Hellenica [Paperback]

Xenophon Xenophon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1404306137 | ISBN-13: 978-1404306134 | Publication Date: March 21, 2002

Xenophon (ca. 430 to ca. 354 BCE) was a wealthy Athenian and friend of Socrates. He left Athens in 401 and joined an expedition including ten thousand Greeks led by the Persian governor Cyrus against the Persian king. After the defeat of Cyrus, it fell to Xenophon to lead the Greeks from the gates of Babylon back to the coast through inhospitable lands. Later he wrote the famous vivid account of this 'March Up-Country' (Anabasis); but meanwhile he entered service under the Spartans against the Persian king, married happily, and joined the staff of the Spartan king, Agesilaus. But Athens was at war with Sparta in 394 and so exiled Xenophon. The Spartans gave him an estate near Elis where he lived for years writing and hunting and educating his sons. Reconciled to Sparta, Athens restored Xenophon to honour but he preferred to retire to Corinth.

Xenophon's Anabasis is a true story of remarkable adventures. Hellenica, a history of Greek affairs from 411 to 362, begins as a continuation of Thucydides' account. There are four works on Socrates (collected in Volume IV of the Loeb Xenophon edition). In Memorabilia Xenophon adds to Plato's picture of Socrates from a different viewpoint. The Apology is an interesting complement to Plato's account of Socrates' defense at his trial. Xenophon's Symposium portrays a dinner party at which Socrates speaks of love; and Oeconomicus has him giving advice on household management and married life. Cyropaedia, a historical romance on the education of Cyrus (the Elder), reflects Xenophon's ideas about rulers and government; the Loeb edition is in two volumes.

We also have his Hiero, a dialogue on government; Agesilaus, in praise of that king; Constitution of Lacedaemon (on the Spartan system); Ways and Means (on the finances of Athens); Manual for a Cavalry Commander; a good manual of Horsemanship; and a lively Hunting with Hounds. The Constitution of the Athenians, though clearly not by Xenophon, is an interesting document on politics at Athens. These eight books are collected in the last of the seven volumes of the Loeb Classical Library edition of Xenophon.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In the future when the historian sifts through the debris of our era, oversaturated with information, once the dross has been cast aside, more than a few of the things that remain will be bound in the covers of The Edwin Mellen Press. - Charles S. Kraszewski King's College "It is time for a new text and translation of one of the most important historical texts in Greek history, Xenophon's Hellenica. The current available texts are dated and suffer from a lack of familiarity with the manuscript tradition for this important work... The translators have rejected derivative manuscripts and concentrated on those that they have shown in previously published work to have been the critical witnesses. In so doing, they have been able to sweep away many earlier, sometimes fanciful, emendations and offer here a text that has fewer "corrections" that we have come to expect and a more economical critical apparatus that is easier to consult... Those of us who consult this important history will now do so with a greater sense of confidence. All ancient historians and classicists will welcome this new look at an old friend." - Professor Robert F. Hohfelder, Department of History, University of Colorado, Boulder" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Donald F. Jackson is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Iowa. Ralph E. Doty is Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma and the author of several previous books including Xenophon's Poroi and Xenophon's Hiero. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish (March 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1404306137
• ISBN-13: 978-1404306134
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,893,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fills a gap in History, October 4, 2008

By 

Guillermo Maynez (Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hellenica (Hardcover)

Xenophon was a wealthy and noble gentleman living in the countryside, devoted to farming and horses (he wrote excellent books on horse breeding and training), when he decided to see the world and accepted a friend's invitation to join the Persian Cyrus's army and march into Persia. The expedition was a disaster and Xenophon, no military man, had to lead the Greeks back home, in an incredible adventure recorded in his masterpiece, "Anabasis", or "The March of the Ten Thousand", for which he is best known. Although Athenian by birth, he defected to the Spartans and fought with them, both against the Persians and the Athenians. He was later forgiven by the Athenians and lived the rest of his eventful life in his estate.

This book, "Hellenica", fills an important gap in the knowledge of the Ancient World, at least the Greek. Indeed, little has remained about the years that go from the end of the Pelopponesian War to the beginning of the conquests by Phillip and Alexander of Macedonia. Xenophon begins where Thucydides ends, in 411 BC, narrating the final defeat, in Asia Minor, of the Athenians and their allies, against the Spartans and theirs. It includes the naval battle of the Argimusian islands, and the further trial in Athens of the strategos. These leaders of the Athenian army were -literally- unable to rescue some of their men, shipwrecked after a storm. They were unjustly executed, and Xenophon also tells us of the Athenians' later regret and sorrow for having unfairly executed them.

Then he tells the story of the Athenians' final defeat in Ergospotamus (in the Dardanelles). From there he goes to the final surrender of Athens and the fall of the oligarchic regime of the Thirty (401 BC). What follows is surprising, for although the Pelopponesian War has been officially declared finished, Athens and Sparta go on fighting everywhere, betwen them and together against the Persians. As usual, Greeks unite and feud in an incessant movement of alliances and divisions. In turn, the Persians themselves fight in the middle of constant intestine feuds. The book ends in 362 BC, with the alliance (quickly dissolved) between Athens and Sparta.

As opposed to Thucyidides, who reflects and extracts general conclusions and teachings from events, Xenophon stays within storytelling. He has been accused of being little objective, since he served the Spartans. However, his book is very interesting. It is a perpetual telling of battles, political upheavals, and stories about the main characters. Inevitably, it is a chaotic stroy, since chaotic are the events he recounts. He depicts a Pelopponesian War that ends but goes on, as well as a permanently divided Greece which will be able to survive Persian aggressions, but that will leave out of them so weak to face the Macedonian conquests. And then the Romans will arrive.