Editing Xenophon (section)

==Political philosophy==
Xenophon took a keen interest in political philosophy<ref>Pangle, "Socrates Founding Political Philosophy in Xenophon's Economist, Symposium, and Apology", {{ISBN|978-0226642475}}</ref> and his work often examines leadership.

===''Cyropaedia''===
{{main|Cyropaedia}}

====Relations between Medes and Persians in the ''Cyropaedia''====
[[File:Xenophon Cyropaedia.jpg|thumb|upright|Xenophon's ''[[Cyropaedia]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ashley Cooper |first1=Maurice |title=Cyropædia; or, The institution of Cyrus, .. |date=1803 |publisher=London. Printed by J. Swan for Vernor and Hood [etc.] |url=https://archive.org/details/cyropdiaorinstit00xeno/page/n3}}</ref>]]
Xenophon wrote the ''Cyropaedia'' to outline his political and moral philosophy. He did this by endowing a fictional version of the boyhood of [[Cyrus the Great]],  founder of the first [[Persian Empire]], with the qualities of what Xenophon considered the ideal ruler. Historians have asked whether Xenophon's portrait of Cyrus was accurate or if Xenophon imbued Cyrus with events from Xenophon's own life. There is a consensus that Cyrus's career is best outlined in the ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' of [[Herodotus]].<ref>Steven W. Hirsch, "1001 Iranian Nights: History and Fiction in Xenophon's ''Cyropaedia''", in ''The Greek Historians: Literature and History: Papers Presented to A. E. Raubitschek''. Saratoga CA: ANMA Libr, 1985, p. 80.</ref> Herodotus contradicts Xenophon at several other points. Herodotus says that Cyrus led a rebellion against his maternal grandfather, [[Astyages]], king of [[Media (region)|Media]], and defeated him, thereafter keeping Astyages in his court for the remainder of his life (''Histories'' 1.130). The Medes were thus "reduced to subjection" (1.130) and became "slaves" (1.129) to the Persians 20 years before the capture of Babylon in 539 BC.

The ''Cyropaedia'' relates instead that Astyages died and was succeeded by his son, [[Cyaxares II]], the maternal uncle of Cyrus (1.5.2). In the initial campaign against the Lydians, Babylonians, and their allies, the Medians were led by Cyaxares and the Persians by Cyrus, who was crown prince of the Persians since his father was still alive (4.5.17). Xenophon relates that at this time the Medes were the strongest of the kingdoms that opposed the Babylonians (1.5.2). In the Harran Stele, a document from the court of [[Nabonidus]] wrote the same point.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Pritchard |editor-first=James B. |title=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |edition=3rd |date=1969 |location=Princeton |pages=562–63 }}</ref> In the entry for year 14 or 15 of his reign (542–540 BC), Nabonidus speaks of his enemies as the kings of Egypt, the Medes, and the Arabs. There is no mention of the Persians; according to Herodotus and the current consensus, the Medians had been made "slaves" of the Persians several years previously. An archaeological [[Relief|bas-reliefs]] in the stairway at [[Persepolis]] shows no distinction in official status between the Persian and Median. Olmstead nevertheless wrote, "Medes were honored equally with Persians; they were employed in high office and were chosen to lead Persian armies."<ref>{{cite book |last=Olmsted |first=A. T. |title=History of the Persian Empire |location=Chicago |publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press |date=1948 |page=37 }}</ref>

[[File:Persepolis carvings.JPG|thumb|Bas-reliefs of [[Persians|Persian]] soldiers together with [[Medes|Median]] soldiers are prevalent in Persepolis. The ones with rounded caps are Median.]]
Both Herodotus (1.123,214) and Xenophon (1.5.1,2,4, 8.5.20) present Cyrus as about 40 years old when his forces captured Babylon. In the [[Nabonidus Chronicle]], there is mention of the death of the wife of the king (name not given) within a month after the capture of Babylon.<ref>Pritchard, ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts'', p. 306b.</ref> It has been conjectured that this was Cyrus's first wife; ''Cyropaedia'''s stated (8.5.19) that Cyaxares II gave his daughter in marriage to Cyrus soon after the fall of the city, with the kingdom of Media as her dowry.

====Persians as centaurs====
The ''Cyropaedia'' praises the first Persian emperor, [[Cyrus the Great]], and it was through his greatness that the Persian Empire held together. However, following the lead of [[Leo Strauss]], David Johnson suggests that there is a subtle layer to the book in which Xenophon conveys criticism of the Persians, the Spartans, and the Athenians.<ref name="autogenerated177">Johnson, D. M. 2005. "Persians as Centaurs in Xenophon's ‘Cyropaedia'", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association''. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177–207.</ref> In section 4.3 of the ''Cyropaedia'', Cyrus wrote his desire to institute cavalry. He wrote that he desires that no Persian ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kalokagaqos&la=greek#Perseus:text:1999.04.0058:entry=kaloka)gaqo/s-contents kalokagathos]'' ("noble and good man" literally, or simply "noble") ever be seen on foot but always on a horse, so much so that the Persians may actually seem to be [[centaur]]s (4.3.22–23).

Xenophon plays upon the post-Persian-war propagandistic paradigm of using mythological imagery to represent the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Greco-Persian conflict]]. Examples of this include the wedding of the [[Lapiths]], [[Gigantomachy]], [[Trojan War]], and [[Amazonomachy]] on the [[Parthenon Frieze|Parthenon frieze]]. Johnson believes that the unstable dichotomy of man and horse found in a centaur is indicative of the unstable alliance of Persian and Mede formulated by Cyrus.<ref name="autogenerated177" /> He cites the regression of the Persians directly after the death of Cyrus as the result of this instability, a union made possible only through Cyrus.<ref name="autogenerated177" />

====Against empire====
[[File:Papiri frammentari con elleniche di senofonte, PSI X 1197, oxyrhynchos 90-150 dc ca..JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Fragments of Xenophon's ''[[Hellenica]]'', Papyrus PSI 1197, [[Laurentian Library]], Florence]]
The strength of Cyrus in holding the empire together is praiseworthy, according to Xenophon. However, the empire began to decline upon the death of Cyrus. By this example, Xenophon sought to show that empires lacked stability and could only be maintained by a person of remarkable prowess, such as Cyrus.<ref name="autogenerated177"/>

Xenophon displays Cyrus as a lofty, temperate man. He is depicted as not subject to the foibles of others. He used the example of the Persians to decry the attempts at empire made by Athens and Sparta.<ref>Johnson, D. M. 2005. "Persians as Centaurs in Xenophon's ‘Cyropaedia'", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association''. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177–207</ref> Having written the ''Cyropaedia'' after the downfall of Athens in the [[Peloponnesian War]], this work criticizes the Greek attempts at empire and "monarchy".

====Against meritocracy====
Another passage that Johnson cites as criticism of monarchy and empire concerns the devaluation of the ''homotīmoi'' ("equal", or "same honours", i.e., "peers"). ''Homotīmoi'' were highly educated and thus became the core of the soldiers as heavy infantry. Their band (1000 when Cyrus fought the [[Assyria]]ns) shared equally in the spoils of war.<ref name="autogenerated177"/> However, in the face of overwhelming numbers against the Assyrians, Cyrus armed the commoners with similar arms instead of their normal light ranged armament (''Cyropaedia'' 2.1.9).

Argument ensued as to how the spoils would now be split, and Cyrus enforced a [[meritocracy]]. Many ''homotīmoi'' found this unfair because their military training was no better than the commoners, only their education, and hand-to-hand combat was less a matter of skill than strength and bravery. As Johnson asserts, this passage decries imperial meritocracy and corruption, for the ''homotīmoi'' now had to ingratiate themselves to the emperor for positions and honours;<ref name="autogenerated177"/> from this point, they were referred to as ''entīmoi'', no longer of the "same honours" but having to be "in" to get the honour.

===''Constitution of the Spartans''===
{{main|Polity of the Lacedaemonians}}
The Spartans wrote nothing about themselves, or if they did it, it is lost. Xenophon, in the Constitution of the Spartans, wrote:

{{blockquote|It occurred to me one day that Sparta, though among the most thinly populated of states, was evidently the most powerful and most celebrated city in Greece; and I fell to wondering how this could have happened. But when I considered the institutions of the Spartans, I wondered no longer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, chapter 1, section 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0210%3atext%3dConst.+Lac.|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>}}

Xenophon goes on to describe in detail the main aspects of [[Laconia]].

===Old Oligarch===
A short treatise on the ''[[Constitution of the Athenians (Pseudo-Xenophon)|Constitution of the Athenians]]'' exists that was once thought to be written by Xenophon was probably written when Xenophon was about five years old. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch" or Pseudo-Xenophon,{{sfn|Norwood|1930|p=373}}  detests the [[Athenian democracy|democracy of Athens]] and the poorer classes, but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes.