Xenophon (Greek Xenophon ) ( Athens , 430 BC – Corinth , 355 BC ) Greek writer and historian ( BC ) disciple of Socrates . Representative along with Thucydides of the Attic style (he was known as the Attic bee , for the sweetness of his forms), he tried, like Isocrates , to orient with his work the political and individual confusion that followed the defeat of Athens in the war of the Peloponnesus. However, Xenophon was not so much a logographer as a man of action who reflected his personal experiences in his works or treatises.
Summary
[ hide ]
- 1 Synthesis
- 1 War in Persia
- 2 Dispute with Athens
- 2 Ideals
- 3 Works
- 4 Source
Synthesis
His teachers were Philostratus , Isocrates and Prodicus , as well as Socrates, who, according to tradition, found him one day on the street and, captivated by his qualities, took him for his favorite disciple. Xenophon was a member of a wealthy family and received a very complete military and intellectual training. Versatile author, he lavished himself in the historical, philosophical , financial, political, didactic and literary genres . With regard to his philosophical writings, he can be classified as a Socratic, since he advocates practical and useful life as the ideal of harmonious life.
War in persia
In 401 BC , his friend Proxenus of Boeotia enlisted him in the expedition of the 13,000 Greek mercenaries who went to Persia to help Cyrus the Younger in his fight for the throne against his brother Artaxerxes II . Despite achieving victory at Cunaxa , with the death of Ciro the expedition lost its meaning, leaving the Greek army in a difficult situation, which lost its five leaders. The risky retreat of the Greek survivors through the Armenian plateau towards the Black Sea constitutes the main nucleus of his most enduring work, Anabasis, prose narration in seven books containing memorable moments. Like the rest of his production, due to lack of data it is difficult to establish the date of this book. Xenophon led the retreat and managed to reach Byzantium with some 7000 survivors.
Dispute with Athens
Faced with the Athenian democracy for his condemnation of Socrates, of whom he had been a disciple, and the war between Athens and Sparta unleashed , he retired to live on a farm in Scilus , next to Olympia, ceded by the Spartans in recognition of the services offered. to his friend King Agesilaus. There he spent most of his old age, hunting and writing most of his works. As a result of his experience as the owner of a farm were the Economico and Las Rentas , where he also proposed measures to remedy the ills of Athens. The defeat of the Spartans ( 371 BC ) forced him to move to Lepreo and, later to Corinth .
Around 365 BC the Athenians annulled the decree of exile and their children were able to return to Attica . He died in Corinth around the year 355 BC .
Ideals
His political ideas, which ended up crystallizing in the postulation of a moderate and strong monarchy, were reflected in works such as the Ciropedia , in which, together with the praise of the monarchy and historical data, a whole series of stories and stories can be read fictional in nature that already announce the Hellenistic novel. The Ciropedia , history of the youth, ascension and government of Cyrus the Great , presents the educational ideals of the author, based in part on Spartan institutions. The eight books that compose it address historical events with enormous freedom and abound in speeches and moralizing episodes aimed at exalting the figure of Cyrus.
His aristocratic orientation is manifested, above all, in his Hellenics , in which he intended to continue the work of Thucydides , but with a historiographical intention far removed from the impartiality and method of said historian. The Hellenics are a clearly philo-Spartan work that narrates in seven books the Greek history from the last stage of the Peloponnesian War ( 411 BC ) to the Battle of Mantinea ( 362 BC ). Xenophon knew how to use his great experience and knowledge of military matters in it, to the point of appearing as a precursor of Hellenistic historiography in the effective description of scenes.
Plays
In his works he is hostile towards Athenian democracy and is oriented towards more authoritarian forms, such as those he met in Sparta and Persia. Grateful for Spartan politics, he composed an uneven treatise on The Republic of the Lacedaemonians , praising Spartan education and constitution. Along the same lines is inscribed his booklet Agesilao , dedicated to praising the policy of the Spartan king, a friend of the author.
His intellectual learning alongside Socrates led him to immortalize the figure of his teacher in works such as Memories of Socrates or Symposium , one of the most important testimonies for the reconstruction on real bases of the philosophy and personality of the historical Socrates.
Xenophon wrote technical treatises such as Hipparchus or the Horsemanship , with a view to advising on specific military tactics, such as cavalry . Other of his works were:
- Anabasis
- Ciropedia
- Economical
- Rents
- The constitution of Sparta
- Treatise on tyranny
- Hellenic