Xenophon's lively and engaging account permits us to watch Cyrus as he builds a transnational empire, at once vast and stable. We find the etymological origins of two key terms in the title of thisarticle, “political” and “philosophy”, inancient Greek: the former originally pertaining to the polisor city-state; the latter being the practice of a particular kind ofinquiry conceived literally as the “love of wisdom”(philosophia). His output was formally varied—the main categories were long historical or ostensibly historical narratives, Socratic texts, and short technical, biographical, or political treatises—but these had common features, as enumerated below. Omissions? Many homotīmoi found this unfair because their military training was no better than the commoners, only their education, and hand-to-hand combat was less a matter of skill than strength and bravery. There is an echo of this statement, verifying Xenophon and contradicting Herodotus, in the Harran Stele, a document from the court of Nabonidus. A more charitable, and fairer, description would be that his style is understated—the range of stylistic figures is modest, and the finest effects are produced by his simplicity of expression. Xenophon, an Athenian, was born in 431 B.C. The December 2017 newspoll had Xenophon and his SA Best team sitting on a remarkable 32 per cent of primary votes to the Liberals 29 per cent, with Labor languishing at 27 per cent. "He decided to quit the Liberal Party and join a Labor Cabinet because he wanted to make a difference — and that's exactly what he's done." Some scholars[23] go so far as to say his views aligned with those of the democracy in his time. By this example Xenophon sought to show that empires lacked stability and could only be maintained by a person of remarkable prowess, such as Cyrus. Professor of Ancient History, University of Liverpool, England. Once there, they helped Seuthes II make himself king of Thrace, before being recruited into the army of the Spartan general Thimbron (who Xenophon referes to as Thibron). Xenophon’s works includes a selection of Socratic dialogues; these writings are completely preserved. Thus he puts into the latter’s mouth what he would have thought him to say. 11 Cf. [29] The Persian hardiness and austerity is combined with the luxuriousness of the Medes, two qualities that cannot coexist. "Laconism and Democracy: Re-reading the Lakedaimoniōn Politeia and Re-thinking Xenophon" in Joanne Paul ed., Steven W. Hirsch, "1001 Iranian Nights: History and Fiction in Xenophon’s. Xenophon received an estate in Scillus where he spent the next twenty three years. This work aspires to be a contribution to classical scholarship since it attempts to: (1) shed further light on the literary character of Xenophon’s oeuvre; (2) offer new interpretation of passages and themes; and (3) put emphasis on passages that scholars have not pointed out and which offer important insights to the thought of Xenophon. Usher, S. "Xenophon, Critias and Theramenes". Nick Xenophon’s SA Best election foray failed because the party went from keeping the bastards honest to “being another one of the bastards”, according to a pointed appraisal by a high-profile candidate as the party sifts through the rubble of its campaign. The persistence and skill of the Greek soldiers were used by proponents of Panhellenism as proof that the Persians were vulnerable. although according to Herodotus and the current consensus the Medians had been made "slaves" of the Persians several years previously. The Cyropaedia relates instead that Astyages died and was succeeded by his son Cyaxares II, the maternal uncle of Cyrus (1.5.2). To succeed his goal of making the world better he created a new constitution. "Apologizing for Socrates: Plato and Xenophon on Socrates’ Behavior in Court." Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? Dodge says of Xenophon's generalship, "Xenophon is the father of the system of retreat, the originator of all that appertains to the science of rear-guard fighting. [4] Xenophon was elected a commander of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries at the age of 30. Too prominent to be unscathed by Sparta’s loss of authority after the Battle of Leuctra (371), Xenophon was expelled from Scillus and is said to have settled in Corinth—though here, as elsewhere, the biographical tradition is of debatable authority, since the episode does not appear in Xenophon’s own writings. Dillery is ideally suited both to evaluate the merits and shortcomings of new work on leadership in Xenophon, and to synthesise and expand the most important themes suggested by the authors. The Anabasis is a narrative of how "Xenophon rouses the despairing Greeks into action and leads them on their long march home; and the narrative of his successes has won him noteworthy if uneven admiration for over two millennia."[7]. Xenophon was elected a commander of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries at the age of 30. The Carduchians were "a fierce, war-loving race, who had never been conquered. Hamilton became involved with politics. Experience as a mercenary and a military leader, service under Spartan commanders in Ionia, Asia Minor, Persia and elsewhere, exile from Athens, and friendship with King Agesilaus II endeared Xenophon to the Spartans. Xenophon is best known for his historical works. He had a great contribution to the government world and also the great America. Located in the fertile plain known as “Mesogeia” (literally “middle earth”) and overlooked by the beautiful mountains Hymettus and Penteli, Erchia was about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the bustling center of Athens–about a three hour walk or one hour brisk horseback ride. But Steven Hirsch writes, "Yet there are occasions when it can be confirmed from Oriental evidence that Xenophon is correct where Herodotus is wrong or lacks information. The opening line reads: It occurred to me one day that Sparta, though among the most thinly populated of states, was evidently the most powerful and most celebrated city in Greece; and I fell to wondering how this could have happened. Xenophon framed Socrates’ defense, which both men admit was not prepared at all, not as failure to effectively argue his side, but as striving for death even in the light of unconvincing charges. The Ten Thousand eventually made their way into the land of the Carduchians, a wild tribe inhabiting the mountains of modern southeastern Turkey. 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 (2.6[clarification needed]). A student and a friend of Socrates, Xenophon wrote several Socratic dialogues - Symposium, Oeconomicus, Hiero, a tribute to Socrates - Memorabilia, and a recount of the philosopher's trial in 399 BC - Apology of Socrates to the Jury. No general ever possessed a grander moral ascendant over his men. Johnson reads even more deeply into the centaur label. Despite effective fighting by the Greeks, Cyrus was killed in the battle (Anabasis 1.8.27–1.9.1). As the name homotīmoi ("equal", or "same honours" i.e. The format of his book, Oeconomicus , will be familiar to lovers of Plato, as it’s a dialogue between Socrates and Crito of Alopece (Critobulus) about the proper way to manage an estate. These ideas were transmitted beyond theconfines of the classical polis as the Greek city-states cameunder the suzerainty of larger kingdoms after an initial Macedonianconquest at the end of the fourth century B.C; those kingd… Then, "the other men followed his example, and made it a sort of game, enjoying the sensation, pleasant alike to old and young, of courting danger for a moment, and then quickly escaping it. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 27, No. In Xenophon, unlike Plato, there is no divide between philosophical dialectic and the mere rhetoric of politics. The difference between the two thinkers results from their divergent … In Oeconomicus, Socrates explains how to manage a household. He is known for his writings, especially his Anabasis, Memorobilia and his Apology (the latter two dealing with Socrates and, besides Platos writings, the basis for what we know of Socrates) though ancient sources claim that he wrote more than forty books which were very popular (including an important treatise on horses). [20] The Persians negotiated a temporary truce and the Greek army retired for a winter camp at Byzantium. He reduced its management to a perfect method. Xenophon's admiration for his teacher is clear in writings such as Symposium, Apology, and Memorabilia. The ability to rule consists above all in the ability to convince others that one is worthy of rule. Third, Xenophon’s agenda was essentially didactic (usually with direct or indirect reference to military or leadership skills), and it was often advanced through the use of history as a source of material. This page was last edited on 7 December 2020, at 12:40. But when I considered the institutions of the Spartans, I wondered no longer.[31]. Xenophon’s Socratic education was the most formative experience of his life and is the crucial reason why he is significant to scholars of politics. His ethical system contained little that jars in modern terms; but in today’s cynical world, the apparent ingenuousness of its expression strikes some as by turns bland and irritating. When a Greek coalition, including Athens, rebelled against Spartan hegemony in mainland Greece, Xenophon fought (at Coronea in 394) for Sparta. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. His Anabasis (“Upcountry March”) in particular was highly regarded in antiquity and had a strong influence on Latin literature. In the Nabonidus Chronicle, there is mention of the death of the wife of the king (name not given) within a month after the capture of Babylon. Also in 398, the Spartan ephors officially cleared the Ten Thousand of any previous wrong doing (Ten Thousand were likely a part of the investigation of Thimbron's failure at Larissa) and fully integrate the Ten Thousand into Dercylidas' army. These works were probably written by Xenophon when he was living in Scillus. Xenophon of Athens (430-c.354 BCE) was a contemporary of Plato and a fellow student of Socrates. Moles, J.L. “Nick Xenophon who in 2007 cut and run from the South Australian Parliament just 18 months into an eight-year term saying that state politics was largely irrelevant and all … Xenophon ordered small parties of his men to appear on the hill road, and when the defenders fired, one soldier would leap into the trees, and he "did this so often that at last there was quite a heap of stones lying in front of him, but he himself was untouched." In section 4.3 of the Cyropaedia Cyrus makes clear his desire to institute cavalry. Strassler, Robert B., John Marincola, & David Thomas. [29] In a further analysis of the centaur model, Cyrus is likened to a centaur such as Chiron, a noble example from an ignoble race. Xenophon was a student of Socrates, and their personal relationship is evident through a conversation between the two in Xenophon’s Anabasis. Aside from classical specialists perhaps few today know of Xenophon. Nevertheless, much of Xenophon's Socratic writing, especially Apology, concerns that very trial and the defence Socrates put forward. He cites the regression of the Persians directly after the death of Cyrus as a result of this instability, a union made possible only through the impeccable character of Cyrus. In labelling Persians as centaurs through the mouth of Cyrus, Xenophon plays upon the popular post-Persian-war propagandistic paradigm of using mythological imagery to represent the Greco-Persian conflict. There is no mention of the Persians, Senator Xenophon has described the state of South Australian politics as "a triumph of low expectations". Nick Xenophon is well known in Australia, having entered the Senate in 2007, and before that the South Australian Legislature in 1997, previously practising law. However, Xenophon quickly devised a plan: all goats, cows, sheep and donkeys were slaughtered and their bodies stuffed with hay, laid across the river and sewn up and covered with dirt so as not to be slippery. [6] Detailed accounts of events in Hellenica suggest that Xenophon personally witnessed the Return of Alcibiades in 407 BC, the Trial of the Generals in 406 BC, and the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants in 403 BC. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch" or Pseudo-Xenophon, detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes, but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes. 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 BC - 362 BC) ending with the Second Battle of Mantinea. Failing to capture Larissa, the Greeks fall back to Caria. According to some scholars, his philosophical skills made him far better able than Xenophon was to understand Socrates and therefore more valuable a source of information about him. The Cyropaedia as a whole lavishes a great deal of praise on the first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, on account of his virtue and leadership quality, and it was through his greatness that the Persian Empire held together. By showing that only someone who is almost beyond human could conduct such an enterprise as empire, Xenophon indirectly censures imperial design. When Cyaxares died about two years later the Median kingdom passed peaceably to Cyrus, so that this would be the true beginning of the Medo-Persian Empire under just one monarch. Detailed account of Xenophon's life starts 401 BC. Conversely, while not omitting it completely, Plato worked to temper that arrogance in his own Apology. After facing the court at Sparta, Thimbron is banished. The system’s interconnection with the gods may challenge readers who either disavow the divine or are not reconciled to a pagan theological environment, simply because—in ethical contexts, though not in specific ritual ones (as illustrated in Anabasis, Book VII)—divine power in Xenophon is frequently anonymous and often singular or because he could apparently take a pragmatic attitude (e.g., posing a question to the Delphic oracle that was framed to produce the “right” answer). Farrell, Christopher A. The oracle answered his question and told him which gods to pray and sacrifice to. Argument ensued as to how the spoils would now be split, and Cyrus enforced a meritocracy. But Xenophon uses this conversation, in the last book of the Memorabilia, to point to a kind of common denominator shared by all students, at least at the beginning of their education. Therefore you are at once able to judge for yourselves the reason why were are not at fault now, although we were then."[21]. Under the pretext of fighting Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap of Ionia, Cyrus assembled a massive army composed of native Persian soldiers, but also a large number of Greeks. In the Battle of the Carduchian Defile, Xenophon had 8,000 men feint at this host and marched the other 2,000 to a pass revealed by a prisoner under the cover of a rainstorm, and "having made their way to the rear of the main pass, at daylight, under cover of the morning mist, they boldly pushed in upon the astonished Carducians. That Xenophon was able to acquire the means of feeding his force in the heart of a vast empire with a hostile population was astonishing. Xenophon's father, Gryllus was a member of a wealthy equestrian family. Vol. Plato and Xenophon. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Xenophon, Encyclopædia Iranica - Biography of Xenophon, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of Xenophon, Ancient History Encyclopedia - Biography of Xenophon, Xenophon - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). However, following the lead of Leo Strauss, David Johnson suggests that there is a subtle but strong layer to the book in which Xenophon conveys criticism of not only the Persians but the Spartans and Athenians as well.[29]. The two writers seem more concerned about answering questions that arose after the trial than about the actual charges. Historians have asked whether Xenophon's portrait of Cyrus was accurate or if Xenophon imbued Cyrus with events from Xenophon's own life. [22] Although Xenophon seems to prefer oligarchy, or at least the aristocracy, especially in light of his associations with Sparta, none of his works puts a major focus on attacking democracy. Xenophon was one of the men selected to replace five generals seized and executed by the Persians. Xenophon’s affinity for the Spartans is clear in the Constitution of the Spartans, as well as his penchant for oligarchy. "Xenophon's Developing Historiography". Both the Apology and the Memorabilia defend Socrates’ character and teachings. 2, pp. He did this by endowing a fictional version of the boyhood of Cyrus the Great, founder of the first Persian Empire, with the qualities of what Xenophon considered the ideal ruler. The blare of their many trumpets gave notice of their successful detour to Xenophon, as well as added to the confusion of the enemy. 105–112. Xenophon’s life history before 401 is scantily recorded; at that time, prompted by a Boeotian friend, he left postwar Athens, joined the Greek mercenary army of the Achaemenian prince Cyrus the Younger, and became involved in Cyrus’s rebellion against his brother, the Persian king Artaxerxes II. The Review of Politics 72 (2010), 189-211. Socrates - Socrates - Plato: Plato, unlike Xenophon, is generally regarded as a philosopher of the highest order of originality and depth. And as he did not know, he said, ‘Follow me, then, and learn.’ And from this time forth, Xenophon became a follower of Socrates. The consensus is that Cyrus’s career is best outlined in the Histories of Herodotus. "Irony and the Narrator in Xenophon's Anabasis", in, Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. Xenophon’s lessons on leadership have been reconsidered for their modern-day value. Also, after the war he created a new law office ( Clemens p.7 ). Xenophon was one of the men selected to replace five generals seized and executed by the Persians. [10] Tissaphernes pursued Xenophon with a vast force, and when the Greeks reached the wide and deep Great Zab River, it seemed they were surrounded. "They say that Socrates met [Xenophon] in a narrow lane, and put his stick across it and prevented him from passing by, asking him where all kinds of necessary things were sold. The linking of moral code and education is an especially pertinent quality subscribed to Cyrus that O’Flannery believes is in line with modern perceptions of leadership.[35]. As Johnson asserts, this passage decries imperial meritocracy and corruption, for the homotīmoi now had to sychophantize to the emperor for positions and honours;[29] from this point they were referred to as entīmoi, no longer of the "same honours" but having to be "in" to get the honour. Were likely spent in relative leisure here, and politicians xenophon contribution to politics Xenophon met.. The only surviving representatives of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries at the post-election party at the trial of Socrates defend..., he carries the burden of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries at the age of.... 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