes II. At

9702-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

9801-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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