Customer Reviews

The Education of Cyrus (Agora Paperback Editions)

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Herodotus' Histories is often considered the gold standard of knowledge pertaining to the Persian empire. Little is made of the fact that this Ionian had certain political grudges against his political masters and had never visited Persia or had entry into Persian society. Xenophone however was a nobleman who lived amongst the Persians and the Medes and was acquaianted with their ways and histories. Xenophone's observations on Persian society and religion are far closer to modern scholarship than Herodotus. Furthermore even the chronological inaccuracies of Cyropaedia are in the Persian tradition. As evidenced by Sassanian histories, the Persians had the habit of attributing the conquests of dynasties to their founders. However the most fascinating and thrilling aspect of reading this book is that the educational stories attributed to Cyrus are identical to the stories found in Adab or the Persian courtly literature of Islamic era. Given that Xenophone was not translated into Persian or Arabic, this confirms the authenticity of the materials used by Xenophone. I love this book and have read it twice already. I recommend it to anyone who wants to have a closer look at the realities of Persia.

This truly is one of the most remarkable books I've ever read and I would encourage anyone with an interest in military science, government or leadership to take the time to read it. This book requires commitment and a quiet place to read and savor its thought-provoking passages. The investment of time and effort is dwarfed by the magnitude of the lessons this book has to offer. Make the commitment and you'll see why this book was a favorite of men like Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, Caesar and Machiavelli.

This translation is incredibly easy to read; I enjoyed it very much. My only complaint is that it uses endnotes rather than footnotes. Even so, the translation is so approachable that one can garner much from this work with little historical background. The introduction is interesting if a bit of a ramble.

This book is a difficult one to evaluate. It is definitely not a history. No human being in history (or even outside of history) has ever been as consistently reasoned, calm, clear-headed, and universally admired as the Cyrus portrayed here. It's a nice little three hundred page homily which in places is fun to read but in others is quite tedious, because Cyrus never seems to perform any action on impulse but always has everything perfectly (and sickeningly) calculated in advance. Even scholars can't seem to agree on what Xenophon's true purpose was in writing this. For me, this book only shows that not all works that are old should be considered "classics," and that sometimes there are good reasons that they are "neglected" and "overlooked." If you really want to read this book, just read the first forty pages, any random forty pages in the middle, and then the last ten, and you will have saved yourself two hundred pages of reading without missing a single thing.

This book is not in the style of a Platonic dialogue, or a play (whether a tragedy or comedy), a Homeric epic (but if you're careful, you'll note parallels), or a history (like Herodotus).

No, Xenophon - a contemporary of Plato's, a student of Socrates - was considered a philosopher way back when. He tells a story and you might think it is a history that is meant to be accurate. There is nothing accurate about Xenophon's use of history in this book; however, the story is well-told and funny, and the prose moves fast in this edition. (Which was your primary concern, of course: that this was a good read.)

He does teach philosophy - ancient philosophy concerned with ethics and politics - in an interesting way. The plot of the book is as follows: Cyrus of Persia receives an education unlike any of his peers. With that education, and a considerable bit of ruthlessness, he attempts to take over the world.

It's difficult to write a story where different philosophical viewpoints define characters and events. Somehow, Xenophon pulls this off, and manages to entertain his reader with tales of battles, lots of humorous exchanges between characters, and even some love stories strewn throughout.

(If you do Classics, you probably want to get acquainted with Xenophon, fast.)

This book is fine as a modernization of an ancient classic but several things need to be understood. Xenophon never intended to write a biography of Cyrus. He was writing an idealized portrait of a long dead Persian ruler. He combined what he knew about Persia, a few facts about the historical Cyrus and a fictional vision of a what he thought was the ideal ruler. The original is much closer to Maciavelli's the Prince in purpose than it is to Plutarch's "Lives". So when credit is being given for the wisdom in the book, it must be given directly to Xenophon, not Cyrus. You learn very little about Cyrus and Persians in the original and a lot about Xenophon and Greeks (particularly Sparta, Xenophon's real life ideal.)

My apologies to Xenophon, those who liked this book, and those who were intrigued by a book written about Cyrus the Great just 150 years after his reign, but I considered the book a waste and difficult to read as well. Beware, the book is more of a historical fiction than a historical document, like Herodotus or Thucydides. I distinctly felt as if Xenophon was distorting reality and trying to portray Cyrus in idealistic Greek terms, educated, compassionate, balanced, egalitarian, etc, almost as if Xenophon was trying to rehabilitate the Persian Empire's reputation following its defeat at the hands of the Greeks one hundred years earlier. If you like homilies this is the book for you, but if you want to learn more about a great ruler who rapidly and with great skill and talent created a vast empire, there are probably better books to read.

Xenophobia is the fear of foreigners. Yet Xenophon's greatest book was a biography of the most hated foe of the greeks, Cyrus.

Cyrus was the greatest emperor of the Persian empire, and the antecedent (see what a great scholar I am? I can't remember all the exact facts like a real student should; I read this stuff for fun) of the Persian emperor who Alexander defeated right before Alexander went crazy and decided to conquer the rest of the world while he was on a streak.

In today's Jingoistic anti-Iran & Iraq climate, it's illuminating to get the Persian perspective on world history, and since I haven't found any Persian histories written from the ancient Persian viewpoint, this book is the best I've read.

This book was indepth research of King of kings Cyrus the Great with respect how did He became the King of Persia/Iran.

Interestingly, Cyrus the Great became the King of Iran not by having large army but by hard work, and relying on His good allies and friends to establish His empire.

If English is your second language or if you are first time reader of Cyrus the Great you may wish to read this book "Xenophon's Cyrus The Great" by Larry HEDRICK in order to grasp King of kings Cyrus the Great very well.

Ahura Mazda be with you.