Editing Xenophon (section)

{{Short description|Greek philosopher, historian, and soldier (c.430–355/354 BC)}}
{{other uses}}
{{distinguish|Xenophanes}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Xenophon of Athens
| image              = Bust of Xenophon.jpg
| caption            = Bust statue of Xenophon, dated to 120 AD (Roman period).<ref>{{cite web |title=Bust of Xenophon – Collections – Antiquities Museum |url=https://antiquities.bibalex.org/Collection/Detail.aspx?a=113&lang=en |website=antiquities.bibalex.org |publisher=Bibliotheca Alexandrina}}</ref>
| birth_date         = {{circa|430 BC}}
| birth_place        = [[Classical Athens|Athens]]
| death_date         = Probably 354 or 355 BC<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Lu|first=Houliang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eO2mBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |title=Xenophon's Theory of Moral Education |date=2014 |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |isbn=978-1443871396 |page=155 |language=en |quote=In the case of Xenophon's date of death most modern scholars agree that Xenophon died in his seventies in 355 or 354 B.C.}}</ref> (aged {{circa|74}} or 75)
| death_place        = likely [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iep.utm.edu/xenophon |title=Xenophon |website=[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]}}</ref>
| parents            = Gryllus
| spouse             = Philesia
| children           = [[Gryllus, son of Xenophon|Gryllus]] and Diodorus
| occupation         = {{hlist|Military leader|mercenary|philosopher|[[historian]]|writer}}
| notable_works      = {{Flatlist}}
* ''[[Hellenica]]''
* ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]''
* ''[[Cyropaedia|Education of Cyrus]]''
* ''[[Memorabilia (Xenophon)|Memorabilia]]''
* ''[[Symposium (Xenophon)|Symposium]]''
* ''[[Oeconomicus]]''
* ''[[Hiero (Xenophon)|Hiero]]''
* ''[[Apology (Xenophon)|Apology]]''
* ''[[Agesilaus (Xenophon)|Agesilaus]]''
* ''[[Constitution of the Lacedaemonians]]''
{{Endflatlist}}
}}
'''Xenophon of Athens''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|ɛ|n|ə|f|ən|,_|-|ˌ|f|ɒ|n}}; {{langx|grc|{{Wikt-lang|grc|Ξενοφῶν}}}};{{Efn|<small>[[Romanization of Greek|romanized]]: </small>{{grc-transl|Ξενοφῶν}}; {{IPA|grc|ksenopʰɔ̂ːn}}}} {{circa|430}}{{snd}}355/354 BC)<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bearzot |first1=Cinzia |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History |date=2013 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=9781444338386 |page=7148 |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah08169 |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah08169 |access-date=29 August 2024 |quote=He [Xenophon] died shortly after 354.}}</ref> was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating [[Ancient Greek mercenaries|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".<ref>Theodore Ayrault Dodge, ''Alexander: A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War from Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301'', Vol. 1, [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]], 1890, [https://archive.org/details/cu31924071184281/page/n139/mode/2up p. 105].</ref>

For at least two millennia, it has been debated whether or not Xenophon was first and foremost a general, historian, or philosopher. For the majority of time in the past two millennia, Xenophon was recognized as a philosopher. [[Quintilian]] in [[Institutio Oratoria|''The Orator's Education'']] discusses the most prominent historians, orators and philosophers as examples of eloquence and recognizes Xenophon's historical work, but ultimately places Xenophon next to [[Plato]] as a philosopher. Today, Xenophon is recognized as one of the greatest writers of antiquity.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Vivienne Gray |title=Xenophon (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies) |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199216185 |editor-last1=Gray |editor-first1=Vivienne J. |location=Xenophon's works and controversies about how to read them}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=Diogenes Laërtius |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_II#Xenophon |title=Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers |at=Book II, part 6}}</ref>

Despite being born an [[Athenian]] citizen, Xenophon came to be associated with [[Sparta]], the traditional opponent of Athens. Much of what is known today about the Spartan society comes from Xenophon's royal biography of the Spartan king ''[[Agesilaus (Xenophon)|Agesilaus]]'' and the ''[[Constitution of the Lacedaemonians]]''. The [[Satrap|sub-satrap]] [[Mania (satrap)|Mania]] is primarily known through Xenophon's writings. Xenophon's ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'' recounts his adventures with the [[Ten Thousand]] while in the service of [[Cyrus the Younger]], Cyrus's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from [[Artaxerxes II of Persia]], and the return of Greek mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the [[Battle of Cunaxa]].

Xenophon wrote ''[[Cyropaedia]]'', outlining both military and political methods used by [[Cyrus the Great]] to conquer the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 539 BC. ''Anabasis'' and ''Cyropaedia'' inspired [[Alexander the Great]] and other Greeks to conquer [[Babylon]] and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] in 331 BC.<ref name="Nadon">{{cite book |last=Nadon|first=Christopher |title=Xenophon's Prince: Republic and Empire in the Cyropaedia |location=Berkeley |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0520224043}}</ref>{{page needed|reason=given Macedon's history with the Persians and Philip's preparations, may be a misreading|date=June 2024}} 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 (404–362 BC) ending with the [[Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)|Second Battle of Mantinea]].