Xenophon

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Xenophon (c.430-353 bc), Athenian soldier and author. Born into a wealthy family, he served in the cavalry and frequented Socratic circles. This background made him suspect in democratic Athens and, accepting a friend's invitation, he became a mercenary in Cyrus ‘the Younger’'s (424-401 bc) army. When the Greek generals were eliminated after Cunaxa, he played a leading role in the army's march through Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Armenia, and Anatolia. After a period in Thrace, they were hired by Sparta to help maintain the freedom of Asiatic Greeks from Persian rule. This fostered close contacts with leading Spartans, and when King Agesilaus returned to Greece Xenophon found himself fighting his fellow Athenians at Koroneia. In exile, he settled near Olympia, but moved to Corinth after Leuctra. There was reconciliation with Athens: Cavalry Commander and Ways and Means show sympathetic concern for the city, and his son Gryllus died fighting in the Athenian cavalry at Mantineia.

In semi-retirement Xenophon wrote historical narratives, Socratic texts, and miscellaneous technical and (broadly) political works. Common features are the importance of Xenophon's personal experience (though affective responses are unfortunately not nearly as prominent as intellectual ones) and a didactic strain, both practical and moral (Xenophon saw the two as closely linked). Warfare can obtrude anywhere (his Socrates discusses the Persian king's garrisons) but material for military historians comes mostly from three areas. (1) Spartan Constitution devotes three chapters to the army (‘hardly any military matter requiring attention is overlooked by the Spartans’— regrettably he does not review them all) and more generally illuminates the sociocultural context underlying Spartan military pretensions. (2) On Horsemanship deals with warhorses—mostly equestrian issues (acquisition and care; temperament; bits; deportment) but also armour and weaponry—while Cavalry Commander aims to improve the Athenian cavalry (characteristically) by improving its commander and offers a rather unsystematic review of his duties. Neither work says much about the actual use of cavalry in battle. (3) Hellenica (Greek history, 410-362 bc) mentions about 150 military engagements (and gives important, sometimes quirky, accounts of several major battles) and forms a substantial part of the database on classical Greek warfare. Another substantial part is Anabasis, a uniquely detailed account of a mercenary army and of Greeks in conflict with alien adversaries—though their experiences were almost too extraordinary to be generalizable and detail often serves to raise, not answer, questions. Cyropaedia asks how Cyrus the Great won and ruled a vast empire: the answer is primarily intelligent and sympathetic leadership (a prominent topic of Anabasis, indeed throughout Xenophon), but also involves military reforms, tactical training and deployment, and practical details which, despite the work's odd historiographic status, cannot be neglected by students of Greek and Achaemenid warfare.

Even more than other classical authors, Xenophon still seemed relevant to military theorists well into modern times. A late example is Gen Arthur Boucher (1847-1933), who wrote that the Anabasis was and would remain a military manual appropriate to free nations, since it showed how to turn their citizens into brave, obedient soldiers (important components here being the soldiers' respect for their leader, and the leader's concern not to waste his soldiers' lives) and offered the key to devising suitable battle plans and tactical formations. The date was 1913, and it was (nearly) the end of an era.

Bibliography

• Anderson, J. K., Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon (Berkeley, 1970).
• Tuplin, C. J., ‘Xenophon (1)’, in Oxford Classical Dictionary (Ox-ford, 1997)

— Christopher Tuplin

The Greek historian, essayist, and military expert Xenophon (ca. 430-ca. 355 B.C.) was the most popular of the Greek historians. He facilitated the change from the Thucydidean tradition of history to rhetoric.

The son of Gryllus of the Athenian deme of Erchia Xenophon was of aristocratic background and means. He studied under Socrates. Married to Philesia, he had two sons, both of whom were educated in Sparta. In 401, despite a warning from Socrates and consultation with the oracle at Delphi, he became involved in the expedition of Cyrus against Artaxerxes at the invitation of Proxenus of Thebes. Xenophon was initially unaware of Cyrus's true purpose, which was to gain the crown of Persia. After Cyrus was killed at the battle of Cunaxa in Babylonia, his troops dispersed; Clearchus and other Greek commanders were treacherously murdered by the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, and Xenophon was elected general.

The Spartan general Chirisophus and Xenophon took command of the retreat of the Ten Thousand, the Greek force trapped in the center of the Persian Empire. The generals led the Ten Thousand along the Tigris, across Armenia to Trapezus (modern Trabzon) on the Black Sea, to Chrysopolis (modern Ü sküdar) on the Bosporus in 399-an incredible journey of some 1,500 miles. This "March Up Country" is the subject of Xenophon's Anabasis.

Some of Xenophon's troops joined Seuthes, King of Thrace. In the spring of 399 others joined the Lacedaemonian Thibron, who warred against Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. We have no knowledge of Xenophon's activities in the years immediately thereafter. Three years later Xenophon joined the Spartan king Agesilaus in the continuing battle against Persia. A warm and intimate friendship grew up between the two men, and the eulogistic sketch Agesilaus is a permanent record of this friendship. When Agesilaus was recalled in 394, Xenophon accompanied him and was present at the battle against the Athenians at Coronea. He was then banished from Athens. There is some dispute as to whether his participation in the expedition of Cyrus against the Persian king, his close association with the Spartans, or his presence at the battle of Coronea with Athens's enemy was the reason.

