Plutarch Parallel Lives: Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius was the second king of Rome and is credited with establishing many long-lasting societal rules and laws of Rome. If Romulus is the founding father, a flashy, conquering hero that represents how Rome is perceived. Numa as the second king of Roma sets up the internal, moral, religious, and judicial system of Rome which makes it function.

Plutarch parallels him with Lycurgus, a Spartan societal lawgiver, and leader.

It will be interesting to see what a leader of a very distinct Roman culture considers important laws and how and why he creates them.

This week we will read the life of Numa Pompilius and Comparison of Lycurgus and Numa

From Wiki:

Numa Pompilius

He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions are attributed to him, such as the Roman calendar, Vestal Virgins, the cult of Mars, the cult of Jupiter, the cult of Romulus, and the office of pontifex maximus.[2]

Plutarch's Lives is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably written at the beginning of the second century AD. The surviving Parallel Lives comprises 23 pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman of similar destiny, such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, or Demosthenes and Cicero. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals described but also about the times in which they lived.

These meetups are not recorded. It is just a private reading group.

I will be using the Modern Library edition:

https://www.amazon.com/Plutarchs-Lives-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0375756760

Generally, any edition will do. Parallel Lives can be found online in places for free for example here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/674/674-h/674-h.htm#2H_4_0005

An alternate translation by Bernadotte Perrin can be found here:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/home.html

We follow a mindful conversation approach, details on this along with a general FAQ on how we run the meetup can be found here.

For questions please send me a message or post to meetup.

Best Regards,

Zita