White movement
Remnants and continuations of the movement, some of which only had narrow support, endured within the wider White émigré community until after the fall of Communism. The Whites had the aim of bringing about law and order and the salvation of Russia, fighting against traitors, barbarians. They worked to remove Soviet organizations and functionaries in White-controlled territory, the White Army was nationalistic, rejected ethnic particularism and separatism. The White Army generally believed in a united multinational Russia, amongst White Army members, anti-Semitism was widespread. Western sponsors expressed dismay at this, especially as the Bolsheviks had prohibited anti-Semitism, many of the White leaders were conservative, accepting autocracy while remaining suspicious of politics. Aside from being anti-Bolshevik and patriotic, the Whites had no set ideology or main leader, the White Armies did acknowledge a single provisional head of state, the so-called Supreme Governor of Russia, but this post was prominent only under the leadership of Admiral Alexander Kolchak.
The movement had no set plan for foreign policy, Whites differed on policies toward Germany, the Whites wanted to keep from alienating any potential supporters and allies, and thus saw an exclusively monarchist position as a detriment to their cause and recruitment. White-movement leaders such as Anton Denikin advocated for Russians to create their own government, Admiral Alexander Kolchak succeeded in creating a temporary wartime government in Omsk, acknowledged by most other White leaders, only for it to fall with the loss of his armies. Some warlords who were aligned with the White movement, such as Grigory Semyonov and Roman Ungern von Sternberg, did not acknowledge any authority, the White movement had no set political leanings, members could be monarchists, rightists, etc. Moreover, other parties supported the anti-Bolshevik White Army, among them the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. But depending on the time and place, those White Army supporters might exchange right-wing allegiance for allegiance to the Red Army, the Volunteer Army in South Russia became the most prominent and the largest of the various and disparate White forces.
Starting off as a small and well-organized military in January 1918, the Kuban Cossacks joined the White Army, and conscription of both peasants and Cossacks began. In late February 1918,4,000 soldiers under the command of General Aleksei Kaledin were forced to retreat from Rostov-on-Don due to the advance of the Red Army, in 1919 the Don Cossacks joined and the Army began drafting Ukrainian peasants. In that year, between May and October, the Volunteer Army grew from 64,000 to 150,000 soldiers and was better supplied than its Red counterpart. The White Armys rank-and-file comprised active anti-Bolsheviks, such as Cossacks, the White movement had access to various naval forces, both sea-going and river-based. Note especially the use of the Black Sea Fleet, aerial forces available to the Whites included the Slavo-British Aviation Corps. The Russian ace Alexander Kazakov operated within this unit, the White movements leaders and first members came mainly from the ranks of military officers. Many came from outside the nobility, such as generals Mikhail Alekseev, the White generals never mastered administration, they often utilized prerevolutionary functionaries or military officers with monarchististic inclinations for administering White-controlled regions
Italian and Swiss expedition
Although by 1799 he was nearly seventy years old, Suvorov was one of the great soldiers of the age. He had won no fewer than sixty-three battles in the course of his military career. He was only recalled after the Austrians specifically requested that he be appointed to command the combined Austro-Russian army to fight the French in Italy. Taking command on 19 April, Suvorov moved his army westwards in a march towards the Adda River. On 27 April, he defeated Jean Victor Moreau at the Battle of Cassano, soon afterward, Suvorov wrote to a Russian diplomat, The Adda is a Rubicon, and we crossed it over the bodies of our enemies. On 29 April he entered Milan, two weeks later, he moved on to Turin, having defeated Moreau yet again at Marengo. The king of Sardinia greeted him as a hero and conferred on him the rank of Prince of the House of Savoy, from Naples, General MacDonald moved north to assist Moreau in June. Marching back to the north, the indomitable soldier chased the whole French Army of Italy back towards the Riviera, Moreau was relieved of command, to be replaced by Joubert.
Pushing through the Bocchetta Pass, Joubert was defeated and killed in battle with Suvorov at Novi to the north of Genoa. In 1798, Paul I gave Korsakov command of a force of 30,000 men sent to Germany to join Austria in the fight against the French Republic. At the beginning of 1799, the force was diverted to drive the French out of Switzerland, leaving Russia in May, Korsakov reached Stockach in 90 days. It was expected that Alexander Suvorovs army would join them from Italy after marching through the Alps, in the meantime, Korsakov waited near Zurich in a relaxed state of over-confidence. Korsakov took up a position on the east of the Rhine in the Dorflingen Camp between Schaffhausen and Constance, remaining there while Masséna was left free to deal with Suvorov and he joined Suvorov’s survivors at Lindau on 18 October, and was shortly after relieved of command. Although he succeeded in rescuing his army and did not lose a battle, Suvorovs spectacular manoeuvring in Italy. He was promoted to the rank of Generalissimo, the fourth in all of Russian history and it was as a consequence of this campaign that Suvorov wrote Rules for the Conduct of Military Actions in the Mountains.
