The aim of this study is to explore the topic of the death during the banquet in Plutarch’s
Vitae. The motif is frequent in classical literature and various authors provide us with numerous
examples and the question arises whether we are dealing with a literary topos or rather with
historical facts. Can we find a structural relationship between the texts? By means of an analysis
of Alexander, Arquias-Pelopidas and others shorter quotations we will try to determine how
Plutarch saw these events and why the conjurers chose this occasion to fulfil their objective.