Xenophon

When Xenophon, the son of Gryllus, was still a young man, he was a student of Socrates and later, he took part in the campaign of the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger against his brother, king Artaxerxes II Mnemon, which failed in the battle of Cunaxa (401).

On his return from the east, Xenophon was in some trouble, because he had by now become a mercenary leader with a band of rather ill-disciplined followers. However, his meeting with the Spartan king Agesilaus II and their joint campaign in Anatolia changed his fortunes. On their return to Greece, the king gave Xenophon a country estate near Olympia, where he started a career as a writer.

Among his other works are a vie romancée of king Cyrus the Great, a Symposium, and a book on horses. His masterpiece is the fascinating account of Cyrus' expedition against king Artaxerxes, the Anabasis. The chapters on Armenia, where the soldiers had to pass through endless snow fields, are among the highlights of Greek literature.

Towards the end of his life, Spartan power collapsed (Xenophon's son Gryllus was killed in action in the battle of Mantinea) and he was forced to move to Corinth. Here he wrote his Hellenica (Greek history), which begins at the point where Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War breaks off. This continuity, however, does not apply to the depth of the analysis, because Xenophon lacks the objectivity of his predecessor.

Xenophon greatly inspired later authors, like Arrian of Nicomedia, and his Anabasis remains one of the most fascinating texts from the ancient world.

From the Hellenica:

• The battle of Aigospotamoi
• The surrender of Athens