Leather-bound gift book "Comparative Biographies" by Plutarch

Comparative Biographies" are biographies of the great heroes of antiquity as presented by the ancient Greek writer Plutarch (c. 45-c. 127), a kind of majestic "portrait gallery" of famous Greeks and Romans. Before Plutarch, historians of Greece and Rome, compiling a biography of a historical figure, sought to simply chronologically outline the main events of his life. Plutarch managed to avoid a pile of incoherent stories, focusing on understanding the way of thinking and character of a person. Plutarch's "Comparative biographies" are of great importance for the study of the ancient history of Greece and Rome, since many of the works of writers from which he drew information have not reached us, and his writings are the only information about many historical events, their participants and witnesses.