Xenophon
Sign in to saveXenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) 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".
AI overview
Xenophon was an ancient Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian who gained fame by helping lead the retreat of ten thousand Greek mercenaries after their employer's failed attempt to conquer the Persian Empire around 355 BC. His military accomplishments were so remarkable that later historians considered him one of history's greatest warriors, and his writings preserve important accounts of his experiences.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 0430-00-00
- Died
- 0354-01-01
- Works
- 26
Top works
- Xenophon's Cyropaedia
- Kyrou Anavasis
- Memorabilia; Edited on the Basis of the Breitenbach-Mücke Ed. by Josiah Renick Smith
- Xenophon's Agesilaus; with Syntax Rules and References, Notes and Indices
- Plato Apology of Socrates and Crito, With Extracts from the Phaedo and Symposium and from Xenophon's Memorabilia
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 4,244
- Total plays
- 16,649
Tags
Old school EBMebmelectro-industrial
Works in European collections
33 objects attributed to Xenophon, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
![Xenophontos Tà Sōzómena Biblía = Xenophontis (viri armoru [m] & literaru [m] laude celeberrimi) Qvae Extant Opera](https://api.europeana.eu/thumbnail/v2/url.json?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsb-muenchen-digital.de%2Fweb1105%2Fbsb11054269%2Fimages%2Fbsb11054269_00003.jpg&type=IMAGE)
![Xenophontis Memorabilia Socratis Graece. [1], [Text]](https://api.europeana.eu/thumbnail/v2/url.json?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsb-muenchen-digital.de%2Fweb1023%2Fbsb10238828%2Fimages%2Fbsb10238828_00007.jpg&type=IMAGE)
Article
30 sectionsContents
- Life
- Early years
- ''Anabasis''
- Return
- Conflicts
- Life after ''Anabasis''
- Political philosophy
- ''Cyropaedia''
- Relations between Medes and Persians in the ''Cyropaedia''
- Persians as centaurs
- Against empire
- Against meritocracy
- ''Constitution of the Spartans''
- Old Oligarch
- Socratic works and dialogues
- Relationship with Socrates
- Modern reception
- List of works
- Historical and biographical works
- Socratic works and dialogues
- Defences of Socrates
- Other Socratic dialogues
- Tyrants
- Short treatises
- Spuria
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- External links
Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) 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".
For at least two millennia, it has been debated whether Xenophon was first and foremost a general, historian, or philosopher. For the majority of time in the past two millennia, Xenophon was recognised as a philosopher. Quintilian in ''The Orator's Education'' discusses the most prominent historians, orators and philosophers as examples of eloquence and recognises Xenophon's historical work, but ultimately places Xenophon next to Plato as a philosopher. Today, Xenophon is recognised as one of the greatest writers of antiquity. 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.
Gallery (34)
Connections
Categories
354 BC deaths430s BC births4th-century BC Greek historians4th-century BC Greek philosophersAncient Athenian generalsAncient Athenian historiansAncient Athenian philosophersAncient Greek generalsAncient Greek mercenariesAncient Greek military writersAncient Greek political philosophersAttic Greek writers
![Xenophontis Opera omnia. 4,3,[1], Continens Xenophontis Hieronem](https://api.europeana.eu/thumbnail/v2/url.json?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsb-muenchen-digital.de%2Fweb1023%2Fbsb10238662%2Fimages%2Fbsb10238662_00021.jpg&type=IMAGE)
