Xenophon

George Cawkwell

Rex Warner

Historical background on the Anabasis prefaces the classic account of the Greek efforts to place Cyrus on the Persian throne during the fourth century B.C

The Persian Expedition

Robin Waterfield

Hugh Tredennick

Provides a collection of dialogues that cover an interpretation of Socratic thought.

Conversations of Socrates

In 1906, a stilted English translation of Xenophon of Athens' story about Cyrus the Great's military campaigns was published. Now, a century later, a much more accessible edition of one of history's most extraordinary and successful leaders is emerging. Among his many achievements, this great leader of wisdom and virtue founded and extended the Persian Empire; conquered Babylon; freed 40,000 Jews from captivity; wrote mankind's first human rights charter; and ruled over those he had conquered with respect and benevolence. According to historian Will Durant, Cyrus the Great's military enemies knew that he was lenient, and they did not fight him with that desperate courage which men show when their only choice is "to kill or die." As a result the Iranians regarded him as "The Father," the Babylonians as "The Liberator," the Greeks as the "Law-Giver," and the Jews as the "Anointed of the Lord." By freshening the voice, style and diction of Cyrus, Larry Hedrick has created a more contemporary Cyrus. A new generation of readers, including business executives and managers, military officers, and government officials, can now learn about and benefit from Cyrus the Great's extraordinary achievements, which exceeded all other leaders' throughout antiquity.

The Arts of Leadership and War

Xenophon's Cyrus the Great

Xenophon’s History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story of the Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished his magisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of the conflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and the wars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian by birth, Xenophon became a firm supporter of the Spartan cause, and fought against the Athenians in the battle of Coronea. Combining history and memoir, this is a brilliant account of the triumphs and failures of city-states, and a portrait of Greece at a time of crisis.

A History of My Times

In The Education of Cyrus, Xenophon confronts the vexing problem of political instability by exploring the character and behavior of the ruler.

The Education of Cyrus

"The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates" book has a beautiful glossy cover and a blank page for the dedication. "I have often wondered by what show of argument the accusers of Socrates could persuade the Athenians he had forfeited his life to the State. For though the crimes laid unto his charge were indeed great - "That he did not acknowledge the gods of the Republic; that he introduced new ones" - and, farther, "had debauched the youth;" yet none of these could, in the least, be proved against him.For, as to the first, "That he did not worship the deities which the Republic adored," how could this be made out against him, since, instead of paying no homage to the gods of his country, he was frequently seen to assist in sacrificing to them, both in his own family and in the public temples? - perpetually worshipping them in the most public, solemn, and religious manner."

The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates

From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides and The Landmark Herodotus, here is a new edition of Xenophon's Hellenika, the primary source for the events of the final seven years and aftermath of the Peloponnesian War. Hellenika covers the years between 411 and 362 B.C.E., a particularly dramatic period during which the alliances among Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Persia were in constant flux. Together with the volumes of Herodotus and Thucydides, it completes an ancient narrative of the military and political history of classical Greece. Beautifully illustrated, heavily annotated, and filled with detailed, clear maps, this edition gives us a new, authoritative, and completely accessible translation by John Marincola, a comprehensive introduction by David Thomas, sixteen appendices written by leading classics scholars, and an extensive timeline/chronology to clarify this otherwise confusing period. Unlike any other edition of the Hellenika, it also includes the relevant texts of Diodorus Siculus and the Oxyrhynchus Historian, with explanatory footnotes and a table that correlates passages of the three works, which is perhaps crucial to an assessment of Xenophon's reliability and quality as a historian. Like the two Landmark editions that precede it, The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika is the most readable and comprehensive edition yet of an essential history.

The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika

On Horsemanship is a treatise on horsemanship. Written c. 350 BC it is one of the oldest such in existence. Xenophon details the best qualities to look for in a horse, and the non-abusive training of a horse in classical dressage and for military and general use. He quotes other, apparently more celebrated contemporaries of his, whose texts have since been lost, particularly a man named only "Simon".

On Horsemanship

E. C. Marchant

Anabasis

Cyropaedia or The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon Translated by H. G. Dakyns and Revised by F. M. Stawell The Cyropaedia, sometimes spelled Cyropedia, is a partly fictional biography of Cyrus the Great, written around 370 BC by the Athenian gentleman-soldier, and student of Socrates, Xenophon of Athens. The Latinized title Cyropaedia derives from Greek Kurou paideia, meaning "The Education of Cyrus." Aspects of it would become a model for medieval writers of the genre known as mirrors for princes. In turn it was a strong influence upon the most well-known but atypical of these, Machiavelli's The Prince, which was an important influence in the rejection of medieval political thinking, and the development of modern politics. However, unlike most "mirrors of princes," and like The Prince, whether or not the Cyropaedia was really intended to describe an ideal ruler is a subject of debate. A very few words may suffice by way of introduction to this translation of the Cyropaedia. Professor Jowett, whose Plato represents the high-water mark of classical translation, has given us the following reminders: "An English translation ought to be idiomatic and interesting, not only to the scholar, but also to the unlearned reader. It should read as an original work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which can be made of the language from which the translation is taken, consistently with the first requirement of all, that it be English. The excellence of a translation will consist, not merely in the faithful rendering of words, or in the composition of a sentence only, or yet of a single paragraph, but in the colour and style of the whole work." These tests may be safely applied to the work of Mr. Dakyns. An accomplished Greek scholar, for many years a careful and sympathetic student of Xenophon, and possessing a rare mastery of English idiom, he was unusually well equipped for the work of a translator. And his version will, as I venture to think, be found to satisfy those requirements of an effective translation which Professor Jowett laid down. It is faithful to the tone and spirit of the original, and it has the literary quality of a good piece of original English writing. For these and other reasons it should prove attractive and interesting reading for the average Englishman.

Cyropaedia

Cyropaedia, Books 1-4

A New Critical Edition With a Facing Page English Translation

The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon of Athens

Memorabilia. Oeconomicus. Symposium. Apologia. (Loeb Classical Library No. 168)

Anabasis. De tocht van de tienduizend

Xenophon gives us an alternative to Plato’s accounts of the lessons of Socrates. As you probably know if you are reading this, Socrates left nothing behind by way of written teachings. All we know of the great philosopher’s teachings come from the accounts of his students. Xenophon’s version (Memorabilia of Socrates) is stylistically different from Plato’s dialogues(e.g. Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo), though Socrates’ wisdom and method (questioning) remain consistent.

With English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, a Map Arr. According to the Latest and Best Authorities, and a Plan of the Battle of Cunaxa

The March of the Ten Thousand (The March Upcountry, The Anabasis, The Persian Expedition)

This work is a new critical text of the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, written in the fourth century B.C. by Xenophon of Athens, based upon collations of the two best manuscript witnesses presently extant. Each page of Greek text is faced with an idiomatic English translation, and the author provides a collation of the text excerpts made by the Byzantine scholar Joannes Stobaeus, and a new translation of Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, which serves as a helpful commentary to Xenophon's work.

Xenophon

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