Plutarch and the Lagids: Representation and Imperial Advertising

This article seeks to analyze the representations of the Lagids and the Orient forged by Plutarch in Parallel Lives. Speaking from the point of view of a citizen of a Greek polis (Queroneia), who lived under Roman rule, Plutarch reconfigures facts, data and history itself, with his biographical writing that is simultaneously strategically dramatic, theatrical, emotional and moralizing. This article intends to show that Plutarch, forging the representation of the Ptolemaic dynasty, does so from an imperialist and orientalist perspective, following Roman ideology. The main analytical categories used to produce this text are imperialism, orientalism, and representation/identity. The methodology used in the analysis is based on the traditional form of the historian's work, that is, the internal and external criticism of the sources, combined with content analysis. We see that Plutarch, based on stereotyped oppositional dichotomies supported by Hellenic precepts, subordinates the Lagids and the Orient in favor of a supposed superiority based on a cultural and moral hierarchy, like in the Roman propaganda.Este artigo busca analisar as representações identitárias dos Lágidas e do Oriente forjadas por Plutarco em Vidas Paralelas. Ao falar de um lugar ideologicamente marcado, sob o ponto de vista de um cidadão de uma polis grega (Queroneia) que viveu sob o domínio romano, Plutarco reconfigura fatos, dados, enfim, a própria história, com uma escrita de cunho biográfico, documental e histórico e, ao mesmo tempo, estrategicamente, dramático, teatral, emocionado e moralizante. Busca-se mostrar que Plutarco, ao forjar a representação da dinastia Ptolomaica, o faz sob uma perspectiva imperialista e orientalista, coadunando com a ideologia romana. As principais categorias analíticas utilizadas na consecução deste texto são imperialismo, orientalismo e representação/identidade. A metodologia utilizada na análise baseia-se na forma tradicional do trabalho do historiador, qual seja, a das críticas internas e externas das fontes, aliada à análise de conteúdo. Vemos que Plutarco, a partir de dicotomias opositivas estereotipadas sustentadas por preceitos helênicos, subjuga os Lágidas e o Oriente, em prol de uma suposta superioridade baseada em uma hierarquização cultural e moral, em sintonia com a propaganda romana.This article seeks to analyze the representations of the Lagids and the Orient forged by Plutarch in Parallel Lives. Speaking from the point of view of a citizen of a Greek polis (Queroneia), who lived under Roman rule, Plutarch reconfigures facts, data and history itself, with his biographical writing that is simultaneously strategically dramatic, theatrical, emotional and moralizing. This article intends to show that Plutarch, forging the representation of the Ptolemaic dynasty, does so from an imperialist and orientalist perspective, following Roman ideology. The main analytical categories used to produce this text are imperialism, orientalism, and representation/identity. The methodology used in the analysis is based on the traditional form of the historian's work, that is, the internal and external criticism of the sources, combined with content analysis. We see that Plutarch, based on stereotyped oppositional dichotomies supported by Hellenic precepts, subordinates the Lagids and the Orient in favor of a supposed superiority based on a cultural and moral hierarchy, like in the Roman propaganda