What was the primary motivation for a historical figure like Xenophon to create an extensive collection of...

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What was the primary motivation for a historical figure like Xenophon to create an extensive collection of written material?


Were Shakespeare's plays written for “high culture” or “entertain the bawdy masses” during his time?What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?What is the source for Diogenes' quote in Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy?What's the historical basis for Water Margin / 108 Heroes of Liangshan?Was John S. Mosby the model/motivation/template for John Carter?What was the medium for Marcus Aurelius's Meditations?What was the name of this medieval philosophical idea?Do we have any information on what the homes of Aristotle or Plato would have looked like?Was the “Anthropophagic Manifesto” written with “The Cosmic Race” in mind?In Classical Athens, what did the portico of the archon basileus look like?













4















Xenophon of Athens created a large amount of written material even by today's standards. Did he create this work knowing it would be read by future generations, or was it for his own satisfaction? I could imagine figures like Socrates, Aristotle, or Herodotus might expect their work to be copied many times, but maybe not?



Is this similar to academia, where a document or book might be highly useful to a smaller audience? Even in this case, the physical effort to create and copy the work seems trivial compared to the same with Papyrus and copying by hand.



Hellencia Papyrus










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    4















    Xenophon of Athens created a large amount of written material even by today's standards. Did he create this work knowing it would be read by future generations, or was it for his own satisfaction? I could imagine figures like Socrates, Aristotle, or Herodotus might expect their work to be copied many times, but maybe not?



    Is this similar to academia, where a document or book might be highly useful to a smaller audience? Even in this case, the physical effort to create and copy the work seems trivial compared to the same with Papyrus and copying by hand.



    Hellencia Papyrus










    share|improve this question







    New contributor



    bn. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






















      4












      4








      4








      Xenophon of Athens created a large amount of written material even by today's standards. Did he create this work knowing it would be read by future generations, or was it for his own satisfaction? I could imagine figures like Socrates, Aristotle, or Herodotus might expect their work to be copied many times, but maybe not?



      Is this similar to academia, where a document or book might be highly useful to a smaller audience? Even in this case, the physical effort to create and copy the work seems trivial compared to the same with Papyrus and copying by hand.



      Hellencia Papyrus










      share|improve this question







      New contributor



      bn. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      Xenophon of Athens created a large amount of written material even by today's standards. Did he create this work knowing it would be read by future generations, or was it for his own satisfaction? I could imagine figures like Socrates, Aristotle, or Herodotus might expect their work to be copied many times, but maybe not?



      Is this similar to academia, where a document or book might be highly useful to a smaller audience? Even in this case, the physical effort to create and copy the work seems trivial compared to the same with Papyrus and copying by hand.



      Hellencia Papyrus







      ancient-greece literature philosophy writing world






      share|improve this question







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      bn. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.










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      bn. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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          3 Answers
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          4














          Of course we can only conjecture (as we cannot know exactly what was in Xenophon's mind), so I conjecture that motivation was the same as for many modern writers: it is the desire to spread one's knowledge and ideas. To the contemporaries and to the later generations. There are additional, secondary motivations, of course, such as fame, respect in the society and other benefits. Famous writers can get various favors from the rulers and from the people.



          The only difference between the ancient Greece and modern world in this respect is that monetary rewards play more important role in the modern world. We invented copyright, and some modern authors can be more motivated by selling their writings.
          This was apparently not a motivation of the Greeks. And in general, money plays a much greater role in the modern world then in the ancient world.






          share|improve this answer































            3














            In a specific case, his work was clearly intended as instructional manual for others:



            His work On Horsemanship addresses cavalry officers and others either involved with the training of horses or the leading of mounted troops.



            Thus sitting "between" your two positions of "for future generations" and "for own satisfaction".