He died in May 1800, having never fulfilled his greatest ambition – to meet Napoleon on the battlefield, a detailed account of the campaign was published in five volumes by Dmitry Milyutin in 1852–53. Suvorov remains vividly remembered in the parts of the Swiss Alps his army passed through, even though his famished troops plundered the countryside bare and his campaign was ultimately fruitless, the general is venerated as a liberator from the occupying French. Plaques adorn nearly every spot where he ate or slept in the Alps, chairs, a life-size equestrian statue was unveiled in 1999 on the St. Gotthard Pass
Lycurgus of Sparta
Lycurgus was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. All his reforms were directed towards the three Spartan virtues, military fitness, and austerity and he is referred to by ancient historians and philosophers Herodotus, Plato, Polybius and Epictetus. The following account comes almost exclusively from Plutarchs Life of Lycurgus and it is said that Lycurgus had risen to power when his older brother, the king, had died. With his father deceased, he was offered the throne, Lycurgus brother, had died with a pregnant wife. When this child was born, Lycurgus named the child, however, the young kings mother and her relatives envied and hated Lycurgus. Among other slanders, they accused Lycurgus of plotting the death of Charilaus, Lycurgus gave up all of his authority and went to the island of Crete. In Crete, Lycurgus met Thaletas the poet, Thaletas made his living as a musician at banquets, but in reality Thaletas was a teacher of civilization.
Eventually, Lycurgus persuaded Thaletas to go to Sparta with his songs to prepare the people for the new way of life that he intended to introduce later, Lycurgus carefully studied the forms of government in Crete and picked out what might be useful for Sparta. He travelled to Ionia to study the difference between the pleasure-loving Ionians and the sober Cretans, as study the difference between the sick and the healthy. Apparently he took this comparison to the Spartans, training one puppy in a manner and leaving the other to eat. The Spartans were taken by the discipline of Crete and liberties of Ionians at the same time, in Ionia, Lycurgus discovered the works of Homer. Lycurgus compiled the scattered fragments of Homer and made sure that the lessons of statecraft, after Lycurgus had been absent for a while, the Spartans wrote and begged Lycurgus to come back. As they admitted, only Lycurgus was really a king in their heart, although others wore a crown and he had the true foundation of sovereignty, a nature born to rule, and a talent for inspiring obedience.
Even the Spartan kings wanted Lycurgus to return because they saw him as one who could protect them from the people, Lycurgus had already decided that some fundamental changes would have to be made in Sparta. When he returned, he did not merely tinker with the laws, however, Lycurgus went to the Oracle at Delphi to ask for guidance. The Oracle told Lycurgus that his prayers had been heard and that the state which observed the laws of Lycurgus would become the most famous in the world, with such an endorsement, Lycurgus went to the leading men of Sparta and enlisted their support. He began with his closest friends, these friends widened the conspiracy by bringing in their own friends, when things were ripe for action, thirty of them appeared at dawn in the marketplace, fully armed for battle. According to the found in Plutarchs Lives and other sources
Italian unification
The process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The memory of the Risorgimento is central to both Italian politics and Italian historiography, for short period is one of the most contested. Italian nationalism was based among intellectuals and political activists, often operating from exile, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman province of Italy remained united under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Byzantine Empire. Following conquest by the Frankish Empire, the title of King of Italy merged with the office of Holy Roman Emperor. However, the emperor was a foreigner who had little concern for the governance of Italy as a state, as a result. This situation persisted through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with the rise of modern nation-states in the modern period. Italy, including the Papal States, became the site of proxy wars between the powers, notably the Holy Roman Empire and France.
Harbingers of national unity appeared in the treaty of the Italic League, in 1454, leading Renaissance Italian writers Dante Alighieri, Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini expressed opposition to foreign domination. Petrarch stated that the ancient valour in Italian hearts is not yet dead in Italia Mia, Niccolò Machiavelli quoted four verses from Italia Mia in The Prince, which looked forward to a political leader who would unite Italy to free her from the barbarians. I am an Italian, he explained, the French Republic spread republican principles, and the institutions of republican governments promoted citizenship over the rule of the Bourbons and Habsburgs and other dynasties. The reaction against any outside control challenged Napoleons choice of rulers, as Napoleons reign began to fail, the rulers he had installed tried to keep their thrones further feeding nationalistic sentiments. After Napoleon fell, the Congress of Vienna restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, vincenzo Gioberti, a Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under leadership of the Pope in his 1842 book, Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians.
