Plutarch's Life of Romulus, a primary ancient source for the traditional founding narrative of Rome, read here in Bernadotte Perrin's Loeb Classical Library translation as hosted by the Perseus Digital Library. Its strength is that it preserves the fullest ancient literary account of the Romulus legend as later antiquity told it. Its limit is that Plutarch wrote centuries after the events his biography narrates, drawing on earlier Roman historians whose own reliability varies, so it is read here as evidence for the legend's traditional shape rather than as a factual record of events at Rome's founding.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
Tier two rather than tier one: a primary ancient source, Plutarch's biography of Romulus written centuries after the events it narrates, read here in the Loeb Classical Library translation hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, with the discount every account of Rome's founding needs for the distance between the writer and the event. NotesPlutarch's own biography of Romulus, written in Greek around the end of the first century CE, more than seven hundred years after the events it narrates, drawing on earlier Roman antiquarian writers whose own works mostly do not survive. Presented here in Bernadotte Perrin's Loeb Classical Library translation as hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, with the Greek text alongside. Tier 2 rather than tier 1: a primary ancient source, read with the discount every account of Rome's founding needs for the centuries separating the writer from the event.
Citation
AuthorPlutarch, translated by Bernadotte Perrin
PublisherLoeb Classical Library, hosted by the Perseus Digital Library
Publication Year1914
URLhttps://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0061
Source Typeprimary text, critical translation
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Romulus directly: "Plutarch's Life of Romulus, a primary ancient source for the traditional founding narrative of Rome, read here in Bernadotte Perrin's Loeb Classical Library translation as hosted by the Perseus..."
Claims Backed By This Source (12 claims)
This source backs 12 claims across the atlas. As facts: 10 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds.
- Religious Events, 3 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 general references.
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