            The twist being that he almost certainly could not predict that future generations of equestrians would still return to this work and marvel about how much of his instructions and observations stood the test of time, through fads and fashions, across nearly 2 1/2 thousand years!






            share|improve this answer































              1














              Xenophon (about 431 BC to 354 BC) produced a very wide range of work during his lifetime: historical, biographical, philosophical, instructional. For some of these works, he states a purpose (see below). For others we can sometimes deduce his intent with a certain degree of confidence, but other times we cannot be sure.



              The historical works Anabasis and Hellenika are the most problematic for, as John Marincola states in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon,




              Xenophon does not give us much help in interpreting these works. No
              major ancient historian is more reticent about the nature and purpose
              of his history...






              Among those where Xenophon gives at least part of his reason are:



              In Agesilaus (King Agesilaos II of Sparta, ruled c. 398 – c. 360 BC), Xenophon begins with:




              I know how difficult it is to write an appreciation of Agesilaus that
              shall be worthy of his virtue and glory. Nevertheless the attempt must
              be made. For it would not be seemly that so good a man, just because
              of his perfection, should receive no tributes of praise, however
              inadequate.




              This laudatory account of Agesilaos is in contrast to some parts of Hellenika (see below) where Agesilaos is at times criticized.



              In the Socratic dialogue Symposium, Xenophon, through a narrator, says:




              To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of
              great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I
              should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this
              conviction.




              In the Socratic dialogue Apology his intent was make explicit something about Socrates' defence which he felt other writers hadn't:




              It seems to me fitting to hand down to memory, furthermore, how
              Socrates, on being indicted, deliberated on his defence and on his
              end. It is true that others have written about this, and that all of
              them have reproduced the loftiness of his words,—a fact which proves
              that his utterance really was of the character intimated;—but they
              have not shown clearly that he had now come to the conclusion that for
              him death was more to be desired than life; and hence his lofty
              utterance appears rather ill-considered.






              Among those works where Xenophon does not obviously explain his intent are:



              Cyropaedia (see also the section below on Anabasis) This multi-genre text is Xenophon's longest work and focuses on Cyrus the Great (although much of it is fiction) but it was intended neither as a history or a biography. Cyropaedia is




              the most enigmatic with regards to the author’s intentions....Xenophon
              sets out to narrate certain noteworthy incidents and exceptional deeds
              (military and political) from the life of Cyrus the Great.... What he found most admirable and
              underlines already in the prologue of this work is the fact that Cyrus
              managed to rule a great empire with the willing obedience of his
              followers. The Cyropaedia is thus presented as having serious claims
              to contribute to the political discourse of Xenophon’s time. It is no
              wonder that in antiquity it was considered a response to Plato’s
              Republic...




              Why did Xenophon choose a Persian, Cyrus? Melina Tamiolaki, in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon argues that:




              At least two reasons can be advanced to explain this choice: firstly,
              Xenophon was interested in paradigms of successful empires; obviously
              he could not fi nd such paradigms in Greece, which experienced
              consecutive failures of empires. Secondly, he must have been impressed
              by specific features on which the propaganda about Cyrus insisted,
              mainly his qualities as a benevolent despot and his success in gaining
              the willing obedience of his followers. Greek leaders ostensibly
              lacked these qualities, for the simple reason that the regime of
              monarchy that by definition enables and fosters them, was absent in
              Greece. Xenophon wished to underline these qualities, but without
              implying a suggestion about constitutional change in Greece.




              In Hellenika, a continuation of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War and then beyond, Xenophon does not clearly state a reason. His style reveals that he had clearly read both Herodotus and Thucydides. He begins Hellenika with "And after those things, not many days later...". David Thomas, in his introduction to The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, observes:




              Xenophon begins this way, expecting the reader to recognize that he is
              picking up roughly where Thucydides left off....Xenophon...is in some
              sense claiming to be a historian who can be compared to Thucydides.




              Thucydides states why he wrote his work. It was because he thought




              "it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other
              that had preceded it"




              Xenophon may have felt the same way, particularly as he simply continues from where Thucydides left off. What else might have given him reason to write Hellenika we simply don't know.