Pope Pius IX at first appeared interested but he turned reactionary, Giuseppe Mazzini and Carlo Cattaneo wanted the unification of Italy under a federal republic. That proved too extreme for most nationalists, the middle position was proposed by Cesare Balbo as a confederation of separate Italian states led by Piedmont. One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari, a political discussion group formed in Southern Italy early in the 19th century. After 1815, Freemasonry in Italy was repressed and discredited due to its French connections, a void was left that the Carbonari filled with a movement that closely resembled Freemasonry but with a commitment to Italian nationalism and no association with Napoleon and his government. The response came from middle class professionals and business men and some intellectuals, the Carbonari disowned Napoleon but nevertheless were inspired by the principles of the French Revolution regarding liberty and fraternity. They developed their own rituals, and were strongly anticlerical, the Carbonari movement spread across Italy
House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet Italian branch of the Spanish line of the House of Bourbon. It is thus descended from the Capetian dynasty in male line, the name of Bourbon-Two Sicilies comes from the main name and the other from the title King of the Two Sicilies, itself a merger of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies resulted from the unification of the Kingdom of Sicily with the Kingdom of Naples, the two had been separated since the Sicilian Vespers of 1282. At the death of King Alfonso in 1458, the kingdom divided between his brother John II of Aragon, who kept Sicily, and his bastard son Ferdinand. In 1861 Two Sicilies became part of the newly founded Kingdom of Italy, when Prince Ferdinand Pius died in 1960, he left no direct male descendant, and two branches of the family claimed the right to succeed him as head of the house. Ferdinand Pius had two brothers and Ranieri. By the rule of primogeniture, headship would normally pass to Carlos, Alfonso offered a different interpretation of the Act of Cannes, describing it as effective only if Carlos should succeed to the Spanish throne.
He took the position that the Act of Cannes was invalid under the rules of the house of Two Sicilies itself. Children and male-line grandchildren of the King of the Two Sicilies bore the title Prince Royal of the Two Sicilies with the style of Royal Highness. Other agnatic descendants of the King, born of authorized marriages, the title of princess is born by the wives of the princes of the house provided the marriage is approved
Bolsheviks
The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk in Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues and they ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks or Reds came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, with the Reds defeating the Whites, and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism, in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means, Julius Martov suggested by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the partys organisations.
Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a core of active members. A main source of the factions could be attributed to Lenin’s steadfast opinion. It was obvious at early stages in Lenin’s revolutionary practices that he would not be willing to concede on any party policy that conflicted with his own predetermined ideas and it was the loyalty that he had to his own self-envisioned utopia that caused the party split. He was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow minded that he believed there were only two types of people and enemy—those who followed him, and all the rest. Leon Trotsky, one of Lenins fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Robespierre, Lenins view of politics as verbal and ideological warfare and his inability to accept criticism even if it came from his own dedicated followers was the reason behind this accusation. The root of the split was a book titled What is to be Done. that Lenin wrote while serving a sentence of exile, in Germany, the book was published in 1902, in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution.
One of the points of Lenin’s writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by the strong leadership of one person over the masses. After the proposed revolution had overthrown the government, this individual leader must release power. Lenin wrote that revolutionary leaders must dedicate their lives to the cause in order for it to be successful. Lenins view of a socialist intelligentsia showed that he was not a supporter of Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist idea of eliminating social classes, most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral, and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society, so Lenin’s variations caused the party internal dissonance. Although the party split of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks would not become official until 1903, as discussed in What is to be Done. Lenin firmly believed that a political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution
Republicanism
Republicanism is an ideology of being a citizen in a state as a republic under which the people hold popular sovereignty. Many countries are republics in the sense that they are not monarchies, this article covers only the ideology of republicanism. This form of government collapsed in the part of the 1st century BCE, giving way to what was a monarchy in form. Republics revived subsequently, for example, Renaissance Florence or early modern Britain, the concept of a republic became a powerful force in Britains North American colonies where it led to the American Revolution. In Europe, it gained influence through the French Revolution. In Ancient Greece, several philosophers and historians analysed and described elements we now recognize as classical republicanism, the Greek concept of politeia was rendered into Latin as res publica. Consequently, political theory until relatively recently often used republic in the sense of regime. There is no single written expression or definition from this era that exactly corresponds with an understanding of the term republic.
