Open AccessHold Your Horses: Characterization through Animals in Plutarch’s Artaxerxes, Part II
Author(s) -
Eran Almagor
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ploutarkhos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2832-2118
pISSN - 0258-655X
DOI - 10.14195/0258-655x_11_1
Subject(s) - hero , passions , biography , soul , literature , characterization (materials science) , realm , subject (documents) , character (mathematics) , philosophy , art , history , theology , computer science , physics , geometry , archaeology , mathematics , library science , optics
This paper is the second part of three dealing with the subject of characterization through animals in Plutarch’s Lives. It argues that beasts have important narratological significance in the biographies, namely, to shed light on the character of the hero through their association with the realm of passions within the human soul. The text chosen to demonstrate this claim is Plutarch’s most neglected biography, the Life of the Persian king Artaxerxes. This part addresses the presence of horses in the biography and how they indirectly characterize the hero.