              Anabasis is similarly problematic in terms of motive. perhaps he felt that the march of 10,000 Greeks through the heart of the mighty Persian empire was too good a story not to tell. In Anabasis, the theme of Leaders and Followers is evident, as it was in Cyropaedia, and Xenophon's desire to make known his thoughts on what he personally saw as something very important may well have been an important (but not only) reason for writing both Anabasis and Cyropaedia.






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                Of course we can only conjecture (as we cannot know exactly what was in Xenophon's mind), so I conjecture that motivation was the same as for many modern writers: it is the desire to spread one's knowledge and ideas. To the contemporaries and to the later generations. There are additional, secondary motivations, of course, such as fame, respect in the society and other benefits. Famous writers can get various favors from the rulers and from the people.



                The only difference between the ancient Greece and modern world in this respect is that monetary rewards play more important role in the modern world. We invented copyright, and some modern authors can be more motivated by selling their writings.
                This was apparently not a motivation of the Greeks. And in general, money plays a much greater role in the modern world then in the ancient world.






                share|improve this answer




























                  4














                  Of course we can only conjecture (as we cannot know exactly what was in Xenophon's mind), so I conjecture that motivation was the same as for many modern writers: it is the desire to spread one's knowledge and ideas. To the contemporaries and to the later generations. There are additional, secondary motivations, of course, such as fame, respect in the society and other benefits. Famous writers can get various favors from the rulers and from the people.



                  The only difference between the ancient Greece and modern world in this respect is that monetary rewards play more important role in the modern world. We invented copyright, and some modern authors can be more motivated by selling their writings.
                  This was apparently not a motivation of the Greeks. And in general, money plays a much greater role in the modern world then in the ancient world.






                  share|improve this answer


























                    4












                    4








                    4







                    Of course we can only conjecture (as we cannot know exactly what was in Xenophon's mind), so I conjecture that motivation was the same as for many modern writers: it is the desire to spread one's knowledge and ideas. To the contemporaries and to the later generations. There are additional, secondary motivations, of course, such as fame, respect in the society and other benefits. Famous writers can get various favors from the rulers and from the people.



                    The only difference between the ancient Greece and modern world in this respect is that monetary rewards play more important role in the modern world. We invented copyright, and some modern authors can be more motivated by selling their writings.
                    This was apparently not a motivation of the Greeks. And in general, money plays a much greater role in the modern world then in the ancient world.






                    share|improve this answer













                    Of course we can only conjecture (as we cannot know exactly what was in Xenophon's mind), so I conjecture that motivation was the same as for many modern writers: it is the desire to spread one's knowledge and ideas. To the contemporaries and to the later generations. There are additional, secondary motivations, of course, such as fame, respect in the society and other benefits. Famous writers can get various favors from the rulers and from the people.



                    The only difference between the ancient Greece and modern world in this respect is that monetary rewards play more important role in the modern world. We invented copyright, and some modern authors can be more motivated by selling their writings.
                    This was apparently not a motivation of the Greeks. And in general, money plays a much greater role in the modern world then in the ancient world.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered 8 hours ago









                    AlexAlex

                    28.7k156109




                    28.7k156109























                        3














                        In a specific case, his work was clearly intended as instructional manual for others:



                        His work On Horsemanship addresses cavalry officers and others either involved with the training of horses or the leading of mounted troops.



                        Thus sitting "between" your two positions of "for future generations" and "for own satisfaction".



                        The twist being that he almost certainly could not predict that future generations of equestrians would still return to this work and marvel about how much of his instructions and observations stood the test of time, through fads and fashions, across nearly 2 1/2 thousand years!






                        share|improve this answer




























                          3














                          In a specific case, his work was clearly intended as instructional manual for others:



                          His work On Horsemanship addresses cavalry officers and others either involved with the training of horses or the leading of mounted troops.



                          Thus sitting "between" your two positions of "for future generations" and "for own satisfaction".



                          The twist being that he almost certainly could not predict that future generations of equestrians would still return to this work and marvel about how much of his instructions and observations stood the test of time, through fads and fashions, across nearly 2 1/2 thousand years!