However, most of the features of the modern definition are present in the works of Plato, Aristotle. These include theories of mixed government and of civic virtue, for example, in The Republic, Plato places great emphasis on the importance of civic virtue together with personal virtue on the part of the ideal rulers. Indeed, in Book V, Plato asserts that until rulers have the nature of philosophers or philosophers become the rulers, there can be no civic peace or happiness. Aristotle considered Carthage to have been a republic as it had a system similar to that of some of the Greek cities, notably Sparta. Some of this history, composed more than 500 years after the events, with scant written sources to rely on, Polybius exerted a great influence on Cicero as he wrote his politico-philosophical works in the 1st century BCE. In one of works, De re publica, Cicero linked the Roman concept of res publica to the Greek politeia. However, the term republic, despite its derivation, is not synonymous with the Roman res publica.
This Roman Republic would, by an understanding of the word, still be defined as a true republic. Thus, Enlightenment philosophers saw the Roman Republic as an ideal system, several offices from the republican era, held by individuals, were combined under the control of a single person. These changes became permanent, and gradually conferred sovereignty on the Emperor, ciceros description of the ideal state, in De re publica, does not equate to a modern-day republic, it is more like enlightened absolutism
Revolution
Aristotle described two types of political revolution, Complete change from one constitution to another Modification of an existing constitution. Revolutions have occurred through history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration. Their results include major changes in culture and socio-political institutions, scholarly debates about what does and does not constitute a revolution center on several issues. Several generations of scholarly thought on revolutions have generated many competing theories, the word revolucion is known in French from the 13th century, and revolution in English by the late fourteenth century, with regards to the revolving motion of celestial bodies. Revolution in the sense of representing abrupt change in an order is attested by at least 1450. Political usage of the term had been established by 1688 in the description of the replacement of James II with William III. The process was termed The Glorious Revolution, there are many different typologies of revolutions in social science and literature.
One of several different Marxist typologies divides revolutions into pre-capitalist, early bourgeois, bourgeois-democratic, early proletarian, Charles Tilly, a modern scholar of revolutions, differentiated between a coup, a top-down seizure of power, a civil war, a revolt and a great revolution. Other types of revolution, created for other typologies, include the social revolutions, proletarian or communist revolutions, failed or abortive revolutions, the term revolution has been used to denote great changes outside the political sphere. Such revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed in society, culture and technology much more than political systems, some can be global, while others are limited to single countries. One of the examples of the usage of the word revolution in such context is the Industrial Revolution. Note that such revolutions fit the slow revolution definition of Tocqueville, a similar example is the Digital Revolution. Perhaps most often, the revolution is employed to denote a change in socio-political institutions.
Jeff Goodwin gives two definitions of a revolution and socioeconomic revolutions have been studied in many social sciences, particularly sociology, political sciences and history. Scholars of revolutions, like Jack Goldstone, differentiate four current generations of scholarly research dealing with revolutions, the scholars of the first generation such as Gustave Le Bon, Charles A. Second generation theorists sought to develop detailed theories of why and when revolutions arise and they can be divided into three major approaches, psychological and political. The works of Ted Robert Gurr, Ivo K. Feierbrand, Rosalind L. Feierbrand, James A. Geschwender, David C. Schwartz, the second group, composed of academics such as Chalmers Johnson, Neil Smelser, Bob Jessop, Mark Hart, Edward A. As in the school, they differed in their definitions of what causes disequilibrium
First Carlist War
The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1839, fought between factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy. It was fought between supporters of the regent, Maria Christina, acting for Isabella II of Spain, the Carlists supported return to an absolute monarchy. At the beginning of the 19th century, the situation in Spain was extremely problematic. During the Peninsula War, the Cortes met in Cádiz and elaborated the Spanish Constitution of 1812, at that point possibly the most modern and most liberal in the world. The 1805 Battle of Trafalgar had all but shattered the Spanish navy, with the Peninsular War leaving the Spanish society overwhelmed by continuous warfare and badly damaged by looting. While the Spanish Empire collapsed, the maritime trade trickled to the Americas and Philippines, the customary overseas revenue to the metropolis was at a historic low, the royal coffers were empty. Financing and recruitment to the military became a concern for the Spanish Crown, with the governments under King Ferdinand VII failing to provide new solutions.
