Sandra,
Plutarch does mention some mythology, And a few of the Lives are about legendary/mythological men. BUT by far the most material is really a study in leadership–with good examples, and bad examples, and then contrasting the two. Most of the Lives are about REAL men, real leaders. The material here is definitely worthwhile, and we’ve been reading them for some years.
If you have problems with the mythology, there are a few simple things to do. One–simply skip those few lives at the beginning that are about the more legendary men. Focus on the real, historical men. Second—simply preread each Life and remove any references which bother you. (I actually recommend doing this anyway.) You can remove in this way any salacious or false-religion material that you do not want to deal with. (The ones that are covered by guides at Ambleside are partly gone through for you already). Actually, when we run into the references to sacrificing to the gods of the time–excellent opportunity to point out the difference between true religion and systems of false religion. And that they were doing the best that they had with the light they had at the time (most of the Lives are pre-Christ.) And when a person makes a dumb decision, say, by having a priest read entrails or listening to the Delphic oracle–then just discuss how modern decisionmakers can make decisions in dumb ways, too (Like global-warmism.) These are leadership studies. We have both good and bad leaders today, just as Plutarch found. In fact you might have your kids recognize a “type” in a Life that corresponds to someone today. (My kids find this all the time.) Prepping ahead allows you to both remove any material you feel is inappropriate and also allows you to provide historical context and look up some words that may be difficult (most of the good translations are a bit difficult.)
Also, we add in Biblical verses and perspective as we go. I often have verses that apply come to my mind when I prep a reading, and so we read those, and the kids often suggest other verses or ideas.
The ancient world has a lot of “un-Christian” material in it, the Lives included. However, in my home this is not a reason to reject the entire study of all the ancients, but to look at the ancients through the lens of Christ and learn what we can. If you are not comfortable with lots of mythology, you can still benefit from Plutarch. It’ll just take a bit of prep—but then Plutarch takes a bit of prep anyway. Also, I see no need to start Plutarch readings before the ages of 10-12, so we aren’t bathing your littles in it either. This is for older, serious students who want to know about leadership. We’ve found them very provocative and valuable and have had boisterous political discussions after readings. 🙂
Michelle