Agesilaus gave Xenophon an estate at Scillus near Olympia in Elis, and he lived there happily, writing prolifically, until the Spartans were defeated at the battle of Leuctra in 371, when the Eleans expelled him. Xenophon is reported to have removed himself to Corinth, where he may have ended his days. Though the decree of banishment against him was revoked, probably in 369 (presumably because his "Laconism" was acceptable when Athens and Sparta were allies), Xenophon never returned to Athens. The exact date of his death is uncertain; tradition and a reference in the Hellenica (IV, 4, 35ff) to the assassination of Alexander of Pherae would seem to point to a time after 357 B.C., probably in 355. Apparently all his works have survived, and they may be arbitrarily grouped into three general categories.

Historical Works

The Anabasis ("March Up Country"), perhaps Xenophon's most famous and most exciting work, in seven books, was originally published under the pen name Themistogenes of Syracuse. It is a history of the expedition of the Greek mercenaries of the younger Cyrus through the Persian Empire. The Hellenica, in seven books, is a continuation of the history of Thucydides, from the Peloponnesian War to the Theban supremacy, and employs the annalistic method and exhibits a pro-Spartan bias. The period covered stretches from the end of Thucydides (411 B.C.) to the Battle of Mantinea (362 B.C.). There is some question about the division and completeness of the work. The encomium to Agesilaus may have been composed shortly after the Spartan king's death in 360. Written in the style of the rhetorician Gorgias, it is not carefully constructed.

Technical and Didactic Works

The Hipparchus, which is in two parts - one on memoranda and another on proposals for implementations - is a tract on the duties of a cavalry commander, addressed to one who is about to assume that position. The Cynegeticus is a curious medley on hunting, an enumeration of the pupils of Chiron, praise of the hunt, and an attack on the Sophists. On Equitation, the oldest treatise on the subject, is authoritatively done and well written.

Philosophical Works

Xenophon's philosophical writings fall into two subdivisions. The first, subject-or theme-oriented (political science, education, economics), includes The Lacedaemonian Constitution, an unequal and careless account of Spartan political institutions, adulatory in tone, assigning their origin to Lycurgus, with whom Xenophon identifies his own ideas; and the Cyropaedia, in eight books, described as a political romance. Using the history of the elder Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, Xenophon presents the reader with a dull, monotonous, repetitious handbook of ideal kingly behavior with Cyrus as the model. Considered Xenophon's most polished work, the Cyropaedia clearly demonstrates his dislike of democratic constitutions and his preference for a Spartanlike constitution, with practical advice for military commanders, lively descriptions of battle, and suggestions for the education of good citizens. The treatise On Revenues (On Finance) contains advice for the amelioration of the Athenian public treasury and also an argument for peace.

The second philosophical subdivision is much more concerned with individuals and their ethical behavior, particularly with Socrates. The most famous of this group is undoubtedly The Memorabilia of Socrates, in four books. Reflecting his own practical mind, Xenophon here strives to defend his teacher against the charges of impiety and corruption of youth; he proceeds through a series of conversations to illustrate Socrates's moral teachings. It is a limited picture of one side of the great philosopher, and a work whose historicity, construction, depth, credibility, and value have been subject to debate. The Apology of Socrates is a brief speech written to justify Socrates's weak defense of himself, and it claims to have recorded material from Hermogenes. Parts of it are found also in Plato. The Symposium is also useful for reconstructing the picture of Socrates. Its setting is the house of the rich Athenian Callias during a celebration of the victory of Autolycus at the Great Panathenaia in 422 B.C. The nature of love and friendship is the philosophical subject, and it is discussed with lightness and pleasantness, though Socrates's speech to Callias is pointedly serious. Plato may have written his Symposium as a corrective to Xenophon's. The Hieron, a dialogue between king Hiero of Syracuse and Simonides of Ceos, who paid a visit to Syracuse in 476, contrasts the lot of the ruler with that of a private person. Which of them is happier is argued out in a way that must have been of particular interest to the Socratics. The Oeconomicusis considered a charming work that reflects Xenophon's life at Scillus, though it is a dialogue between Socrates and Critobulus on estate management and records a discussion on the subject between Socrates and Ischomachus.

Although Xenophon's works were admired in antiquity, he is not an author of high critical ability or of outstanding intellectual or moral caliber. His style was simple and straightforward. A man of action as well as a man of letters, he was a nonprofessional in many subjects but a master of military science. More a popularizer and adapter of other people's works, he was not creative, profound, or even original. Nevertheless, he was a meticulous observer and a fair assessor of character, and his sympathies were broad and real.

Further Reading

There have been numerous translations of Xenophon's works, but no recent books of a general nature on Xenophon. G. B. Nussbaum, The Ten Thousand: A Study in Social Organization and Action in Xenophon's Anabasis (1967), is a useful study. Xenophon and his works are also discussed in Michael Grant, The Ancient Historians (1970), and Stephen Usher, The Historians of Greece and Rome (1970).

