Xenophon

Xenophon of Athens (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/ˈzɛnəfən, -ˌfɒn/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a>: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%9E%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%86%E1%BF%B6%CE%BD" class="extiw" title="wikt:Ξενοφῶν" >Ξενοφῶν</a> Greek pronunciation: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Greek" title="Help:IPA for Greek" >[ksenopʰɔ̂ːn]</a>, Xenophōn; c. 430–354 BC) was an ancient Greek <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher" title="Philosopher" >philosopher</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian" title="Historian" >historian</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier" title="Soldier" >soldier</a> and mercenary, and a student of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates" title="Socrates" >Socrates</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon#cite_note-1" >[1]</a> As a historian, Xenophon is known for recording the history of his contemporary time, the late-5th and early-4th centuries BC, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenica" title="Hellenica" >Hellenica</a>, about the final seven years and the aftermath of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War" title="Peloponnesian War" >Peloponnesian War</a> (431–404 BC); as such, the Hellenica is a thematic continuation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Peloponnesian_War" title="History of the Peloponnesian War" >History of the Peloponnesian War</a>, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides" title="Thucydides" >Thucydides</a>. As a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary" title="Mercenary" >mercenary</a> soldier of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Thousand(Greek_mercenaries)" title="Ten Thousand (Greek mercenaries)" >Ten Thousand</a>, he participated in the failed campaign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Younger" title="Cyrus the Younger" >Cyrus the Younger</a>, to claim the Persian throne from his brother <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artaxerxes_II_of_Persia" title="Artaxerxes II of Persia" >Artaxerxes II of Persia</a>, and recounts the events in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis(Xenophon)" title="Anabasis (Xenophon)" >Anabasis</a> (An Ascent), his most notable history.

Despite being an Athenian citizen, born to Gryllus, of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deme" title="Deme" >deme</a> Erchia of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Athens" title="Classical Athens" >Athens</a>, Xenophon of Athens also was associated with city-state of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta" title="Sparta" >Sparta</a>, the traditional enemy of Athens. As such, his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy" title="Oligarchy" >pro-oligarchic</a> politics, military service under Spartan generals, in the Persian campaign and elsewhere, and his friendship with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agesilaus_II" title="Agesilaus II" >King Agesilaus II</a> endeared Xenophon to the Spartans; thus, some of his works have an admiring pro–Spartan bias, especially the royal biography <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agesilaus_(Xenophon)" title="Agesilaus (Xenophon)" >Agesilaus</a> and the Constitution of the Spartans.

Besides the philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato" title="Plato" >Plato</a> (427–347 BC), Xenophon of Athens is an authority on Socrates, about whom he wrote the dialogue <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apology_(Xenophon)" title="Apology (Xenophon)" >Apology of Socrates to the Jury</a>, which recounts the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates" title="Trial of Socrates" >Trial of Socrates</a> (399 BC). The works of Xenophon are in several genres, and are written in plain-language <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attic_Greek" title="Attic Greek" >Attic Greek</a>, for which reason they serve as translation exercises for contemporary students of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >Ancient Greek</a> language. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_and_Opinions_of_Eminent_Philosophers" title="Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers" >Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_La%C3%ABrtius" title="Diogenes Laërtius" >Diogenes Laërtius</a> said that, as a writer, Xenophon of Athens was known as the “Attic Muse”, for the sweetness of his diction (2.6).

Xenophon

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