Everything about Xenophon totally explained
Xenophon (In
Greek Ξενοφῶν, ca.
431 –
355 BC), son of Gryllus, of the
deme Erchia of
Athens, was a
soldier,
mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of
Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of
his own times, the sayings of Socrates, and the life of
Greece.
Life and writings
Xenophon's birth date is uncertain, but most scholars agree that he was born in
431 BC around Athens, Greece. Xenophon was born the son of an Athenian knight, thus granting him access to certain privileges of the aristocracy of Ancient 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. Xenophon says that he'd asked the veteran
Socrates for advice on whether to go with Cyrus, and that Socrates referred him to the divinely inspired
Delphic oracle. Xenophon's query to the
oracle, however, wasn't whether or not to accept Cyrus' invitation, but "to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune." So the oracle told him which gods to pray and sacrifice to. When Xenophon returned to
Athens and told Socrates of the oracle's advice,
Socrates chastised him.
Under the pretext of fighting
Tissaphernes, Cyrus assembled a massive army composed of native Persian soldiers, but also a large number of Greeks, whom he viewed as superior fighters. Prior to waging war against the emperor, Cyrus proposed that the enemy was the
Pisidians, and so the Greeks were unaware that they were to battle against the larger army of King
Artaxerxes II. At Tarsus the soldiers became aware of Cyrus' plans to dispose of the king, and as a result refused to continue. Clearchus, however, convinced the Greeks to continue with the expedition. The army of Cyrus met the army of Artaxerxes II in the
Battle of Cunaxa. Despite effective fighting by the Greeks, Cyrus was killed in the battle. Shortly thereafter, the Greek general
Clearchus of
Sparta was invited to a peace conference, where, alongside four other generals and many captains, he was betrayed and executed. The
mercenaries, known as the
Ten Thousand, found themselves without leadership far from the sea, deep in hostile territory near the heart of
Mesopotamia. They elected new leaders, including Xenophon himself, and fought their way north through hostile Persians,
Armenians, and
Kurds to
Trapezus on the coast of the
Black Sea. They then sailed westward back to
Greece. On the way back, they helped
Seuthes II make himself king of
Thrace. Xenophon's record of the entire expedition against the Persians and the journey home was titled
Anabasis ("The Expedition" or "The March Up Country"). It is worth noting that the
Anabasis was used as a field guide by
Alexander the Great during the early phases of his expedition into Persia.
Xenophon was later exiled from Athens, most likely because he fought under the Spartan king
Agesilaus II against Athens at
Coronea. (However, there may have been contributory causes, such as his support for Socrates, as well as the fact that he'd taken service with the Persians.) The
Spartans gave him property at
Scillus, near
Olympia in Elis, where he composed the
Anabasis. However, because his son Gryllus fought and died for Athens at the
Battle of Mantinea while Xenophon was still alive, Xenophon's banishment may have been revoked. Xenophon died in either
Corinth or Athens. His date of death is uncertain; historians only know that he survived his patron
Agesilaus II, for whom he wrote an
encomium.
Diogenes Laertius says Xenophon was sometimes known as the "Attic Muse" for the sweetness of his diction; very few poets wrote in the
Attic dialect. Xenophon is often cited as being the original "
horse whisperer", having advocated sympathetic
horsemanship in his "
On Horsemanship". He also reports that Xenophon had a young
eromenos whom he
loved and of whom he said: "Now I look upon Clinias with more pleasure than upon all the other beautiful things which are to be seen among men; and I'd rather be blind as to all the rest of the world, than as to
Clinias. And I'm annoyed even with night and with sleep, because then I don't see him; but I'm very grateful to the sun and to daylight, because they show Clinias to me."
Xenophon's standing as a political philosopher has been defended in recent times by
Leo Strauss, who devoted a considerable part of his philosophic analysis to the works of Xenophon, returning to the high judgment of Xenophon as a thinker expressed by
Shaftesbury,
Winckelmann, and
Machiavelli. Strauss's reading has been heavily criticized, notably by classicist
Myles Burnyeat, as attempting to force Socrates into the mould of
Strauss's own philosophical views.
Pointing (1991) cites Xenophon as one of the first thinkers to argue that the ordered world must have been conceived by a God or gods. Xenophon's
Memorabilia poses the argument that all animals are "only produced and nourished for the sake of humans" (Pointing, 1991 p.142) and Pointing argues that this reasoning isn't undermined until the emergence of scientific thought and Darwinian evolution in the nineteenth century.
List of works
Xenophon's writings, especially the
Anabasis, are often read by beginning students of the
Greek language. His
Hellenica is a major primary source for events in Greece from
411 to
362 BC, and his Socratic writings, preserved complete, are the only surviving representatives of the genre of
Sokratikoi logoi other than the dialogues of Plato.
Historical and biographical works
Socratic works and dialogues
Memorabilia
Oeconomicus
Symposium
Apology
The so Called Hero
Short treatises
On Horsemanship
The Cavalry General
Hunting with Dogs
Ways and Means
Constitution of Sparta
In addition, a short treatise on the Constitution of Athens exists that was once thought to be by Xenophon, but which was probably written when Xenophon was about five years old. This is found in manuscripts among the short works of Xenophon, as though he'd written it also. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch", detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes, but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes. Leo Strauss has argued that this work is in fact by Xenophon, whose ironic posing he believes has been utterly missed by contemporary scholarship.Further Information
Get more info on 'Xenophon'.
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