“A Critical Analysis of the Sources of Plutarch's Solon”

    Plutarch’s biography of Solon (Greek Lives, pp. 46-77) is one of our most important sources of information about that famous Athenian lawgiver. Because Plutarch lived around 700 years after Solon, however, he had to rely on a range of earlier sources. As you read through the biography ask yourself the following questions: • What were the sources Plutarch relied on? • Where it is possible to say, what were their dates and their reasons for dealing with Solon? • Did these sources agree in their views of Solon? • How did these sources and how did Plutarch himself use the evidence of Solon's poetry and laws? • Are there sections of Plutarch's Solon whose reliability seems especially doubtful?