Xenophon

Xenophon (In Greek Template:Polytonic, c. 427-355 BCE) was a soldier, mercenary and Athenian student of Socrates and is known for his writings on the history of his own times, the sayings of Socrates, and the life of Greece.

While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition led by Cyrus the Younger against his older brother, the emperor Artaxerxes II of Persia, in 401 BC. In this, Cyrus employed many Greek mercenaries, unemployed now the Peloponnesian War was over. Cyrus fought Artaxerxes at Cunaxa; the Greeks were victorious but Cyrus was killed; and shortly thereafter their general, Clearchus of Sparta, was invited to a peace conference, betrayed, and executed. The mercenaries, the Ten Thousand Greeks, found themselves deep in hostile territory, near the heart of Mesopotamia, far from the sea, and without leadership. They elected new leaders, including Xenophon himself, and fought their way north through Armenia to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea and then sailed westward and back to Greece. In Thrace, they helped Seuthes II make himself king. Xenophon's record of this expedition and the journey home was titled Anabasis ("Expedition" or "The March Up Country" ).

Xenophon was exiled from Athens, probably because he fought under the Spartan king Agesilaus against Athens at Coroneia. (It is possible that he had already been exiled for his association with Cyrus, however.) The Spartans gave him property at Scillus, near Olympia, in Elis, where his Anabasis was composed. His son fought for Athens at Mantinea, while Xenophon was still alive, so Xenophon's banishment may have been revoked. Xenophon died at Corinth, or perhaps Athens, and his date of death is uncertain; it is known only that he survived his patron Agesilaus, for whom he wrote an encomium.

Xenophon is often cited as being the original "horse whisperer", having advocated sympathetic horsemanship in his On Horsemanship.

List of Works

Xenophon's writings, especially the Anabasis, are often read by beginning students of the Greek language. His Hellenica is one chief source for events in Greece from 411 to 362, and his Socratic writings, preserved entire, are the only surviving representatives of the genre of Sokratikoi logoi other than the dialogues of Plato.

Historical and Biographical works

• Anabasis
• Cyropaedia
• Hellenica
• Agesilaus

Socratic works and dialogues

• Memorabilia
• Oeconomicus
• Symposium
• Apology
• Hiero

Short treatises

• On Horsemanship
• The Cavalry General
• Hunting with Dogs
• Ways and Means
• Constitution of Sparta

In addition, we have a short treatise, which was written when Xenophon was about five, on the Constitution of Athens. This is found in manuscripts among the short works of Xenophon, as though he had written it also. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch", detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes - but argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes.

Project Gutenberg e-texts

• Project Gutenberg e-texts of some of Xenophon's works (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/author?name=Xenophon):
• Agesliaus (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1169)
• Anabasis (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1170)
• The Apology (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1171)
• The Cavalry General (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1172)
• Cyropaedia (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2085)
• The Economist (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1173)
• Hellenica (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1174)
• Hiero (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1175)
• The Memorabilia (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1177)
• On Horsemanship (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1176)
• On Revenues (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1179)
• The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1178)
• The Sportsman (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1180)
• The Symposium (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1181)

External links

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Xenophon (http://www.iep.utm.edu/x/xenophon.htm)
• Graham Oliver's Xenophon Homepage (http://www.liv.ac.uk/~gjoliver/xenophon.html)
• Xenophon's Education of Cyrus (Cyropaedia) Web directory (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/small/10.html)
• Xenophon's Socratic Works (http://www.ironyage.com/alderman/xenophon/)da:Xenofon

de:Xenophon et:Xenophon eo:Ksenofono fr:Xénophon he:קסנופון lt:Ksenofontas nl:Xenophon ja:クセノポン pl:Ksenofont ru:Ксенофонт sk:Xenofon fi:Ksenofon sv:Xenofon uk:Ксенофонт