During the Trienio Liberal, the progressive liberals decided to resort to the money lenders to revert the economic meltdown Spain was facing. They turned to Paris, and particularly London, where liberals had fled on Ferdinand VIIs comeback. In London and Paris, the liberals ruling Spain engaged in negotiations with the financiers Nathan Rothschild, for more than a decade, the pending liberal debt became for Ferdinand VIIs negotiators a persistent sticking point with these financiers during talks for new loan requests. Against a backdrop of on-off bankruptcy and solvency issues, towards the end of his life, Ferdinand VII of Spain had no male descendant, but two daughters and Luisa Fernanda. So he promulgated the above Pragmatic Sanction, to allow Isabella to become Queen after his death, without the above Pragmática Sanción, Carlos de Borbón, the kings brother, would have normally become king. He and his followers, such as Secretary of Justice Francisco Tadeo Calomarde, but the agonizing Ferdinand kept his decision and when he died on 29 September 1833, Isabella became the legitimate queen.
As she was only a child, a regent was needed, a strong absolutist party did not want to lose its position. Cea Bermudezs centrist government inaugurated a period of opening and return to Spain of many exiles in London and Paris, with state coffers yet again empty, the impending war, and the Trienio Liberal loan issue with the Rothschilds still not settled, Cea Bermudezs government fell. Brother against brother – father against son – best friend turned to bitterest foe – priests against their flocks – kindred against kindred, the autonomy of Aragon and Catalonia had been abolished in the 18th century by the Nueva Planta Decrees that created a centralised Spanish state. The resentment against the intervention of Madrid and the loss of autonomy was considerably strong. Meanwhile, the Spanish courtiers wanted to suppress the Basque fueros, the newly appointed Spanish courtiers supported some of the great powers against the Basques at least since the abolition of the Jesuit order and the Godoy regime
Carlism
Carlism was a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon dynasty on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina, and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws, the semi-salic law would have allowed this given the fact that Maria Theresa was the last member of the house of Habsburg. Carlism was a significant force in Spanish politics from 1833 until the end of the Francoist regime in 1975, in this capacity, it was the cause of Carlist Wars during the 19th century, and an important factor in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Today, Carlists are considered by some to be an entity, with Carlist claimants supported only by the most reactionary of the Spanish nobility. Traditionally, all but one of the Spanish kingdoms allowed the succession of daughters in the absence of sons, the most elaborate rules of succession formed part of the Siete Partidas of the late 13th century. On 1 November 1700 a French Bourbon prince, Philip V, in the French royal house, Salic law applied, which did not permit female succession.
This change was forced by external pressure to avoid any possible personal union of the Crown of Spain with a foreign monarchy like France. He decided in 1830 to promulgate the 1789 decree, securing the crown for the child even if female. The law placed the child, Princess Isabel, ahead of Ferdinands brother Infante Carlos, many contemporaries saw the changed succession as illegal on various counts. They formed the basis for the dynastic Carlist party, which recognized the semi-Salic succession law that gave Infante Carlos precedence over Ferdinands daughter. 1789, During the reign of Charles IV, the Cortes approves a reversion of the system of succession to the traditional Siete Partidas order of succession. However, the law was not promulgated, due in part to protests from the branches of the House of Bourbon. A new Spanish constitution outlines the rules of succession in accordance with the Siete Partidas,10 October 1830, The future Isabella II is born to Ferdinand VII. After several court intrigues, the Pragmatic Sanction is definitively approved in 1832, Ferdinands brother, the Infante Don Carlos, up to that time the heir presumptive, feels robbed of his rights, and leaves for Portugal.
Carlism confronted not only the question of who could sit on the Spanish throne. Should it remain Roman Catholic or embrace Enlightenment values, do governments derive their power from God or from human beings. The long war for Spains independence from the Napoleonic Empire left a supply of experienced guerrilla fighters. The reign of Ferdinand VII proved unable to overcome the political divide or to create stable institutions, while in power, both groups had divided themselves into moderate and radical branches
Plutarch
Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist, Plutarchs surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the town of Chaeronea, about 80 km east of Delphi. The name of Plutarchs father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, the name of Plutarchs grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarchs wife, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them and the second Plutarch, are often mentioned.
Plutarchs treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarchs son, but this is nowhere definitely stated. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67, at some point, Plutarch took Roman citizenship. He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, at his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays, Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once.
He busied himself with all the matters of the town. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, and Plutarch probably did not speak Illyrian. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving
