Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans or Parallel Lives is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably written at the beginning of the second century AD by Plutarch. Parallel Lives comprises 23 pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman, as well as four unpaired, single lives. 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. Volume I contains 13 pairs of biographies from Theseus and Romulus to Cimon and Lucullus, with comparisons.

Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's first biographical works were the Lives of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Vitellius. His best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The remainder of Plutarch's surviving work is collected under the title of the Moralia (loosely translated as Customs and Mores).