Xenophon

For other uses, see Xenophon (disambiguation).

Xenophon of Athens
Bust statue of Xenophon
Bornc. 430 BC
Athens
DiedProbably 354 or 355 BC[1] (aged c. 74 or 75)
likely Corinth[2]
Occupations
  • Military leader
  • mercenary
  • philosopher
  • historian
  • writer
Notable work
SpousePhilesia
ChildrenGryllus and Diodorus
ParentGryllus

Xenophon of Athens (/ˈzɛnəfən, ˈziːnə-, -ˌfɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ξενοφῶν;[a] c. 430 – probably 355 or 354 BC)[1][3] was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been part of Cyrus the Younger's attempt to seize control of the Achaemenid Empire. As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior".[4] Xenophon established precedents for many logistical operations and was among the first to describe strategic flanking maneuvers and feints in combat.[citation needed]

For at least two millennia, it has been debated whether or not Xenophon was first and foremost a general, historian, or philosopher. For the majority of time in the past two millennia, Xenophon was recognized as a philosopher. Quintilian in The Orator's Education discusses the most prominent historians, orators and philosophers as examples of eloquence and recognizes Xenophon's historical work, but ultimately places Xenophon next to Plato as a philosopher. Today, Xenophon is recognized as one of the greatest writers of antiquity.[5] Xenophon's works span multiple genres and are written in plain Attic Greek, which is why they have often been used in translation exercises for contemporary students of the Ancient Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laërtius observed that Xenophon was known as the "Attic Muse" because of the sweetness of his diction.[6]

Despite being born an Athenian citizen, Xenophon came to be associated with Sparta, the traditional opponent of Athens. Much of what is known today about the Spartan society comes from Xenophon's royal biography of the Spartan king Agesilaus and the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians. The sub-satrap Mania is primarily known through Xenophon's writings. Xenophon's Anabasis recounts his adventures with the Ten Thousand while in the service of Cyrus the Younger, Cyrus's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from Artaxerxes II of Persia, and the return of Greek mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the Battle of Cunaxa.

Xenophon wrote Cyropaedia, outlining both military and political methods used by Cyrus the Great to conquer the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. Anabasis and Cyropaedia inspired Alexander the Great and other Greeks to conquer Babylon and the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC.[7][page needed] The Hellenica continues directly from the final sentence of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War covering the last seven years of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) and the subsequent forty-two years (404–362 BC) ending with the Second Battle of Mantinea.

  1. ^ a b Lu, Houliang (2014). Xenophon's Theory of Moral Education. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-1443871396. In the case of Xenophon's date of death most modern scholars agree that Xenophon died in his seventies in 355 or 354 B.C.
  2. ^ "Xenophon". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  3. ^ Bearzot, Cinzia (2013). The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p. 7148. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah08169. ISBN 9781444338386. Retrieved 29 August 2024. He [Xenophon] died shortly after 354.
  4. ^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge, Alexander: A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War from Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301, Vol. 1, Houghton Mifflin, 1890, p. 105.
  5. ^ Gray, Vivienne J., ed. (2010). Xenophon (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies). Xenophon's works and controversies about how to read them: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199216185.
  6. ^ Diogenes Laërtius. Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. Book II, part 6.
  7. ^ Nadon, Christopher (2001). Xenophon's Prince: Republic and Empire in the Cyropaedia. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520224043.


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