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Plutarch · c. AD 46-after 119

Life of Pelopidas

Πελοπίδας
Ancient Sources / Plutarch / Life of Pelopidas

Plutarch's Life of Pelopidas tells of the Theban general who, with Epaminondas, helped break the supremacy of Sparta by land and sea. It covers the liberation of Thebes from the Spartan garrison, the Sacred Band, the victories at Tegyra and Leuctra, and his death fighting the tyrant Alexander of Pherae in Thessaly. It is paired with the Life of Marcellus.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 11 passages, about 13400 words in English.
Translator
Bernadotte Perrin (1917)
Edition
Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 5, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1917 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus)
Cite as
Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas 1.1 (by chapter, section)

Contents · 11 passages

  1. 1.1–2.5Prologue: how far a general may risk his life889 words
  2. 3.1–5.3Pelopidas and Epaminondas: wealth, friendship and the seizure of the Cadmeia915 words
  3. 6.1–8.5The Theban exiles in Athens plot their return984 words
  4. 9.1–12.4The night the Theban tyrants were killed1641 words
  5. 13.1–15.5Pelopidas frees the Cadmeia and draws Athens back into alliance with Thebes907 words
  6. 16.1–19.4Tegyra, Apollo's reputed birthplace: Pelopidas defeats the Spartans; the Sacred Band1580 words
  7. 20.1–23.4Leuctra: Scedasus' daughters, the sacrifice of a filly, and the Spartan rout1156 words
  8. 24.1–25.7The invasion of Laconia, the trial of Pelopidas and Epaminondas, and Charon's picture981 words
  9. 26.1–29.6Pelopidas in Thessaly and Macedonia, seized by Alexander of Pherae and freed by Epaminondas1625 words
  10. 30.1–31.4Pelopidas at the Persian king's court, and the eclipse before his Thessalian expedition970 words
  11. 32.1–35.7Pelopidas dies at Cynoscephalae; Alexander of Pherae is killed by his wife Thebe1774 words

More by Plutarch

English translation by Bernadotte Perrin (1917). Original text: Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 5, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1917 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.