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102-524: Xenophon of Athens ( / ˈ z ɛ n ə f ən , ˈ z iː n ə -, - ˌ f ɒ n / ; Ancient Greek : Ξενοφῶν ; c.  430  – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Greek mercenaries , the Ten Thousand , who had been part of Cyrus the Younger 's attempt to seize control of

204-537: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in

306-551: A centaur is indicative of the unstable alliance of Persian and Mede formulated by Cyrus. He cites the regression of the Persians directly after the death of Cyrus as the result of this instability, a union made possible only through Cyrus. The strength of Cyrus in holding the empire together is praiseworthy, according to Xenophon. However, the empire began to decline upon the death of Cyrus. By this example, Xenophon sought to show that empires lacked stability and could only be maintained by

408-479: A claim); but that I gave all my attention to avoiding doing anything unjust or unholy. As powerful as it was, the government did not terrify me into doing a wrong action. When we came out of the rotunda, the other four went to Salamis and arrested Leon, but I simply went home. Later on, in his Seventh Letter , Plato describes the interaction between the Thirty and Socrates from his own point of view: They tried to send

510-562: A defile where the main Carduchian host sat. Xenophon had 8,000 men feint and marched the other 2,000 to a pass revealed by a prisoner under the cover of a rainstorm, and at daylight, they pushed in. After the fighting, the Greeks went to the northern foothills of the mountains at the Centrites River, later finding a Persian force blocking the route north. Xenophon's scouts found another ford, but

612-461: A follower of Socrates." Diogenes Laërtius also relates an incident "when in the battle of Delium Xenophon had fallen from his horse" and Socrates reputedly "stepped in and saved his life." Both Plato and Xenophon wrote Apology concerning the death of Socrates. Xenophon and Plato seem to be concerned with the failures of Socrates to defend himself. Xenophon asserts that Socrates dealt with his prosecution in an exceedingly arrogant manner, or at least

714-540: A friend of mine, the aged Socrates, whom I should scarcely scruple to describe as the most upright man of that day, with some other persons to carry off one of the citizens by force to execution, in order that, whether he wished it, or not, he might share the guilt of their conduct; but he would not obey them, risking all consequences in preference to becoming a partner in their iniquitous deeds. The Italian historian Luciano Canfora has inferred that another of Socrates' students, Xenophon, might have played an important part in

816-464: A general, historian, or philosopher. For the majority of time in the past two millennia, Xenophon was recognized as a philosopher. Quintilian in The Orator's Education discusses the most prominent historians, orators and philosophers as examples of eloquence and recognizes Xenophon's historical work, but ultimately places Xenophon next to Plato as a philosopher. Today, Xenophon is recognized as one of

918-582: A horse, so much so that the Persians may actually seem to be centaurs (4.3.22–23). Xenophon plays upon the post-Persian-war propagandistic paradigm of using mythological imagery to represent the Greco-Persian conflict . Examples of this include the wedding of the Lapiths , Gigantomachy , Trojan War , and Amazonomachy on the Parthenon frieze . Johnson believes that the unstable dichotomy of man and horse found in

1020-472: A lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and

1122-419: A lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in

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1224-592: A minor force of harassing Persian missile cavalry. One night, Xenophon formed a body of archers and light cavalry. When the Persian cavalry arrived the next day, now firing within several yards, Xenophon unleashed his new cavalry, killing many and routing the rest. Tissaphernes pursued Xenophon, and when the Greeks reached the Great Zab river, one of the men devised a plan: goats, cows, sheep, and donkeys were to be slaughtered and their bodies stuffed with hay, sewn up, laid across

1326-417: A new government, with a specific group of thirty in charge of the public affairs of Athens. Ten of the fifty-one were to rule the city, and eleven were sent to rule Piraeus . Plato corroborates the general consensus found in other sources: the rule of the Thirty was "reviled as it was by many." The rule of the Thirty made the former democracy resemble a golden age in comparison. Plato also includes an account of

1428-486: A number of "undesirables" within Athens. Around this time, Thirty members Aeschines and Aristoteles travelled to Sparta and met with Lysander, requesting that a Spartan garrison be stationed in Athens. Lysander dispatched a garrison to the city, with the Thirty stating that it was a temporary measure until they finished their trials against criminals, but members of the Thirty started using Spartan soldiers as personal bodyguards in

1530-646: A person of remarkable prowess, such as Cyrus. Xenophon displays Cyrus as a lofty, temperate man. He is depicted as not subject to the foibles of others. He used the example of the Persians to decry the attempts at empire made by Athens and Sparta. Having written the Cyropaedia after the downfall of Athens in the Peloponnesian War , this work criticizes the Greek attempts at empire and "monarchy". Another passage that Johnson cites as criticism of monarchy and empire concerns

1632-495: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment

1734-492: A result, refused to continue ( Anabasis 1.3.1). However, Clearchus , a Spartan general, convinced the Greeks to continue with the expedition. The army of Cyrus met the army of Artaxerxes II in the Battle of Cunaxa . Cyrus was killed in the battle ( Anabasis 1.8.27–1.9.1). Shortly thereafter, Clearchus was invited by Tissaphernes to a feast, where, alongside four other generals and many captains, including Xenophon's friend Proxenus, he