Xenophon . (c.428–c.354 BC), 1. Greek historian and disciple of Socrates. He was an Athenian, son of Gryllus, and had two sons Gryllus and Diodorus. As a knight (see HIPPEIS) and an associate of the aristocratic circle of young men around Socrates, he may have found life difficult in Athens during the oligarchic revolution and the democratic restoration (see FOUR HUNDRED and THIRTY TYRANTS), and he left in 401. At the invitation of his Boeotian friend Proxenus he joined the expedition of Cyrus the Younger, described in his Anabasis. After having extricated the Ten Thousand from this failed adventure by his own determination and military skill, he accepted service in 396 with the Spartan king Agesilaus to whom he became strongly attached, against the Persian Pharnabazus. When Agesilaus was recalled by events in Greece Xenophon accompanied him and was present (perhaps as a non-combatant) on the Spartan side at the battle of Coronea, against Athens and Boeotia, in 394. Already it seems he had been banished from Athens and his property confiscated. The Spartans provided him with an estate at Scillus near Olympia, and elected him the Spartan proxenos for the entertainment of Spartans visiting Olympia. Here he spent the next twenty years, enjoying the country life and writing his books. In 371 Elis claimed Scillus and Xenophon retired to Corinth. The decree of his banishment from Athens was revoked, probably c.368. When the Athenians were expelled from Corinth in 366 he returned to Athens; his two sons fought in the Athenian contingent on the Theban side at the battle of Mantinea in 362 and the elder, Gryllus, was killed.

Xenophon wrote on numerous subjects suggested by his varied experience (see individual titles). Socrates' personality made a profound impression on him and he wrote three books of recollections, Memorabilia, Apology, and Symposium. However, he has no real grasp of philosophy and seems to have misunderstood Socrates as profoundly as he admired him. (It is related that Socrates first met Xenophon, then a boy, in the street, and stopping him asked where various articles could be got. Xenophon told him. Socrates then asked, ‘Where can you get brave and virtuous men?’ and when Xenophon was puzzled told him to come with him.) Oeconomicus was inspired by his home life; Anabasis and Cyropaedia by his experiences in Persia; his treatises The Cavalry Commander, Horsemanship, and Cynegeticus by his military career and devotion to sport; Hellenica, Agesilaus, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, Hieron, and Revenues, by his acquaintance with political affairs in various countries. The Constitution of the Athenians, preserved among his works, is certainly not by him. As a historian Xenophon sometimes omits matters of importance and is guilty of taking sides. On military and sporting matters he is an expert and an enthusiast and writes engagingly. He was a pious man, possessed of great common sense, an easy, lucid, and agreeable writer. Quintilian speaks warmly of his unaffected charm.

2. Of Ephesus, see NOVEL.

(c. 428-c. 354 BC) Greek general and historian. Xenophon is remembered philosophically for a number of writings in which he sets out to rehabilitate Socrates from the various charges that led to his death. His Socrates tends to be a more reasonable kind of chap than that of Plato; for example, instead of embracing the Socratic paradox of identifying virtue with knowledge, he is aware that a training of the sentiments may be needed in order to keep knowledge of what one should do vivid in one's mind at the crucial moment.

Xenophon (zĕn'əfən), c.430 B.C.-c.355 B.C., Greek historian, b. Athens. He was one of the well-to-do young disciples of Socrates before leaving Athens to join the Greek force (the Ten Thousand) that was in the service of Cyrus the Younger of Persia. These troops served Cyrus at the disastrous battle of Cunaxa (401 B.C.). When Cyrus was killed, the Ten Thousand were forced to flee or surrender to the Persians. They retreated by fighting their way through an unknown and hostile land, harried by Tissaphernes. After the Greek generals had been treacherously killed by the Persians, Xenophon was chosen as one of the leaders of the heroic retreat. He tells the story in the most celebrated of his works, the Anabasis (see tr. by W. H. D. Rouse, 1947). After his return Xenophon, a great admirer of the military, disciplined, and aristocratic life of the Spartans, was in the service of Sparta. He accompanied Agesilaus II on the campaign that ended (394 B.C.) in victory over the Athenians and Thebans at Coronea. The Athenians passed a sentence of banishment on him. Sparta gave him an estate at Scillus in the region of Elis, where he spent years in writing. Among his works other than the Anabasis are the Hellenica, a continuation of the history of Thucydides to 362 B.C.; works on Socrates (Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, a dialogue between Socrates and Critobulus on managing a household and a farm; the Apology, on the death of Socrates; and the Symposium) presenting a prudent and practical picture of Socrates in contrast to Plato's philosophical portrait; a eulogy of Agesilaus; the Hieron, a dialogue on despotism, named after Hiero I of Syracuse; the Cyropaedia, a romantic and didactic account of the education of Cyrus the Great; and essays on hunting, horsemanship, the ideal cavalry officer, and the constitutional practices of Sparta.

Bibliography

See study by J. K. Anderson (1974).

IN BRIEF: n. - Greek general and historian.

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