Abstract
The appearance of Epaminondas in Plutarch’s De genio Socratis, who neither contributes significantly to the dialogue nor takes part in the liberation of Thebes from the Spartan rulers, seems gratuitous. This essay argues that an intertextual interplay must have existed between Plutarch’s essay and his lost Life of Epaminondas, the author’s favourite hero. Whatever the exact nature of that interplay, the historical background of Plutarch’s work was the recent assassination of Domitian: the forcible removal of tyrants was not only a theoretical question referred to by Epaminondas in the De genio, but also of immediate historical relevance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 791-802 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Mnemosyne |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Sep 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018.
Keywords
- Epaminondas
- Phaedo
- Plato
- Plutarch, De genio Socratis
- intertextuality
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