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Plutarch · c. AD 46-after 119

Life of Solon

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Ancient Sources / Plutarch / Life of Solon

Plutarch's Life of Solon follows the Athenian lawgiver and poet, one of the Seven Sages, from his family and early travels to the cancelling of debts, his new laws and constitution, his years abroad and his opposition to the tyrant Peisistratus. It preserves many lines of Solon's own poetry and the stories of his meetings with Thales, Anacharsis and Croesus. It is paired with the Life of Publicola, and the Comparison of Solon and Publicola closes the pair.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 13 passages, about 12600 words in English.
Translator
Bernadotte Perrin (1914)
Edition
Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus)
Cite as
Plutarch, Life of Solon 1.1 (by chapter, section)

Contents · 13 passages

  1. 1.1–4.4Solon's family and trade; Helen's tripod and the wise men1310 words
  2. 5.1–7.4Solon, Anacharsis and Thales951 words
  3. 8.1–11.2Solon wins Salamis and speaks for Delphi against Cirrha1215 words
  4. 12.1–6The Cylonian pollution and Epimenides of Crete629 words
  5. 13.1–14.6Athens on the edge of revolt; Solon is chosen archon and refuses to be tyrant862 words
  6. 15.1–16.3Solon's seisachtheia: cancelling the debts of Athens986 words
  7. 17.1–19.4Solon repeals Draco's laws and creates the property classes and the council of four hundred999 words
  8. 20.1–21.5Solon's laws on faction, marriage, slander, wills and funerals1021 words
  9. 22.1–24.3Solon's laws on trades, women, wells, trees, exports and the public table1201 words
  10. 25.1–26.4The axones, the Old and New day, and Solon's travels to Egypt and Cyprus760 words
  11. 27.1–28.4Solon and Croesus: Tellus, Cleobis and Bito1131 words
  12. 29.1–30.6Peisistratus seizes power; Solon and Thespis1014 words
  13. 31.1–32.4Solon under the tyrant; the unfinished Atlantis and his death537 words

More by Plutarch

English translation by Bernadotte Perrin (1914). Original text: Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914 (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.

Plutarch, Life of Solon: Full Text in Greek & English