                          share|improve this answer


























                            3












                            3








                            3







                            In a specific case, his work was clearly intended as instructional manual for others:



                            His work On Horsemanship addresses cavalry officers and others either involved with the training of horses or the leading of mounted troops.



                            Thus sitting "between" your two positions of "for future generations" and "for own satisfaction".



                            The twist being that he almost certainly could not predict that future generations of equestrians would still return to this work and marvel about how much of his instructions and observations stood the test of time, through fads and fashions, across nearly 2 1/2 thousand years!






                            share|improve this answer













                            In a specific case, his work was clearly intended as instructional manual for others:



                            His work On Horsemanship addresses cavalry officers and others either involved with the training of horses or the leading of mounted troops.



                            Thus sitting "between" your two positions of "for future generations" and "for own satisfaction".



                            The twist being that he almost certainly could not predict that future generations of equestrians would still return to this work and marvel about how much of his instructions and observations stood the test of time, through fads and fashions, across nearly 2 1/2 thousand years!







                            share|improve this answer












                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer










                            answered 3 hours ago









                            MarakaiMarakai

                            1,976927




                            1,976927























                                1














                                Xenophon (about 431 BC to 354 BC) produced a very wide range of work during his lifetime: historical, biographical, philosophical, instructional. For some of these works, he states a purpose (see below). For others we can sometimes deduce his intent with a certain degree of confidence, but other times we cannot be sure.



                                The historical works Anabasis and Hellenika are the most problematic for, as John Marincola states in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon,




                                Xenophon does not give us much help in interpreting these works. No
                                major ancient historian is more reticent about the nature and purpose
                                of his history...






                                Among those where Xenophon gives at least part of his reason are:



                                In Agesilaus (King Agesilaos II of Sparta, ruled c. 398 – c. 360 BC), Xenophon begins with:




                                I know how difficult it is to write an appreciation of Agesilaus that
                                shall be worthy of his virtue and glory. Nevertheless the attempt must
                                be made. For it would not be seemly that so good a man, just because
                                of his perfection, should receive no tributes of praise, however
                                inadequate.




                                This laudatory account of Agesilaos is in contrast to some parts of Hellenika (see below) where Agesilaos is at times criticized.



                                In the Socratic dialogue Symposium, Xenophon, through a narrator, says:




                                To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of
                                great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I
                                should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this
                                conviction.




                                In the Socratic dialogue Apology his intent was make explicit something about Socrates' defence which he felt other writers hadn't:




                                It seems to me fitting to hand down to memory, furthermore, how
                                Socrates, on being indicted, deliberated on his defence and on his
                                end. It is true that others have written about this, and that all of
                                them have reproduced the loftiness of his words,—a fact which proves
                                that his utterance really was of the character intimated;—but they
                                have not shown clearly that he had now come to the conclusion that for
                                him death was more to be desired than life; and hence his lofty
                                utterance appears rather ill-considered.






                                Among those works where Xenophon does not obviously explain his intent are:



                                Cyropaedia (see also the section below on Anabasis) This multi-genre text is Xenophon's longest work and focuses on Cyrus the Great (although much of it is fiction) but it was intended neither as a history or a biography. Cyropaedia is




                                the most enigmatic with regards to the author’s intentions....Xenophon
                                sets out to narrate certain noteworthy incidents and exceptional deeds
                                (military and political) from the life of Cyrus the Great.... What he found most admirable and
                                underlines already in the prologue of this work is the fact that Cyrus
                                managed to rule a great empire with the willing obedience of his
                                followers. The Cyropaedia is thus presented as having serious claims
                                to contribute to the political discourse of Xenophon’s time. It is no
                                wonder that in antiquity it was considered a response to Plato’s
                                Republic...




                                Why did Xenophon choose a Persian, Cyrus? Melina Tamiolaki, in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon argues that:




                                At least two reasons can be advanced to explain this choice: firstly,
                                Xenophon was interested in paradigms of successful empires; obviously
                                he could not fi nd such paradigms in Greece, which experienced
                                consecutive failures of empires. Secondly, he must have been impressed
                                by specific features on which the propaganda about Cyrus insisted,
                                mainly his qualities as a benevolent despot and his success in gaining
                                the willing obedience of his followers. Greek leaders ostensibly
                                lacked these qualities, for the simple reason that the regime of
                                monarchy that by definition enables and fosters them, was absent in
                                Greece. Xenophon wished to underline these qualities, but without
                                implying a suggestion about constitutional change in Greece.




                                In Hellenika, a continuation of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War and then beyond, Xenophon does not clearly state a reason. His style reveals that he had clearly read both Herodotus and Thucydides. He begins Hellenika with "And after those things, not many days later...". David Thomas, in his introduction to The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, observes:




                                Xenophon begins this way, expecting the reader to recognize that he is
                                picking up roughly where Thucydides left off....Xenophon...is in some
                                sense claiming to be a historian who can be compared to Thucydides.




                                Thucydides states why he wrote his work. It was because he thought




                                "it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other
                                that had preceded it"




                                Xenophon may have felt the same way, particularly as he simply continues from where Thucydides left off. What else might have given him reason to write Hellenika we simply don't know.



                                Anabasis is similarly problematic in terms of motive. perhaps he felt that the march of 10,000 Greeks through the heart of the mighty Persian empire was too good a story not to tell. In Anabasis, the theme of Leaders and Followers is evident, as it was in Cyropaedia, and Xenophon's desire to make known his thoughts on what he personally saw as something very important may well have been an important (but not only) reason for writing both Anabasis and Cyropaedia.






                                share|improve this answer




























                                  1














                                  Xenophon (about 431 BC to 354 BC) produced a very wide range of work during his lifetime: historical, biographical, philosophical, instructional. For some of these works, he states a purpose (see below). For others we can sometimes deduce his intent with a certain degree of confidence, but other times we cannot be sure.



                                  The historical works Anabasis and Hellenika are the most problematic for, as John Marincola states in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon,




                                  Xenophon does not give us much help in interpreting these works. No
                                  major ancient historian is more reticent about the nature and purpose
                                  of his history...






                                  Among those where Xenophon gives at least part of his reason are:



                                  In Agesilaus (King Agesilaos II of Sparta, ruled c. 398 – c. 360 BC), Xenophon begins with:




                                  I know how difficult it is to write an appreciation of Agesilaus that
                                  shall be worthy of his virtue and glory. Nevertheless the attempt must
                                  be made. For it would not be seemly that so good a man, just because
                                  of his perfection, should receive no tributes of praise, however
                                  inadequate.




                                  This laudatory account of Agesilaos is in contrast to some parts of Hellenika (see below) where Agesilaos is at times criticized.



                                  In the Socratic dialogue Symposium, Xenophon, through a narrator, says:




                                  To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of
                                  great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I
                                  should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this
                                  conviction.




                                  In the Socratic dialogue Apology his intent was make explicit something about Socrates' defence which he felt other writers hadn't:




                                  It seems to me fitting to hand down to memory, furthermore, how
                                  Socrates, on being indicted, deliberated on his defence and on his
                                  end. It is true that others have written about this, and that all of
                                  them have reproduced the loftiness of his words,—a fact which proves
                                  that his utterance really was of the character intimated;—but they
                                  have not shown clearly that he had now come to the conclusion that for
                                  him death was more to be desired than life; and hence his lofty
                                  utterance appears rather ill-considered.






                                  Among those works where Xenophon does not obviously explain his intent are:



                                  Cyropaedia (see also the section below on Anabasis) This multi-genre text is Xenophon's longest work and focuses on Cyrus the Great (although much of it is fiction) but it was intended neither as a history or a biography. Cyropaedia is




                                  the most enigmatic with regards to the author’s intentions....Xenophon
                                  sets out to narrate certain noteworthy incidents and exceptional deeds
                                  (military and political) from the life of Cyrus the Great.... What he found most admirable and
                                  underlines already in the prologue of this work is the fact that Cyrus
                                  managed to rule a great empire with the willing obedience of his
                                  followers. The Cyropaedia is thus presented as having serious claims
                                  to contribute to the political discourse of Xenophon’s time. It is no
                                  wonder that in antiquity it was considered a response to Plato’s
                                  Republic...




                                  Why did Xenophon choose a Persian, Cyrus? Melina Tamiolaki, in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon argues that:




                                  At least two reasons can be advanced to explain this choice: firstly,
                                  Xenophon was interested in paradigms of successful empires; obviously
                                  he could not fi nd such paradigms in Greece, which experienced
                                  consecutive failures of empires. Secondly, he must have been impressed
                                  by specific features on which the propaganda about Cyrus insisted,
                                  mainly his qualities as a benevolent despot and his success in gaining
                                  the willing obedience of his followers. Greek leaders ostensibly
                                  lacked these qualities, for the simple reason that the regime of
                                  monarchy that by definition enables and fosters them, was absent in
                                  Greece. Xenophon wished to underline these qualities, but without
                                  implying a suggestion about constitutional change in Greece.




                                  In Hellenika, a continuation of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War and then beyond, Xenophon does not clearly state a reason. His style reveals that he had clearly read both Herodotus and Thucydides. He begins Hellenika with "And after those things, not many days later...". David Thomas, in his introduction to The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, observes:




                                  Xenophon begins this way, expecting the reader to recognize that he is
                                  picking up roughly where Thucydides left off....Xenophon...is in some
                                  sense claiming to be a historian who can be compared to Thucydides.




                                  Thucydides states why he wrote his work. It was because he thought




                                  "it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other
                                  that had preceded it"




                                  Xenophon may have felt the same way, particularly as he simply continues from where Thucydides left off. What else might have given him reason to write Hellenika we simply don't know.



                                  Anabasis is similarly problematic in terms of motive. perhaps he felt that the march of 10,000 Greeks through the heart of the mighty Persian empire was too good a story not to tell. In Anabasis, the theme of Leaders and Followers is evident, as it was in Cyropaedia, and Xenophon's desire to make known his thoughts on what he personally saw as something very important may well have been an important (but not only) reason for writing both Anabasis and Cyropaedia.






                                  share|improve this answer


























                                    1












                                    1








                                    1







                                    Xenophon (about 431 BC to 354 BC) produced a very wide range of work during his lifetime: historical, biographical, philosophical, instructional. For some of these works, he states a purpose (see below). For others we can sometimes deduce his intent with a certain degree of confidence, but other times we cannot be sure.



                                    The historical works Anabasis and Hellenika are the most problematic for, as John Marincola states in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon,




                                    Xenophon does not give us much help in interpreting these works. No
                                    major ancient historian is more reticent about the nature and purpose
                                    of his history...






                                    Among those where Xenophon gives at least part of his reason are:



                                    In Agesilaus (King Agesilaos II of Sparta, ruled c. 398 – c. 360 BC), Xenophon begins with:




                                    I know how difficult it is to write an appreciation of Agesilaus that
                                    shall be worthy of his virtue and glory. Nevertheless the attempt must
                                    be made. For it would not be seemly that so good a man, just because
                                    of his perfection, should receive no tributes of praise, however
                                    inadequate.




                                    This laudatory account of Agesilaos is in contrast to some parts of Hellenika (see below) where Agesilaos is at times criticized.



                                    In the Socratic dialogue Symposium, Xenophon, through a narrator, says:




                                    To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of
                                    great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I
                                    should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this
                                    conviction.




                                    In the Socratic dialogue Apology his intent was make explicit something about Socrates' defence which he felt other writers hadn't:




                                    It seems to me fitting to hand down to memory, furthermore, how
                                    Socrates, on being indicted, deliberated on his defence and on his
                                    end. It is true that others have written about this, and that all of
                                    them have reproduced the loftiness of his words,—a fact which proves
                                    that his utterance really was of the character intimated;—but they
                                    have not shown clearly that he had now come to the conclusion that for
                                    him death was more to be desired than life; and hence his lofty
                                    utterance appears rather ill-considered.






                                    Among those works where Xenophon does not obviously explain his intent are:



                                    Cyropaedia (see also the section below on Anabasis) This multi-genre text is Xenophon's longest work and focuses on Cyrus the Great (although much of it is fiction) but it was intended neither as a history or a biography. Cyropaedia is




                                    the most enigmatic with regards to the author’s intentions....Xenophon
                                    sets out to narrate certain noteworthy incidents and exceptional deeds
                                    (military and political) from the life of Cyrus the Great.... What he found most admirable and
                                    underlines already in the prologue of this work is the fact that Cyrus
                                    managed to rule a great empire with the willing obedience of his
                                    followers. The Cyropaedia is thus presented as having serious claims
                                    to contribute to the political discourse of Xenophon’s time. It is no
                                    wonder that in antiquity it was considered a response to Plato’s
                                    Republic...




                                    Why did Xenophon choose a Persian, Cyrus? Melina Tamiolaki, in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon argues that:




                                    At least two reasons can be advanced to explain this choice: firstly,
                                    Xenophon was interested in paradigms of successful empires; obviously
                                    he could not fi nd such paradigms in Greece, which experienced
                                    consecutive failures of empires. Secondly, he must have been impressed
                                    by specific features on which the propaganda about Cyrus insisted,
                                    mainly his qualities as a benevolent despot and his success in gaining
                                    the willing obedience of his followers. Greek leaders ostensibly
                                    lacked these qualities, for the simple reason that the regime of
                                    monarchy that by definition enables and fosters them, was absent in
                                    Greece. Xenophon wished to underline these qualities, but without
                                    implying a suggestion about constitutional change in Greece.




                                    In Hellenika, a continuation of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War and then beyond, Xenophon does not clearly state a reason. His style reveals that he had clearly read both Herodotus and Thucydides. He begins Hellenika with "And after those things, not many days later...". David Thomas, in his introduction to The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, observes:




                                    Xenophon begins this way, expecting the reader to recognize that he is
                                    picking up roughly where Thucydides left off....Xenophon...is in some
                                    sense claiming to be a historian who can be compared to Thucydides.




                                    Thucydides states why he wrote his work. It was because he thought




                                    "it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other
                                    that had preceded it"




                                    Xenophon may have felt the same way, particularly as he simply continues from where Thucydides left off. What else might have given him reason to write Hellenika we simply don't know.



                                    Anabasis is similarly problematic in terms of motive. perhaps he felt that the march of 10,000 Greeks through the heart of the mighty Persian empire was too good a story not to tell. In Anabasis, the theme of Leaders and Followers is evident, as it was in Cyropaedia, and Xenophon's desire to make known his thoughts on what he personally saw as something very important may well have been an important (but not only) reason for writing both Anabasis and Cyropaedia.






                                    share|improve this answer













                                    Xenophon (about 431 BC to 354 BC) produced a very wide range of work during his lifetime: historical, biographical, philosophical, instructional. For some of these works, he states a purpose (see below). For others we can sometimes deduce his intent with a certain degree of confidence, but other times we cannot be sure.



                                    The historical works Anabasis and Hellenika are the most problematic for, as John Marincola states in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon,




                                    Xenophon does not give us much help in interpreting these works. No
                                    major ancient historian is more reticent about the nature and purpose
                                    of his history...






                                    Among those where Xenophon gives at least part of his reason are:



                                    In Agesilaus (King Agesilaos II of Sparta, ruled c. 398 – c. 360 BC), Xenophon begins with:




                                    I know how difficult it is to write an appreciation of Agesilaus that
                                    shall be worthy of his virtue and glory. Nevertheless the attempt must
                                    be made. For it would not be seemly that so good a man, just because
                                    of his perfection, should receive no tributes of praise, however
                                    inadequate.




                                    This laudatory account of Agesilaos is in contrast to some parts of Hellenika (see below) where Agesilaos is at times criticized.



                                    In the Socratic dialogue Symposium, Xenophon, through a narrator, says:




                                    To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of
                                    great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I
                                    should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this
                                    conviction.




                                    In the Socratic dialogue Apology his intent was make explicit something about Socrates' defence which he felt other writers hadn't:




                                    It seems to me fitting to hand down to memory, furthermore, how
                                    Socrates, on being indicted, deliberated on his defence and on his
                                    end. It is true that others have written about this, and that all of
                                    them have reproduced the loftiness of his words,—a fact which proves
                                    that his utterance really was of the character intimated;—but they
                                    have not shown clearly that he had now come to the conclusion that for
                                    him death was more to be desired than life; and hence his lofty
                                    utterance appears rather ill-considered.






                                    Among those works where Xenophon does not obviously explain his intent are:



                                    Cyropaedia (see also the section below on Anabasis) This multi-genre text is Xenophon's longest work and focuses on Cyrus the Great (although much of it is fiction) but it was intended neither as a history or a biography. Cyropaedia is




                                    the most enigmatic with regards to the author’s intentions....Xenophon
                                    sets out to narrate certain noteworthy incidents and exceptional deeds
                                    (military and political) from the life of Cyrus the Great.... What he found most admirable and
                                    underlines already in the prologue of this work is the fact that Cyrus
                                    managed to rule a great empire with the willing obedience of his
                                    followers. The Cyropaedia is thus presented as having serious claims
                                    to contribute to the political discourse of Xenophon’s time. It is no
                                    wonder that in antiquity it was considered a response to Plato’s
                                    Republic...




                                    Why did Xenophon choose a Persian, Cyrus? Melina Tamiolaki, in The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon argues that:




                                    At least two reasons can be advanced to explain this choice: firstly,
                                    Xenophon was interested in paradigms of successful empires; obviously
                                    he could not fi nd such paradigms in Greece, which experienced
                                    consecutive failures of empires. Secondly, he must have been impressed
                                    by specific features on which the propaganda about Cyrus insisted,
                                    mainly his qualities as a benevolent despot and his success in gaining
                                    the willing obedience of his followers. Greek leaders ostensibly
                                    lacked these qualities, for the simple reason that the regime of
                                    monarchy that by definition enables and fosters them, was absent in
                                    Greece. Xenophon wished to underline these qualities, but without
                                    implying a suggestion about constitutional change in Greece.




                                    In Hellenika, a continuation of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War and then beyond, Xenophon does not clearly state a reason. His style reveals that he had clearly read both Herodotus and Thucydides. He begins Hellenika with "And after those things, not many days later...". David Thomas, in his introduction to The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, observes:




                                    Xenophon begins this way, expecting the reader to recognize that he is
                                    picking up roughly where Thucydides left off....Xenophon...is in some
                                    sense claiming to be a historian who can be compared to Thucydides.




                                    Thucydides states why he wrote his work. It was because he thought




                                    "it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other
                                    that had preceded it"




                                    Xenophon may have felt the same way, particularly as he simply continues from where Thucydides left off. What else might have given him reason to write Hellenika we simply don't know.



                                    Anabasis is similarly problematic in terms of motive. perhaps he felt that the march of 10,000 Greeks through the heart of the mighty Persian empire was too good a story not to tell. In Anabasis, the theme of Leaders and Followers is evident, as it was in Cyropaedia, and Xenophon's desire to make known his thoughts on what he personally saw as something very important may well have been an important (but not only) reason for writing both Anabasis and Cyropaedia.







                                    share|improve this answer












                                    share|improve this answer



                                    share|improve this answer










                                    answered 1 hour ago









                                    Lars BosteenLars Bosteen

                                    46.9k10214289




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