Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Xenophon
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Early years=== Xenophon was born {{circa|430 BC}}<ref name="xvii">Strassler et al., [https://books.google.com/books?id=zJuJdxrLo2IC&pg=PR17 xvii] ({{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420002148/https://books.google.com/books?id=zJuJdxrLo2IC&pg=PR17 |date=20 April 2022}})</ref> in the [[deme]] (local district) of [[Erchia]] in [[Classical Athens|Athens]]; his father was called Gryllus ({{lang|grc|ΞΟΟλλοΟ}}) and belonged to an Athenian aristocratic family.{{Sfn|Tuplin|2012|p=1580: "Xenophon, son of Gryllus, from the Athenian deme of Erchia, born into a rich but politcally inactive family around 430 BC"}}{{Sfn|Sacks|Murray|1995|p=268: "Born into a rich, aristocratic family at Athens [...] he married an Athenian woman, Philesia, and had two sons, Gryllus (named for Xenophon's father) and Diodorus"}} The [[Peloponnesian War]] was being waged throughout Xenophon's childhood and youth.{{Sfn|Sacks|Murray|1995|p=268}} A contemporary of [[Plato]], Xenophon associated with [[Socrates]], as was common for wealthy young men in this period, and probably served in the Athenian cavalry.{{Sfn|Tuplin|2012|p=1580}}{{Sf|Sacks|Murray|1995|p=268}} He appears to have remained in Athens during the overthrow of Athenian democracy under the [[Thirty Tyrants]], and fought democratic insurgents in the civil war of 403β404.{{Sfn|Tuplin|2012|p=1580}} Accounts of events in ''[[Hellenica]]'' suggest that Xenophon personally witnessed tumultuous political events such as the [[Alcibiades#Return to Athens|return of Alcibiades]] in 407 BC, the [[Battle of Arginusae#Trial of the generals|trial of the generals]] in 406 BC, and the overthrow of the [[Thirty Tyrants]] in 403 BC. Personally invited by Proxenus of Beotia (''Anabasis'' 3.1.9), one of the captains in Cyrus's mercenary army, Xenophon, sailed to [[Ephesus]] to meet [[Cyrus the Younger]] and participate in Cyrus's military campaign against [[Tissaphernes]], the Persian [[satrap]] of [[Ionia]]. Xenophon describes his life in 401 BC and 400 BC in the memoir ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]''.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)