1836-451: A rhetorical challenge worthy of the great persuader. By contrast, Plato argued that Socrates was attempting to demonstrate a higher moral standard and teach a lesson. Xenophon's lessons on leadership have been reconsidered for their modern-day value. The Cyropaedia , in outlining Cyrus as an ideal leader, is the work that O'Flannery suggests be used as a guide or example for those striving to be leaders. The linking of moral code and education

1938-671: A separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek , and Koine may be classified as Ancient Greek in a wider sense. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek

2040-609: A standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c.  300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as

2142-456: A temporary truce, and the Greek army retired for a winter camp at Byzantium . In 398 BC, Xenophon captured the city of Lampsacus . The Spartan ephors officially cleared the Ten Thousand of any previous wrongdoing (the Ten Thousand were likely a part of the investigation of Thimbron's failure at Larissa) and integrated the Ten Thousand into Dercylidas' army. Hellenica mentions the response of

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2244-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and

2346-502: A young boy (present at the banquet alongside his own father). In Oeconomicus , Socrates explains how to manage a household. Both the Apology and the Memorabilia defend Socrates' character and teachings. The former is set during the trial of Socrates, while the latter explains his moral principles and that he was not a corrupter of the youth. Although Xenophon claims to have been present at

2448-556: Is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in the epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of

2550-572: Is a quality subscribed to Cyrus that O'Flannery believes is in line with modern perceptions of leadership. Xenophon's entire classical corpus is extant. The following is a list of his works. These works were probably written by Xenophon when he was living in Scillus . His days were likely spent in relative leisure here, and he wrote these treatises about the sorts of activities he spent time on. Ancient Greek language Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes

2652-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected

2754-455: Is best outlined in the Histories of Herodotus . Herodotus contradicts Xenophon at several other points. Herodotus says that Cyrus led a rebellion against his maternal grandfather, Astyages , king of Media, and defeated him, thereafter keeping Astyages in his court for the remainder of his life ( Histories 1.130). The Medes were thus "reduced to subjection" (1.130) and became "slaves" (1.129) to

2856-644: Is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to

2958-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in

3060-501: Is known about these 3,000 men, for a complete record was never documented ‒ it is hypothesised that the Thirty appointed these select few as the only men the Thirty could find who were devotedly loyal to their regime. Led by Critias , the Thirty Tyrants presided over a reign of terror in which they executed, murdered, and exiled hundreds of Athenians, seizing their possessions afterward. Both Isocrates and Aristotle (the latter in

3162-435: Is summoned before the group and ordered not to instruct or speak to anyone, whereupon Socrates mocks the order by asking sarcastically whether he will be allowed to ask to buy food in the marketplace. Xenophon uses the episode to illustrate both Socrates' own critique of the slaughtering of Athenian citizens by the Thirty, as well as make the case that the relationship between Critias and Socrates had significantly deteriorated by

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3264-530: The Athenian Constitution ) have reported that the Thirty executed 1,500 people without trial. Critias, a former pupil of Socrates , has been described as "the first Robespierre " because of his cruelty and inhumanity; he evidently aimed to end democracy, regardless of the human cost. The Thirty removed criminals as well as many ordinary citizens whom they considered "unfriendly" to the new regime for expressing support for democracy. One of their targets

3366-474: The Achaemenid Empire . As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior". Xenophon established precedents for many logistical operations and was among the first to describe strategic flanking maneuvers and feints in combat. For at least two millennia, it has been debated whether or not Xenophon was first and foremost

3468-475: The Cyropaedia to outline his political and moral philosophy. He did this by endowing a fictional version of the boyhood of Cyrus the Great , founder of the first Persian Empire , with the qualities of what Xenophon considered the ideal ruler. Historians have asked whether Xenophon's portrait of Cyrus was accurate or if Xenophon imbued Cyrus with events from Xenophon's own life. There is a consensus that Cyrus's career

3570-745: The Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as the Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect

3672-482: The Nabonidus Chronicle , there is mention of the death of the wife of the king (name not given) within a month after the capture of Babylon. It has been conjectured that this was Cyrus's first wife; Cyropaedia' s stated (8.5.19) that Cyaxares II gave his daughter in marriage to Cyrus soon after the fall of the city, with the kingdom of Media as her dowry. The Cyropaedia praises the first Persian emperor, Cyrus

3774-523: The Symposium , he was only a young boy at the date on which he proposes. Xenophon was not present at the trial of Socrates, having been on campaign in Anatolia and Mesopotamia . It seems that Xenophon wrote his Apology and Memorabilia as defences of his former teacher and to further the philosophic project, not to present a literal transcript of Socrates' response to the historical charges incurred. Xenophon

3876-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)

3978-556: The return of Alcibiades in 407 BC, the trial of the generals in 406 BC, and the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants in 403 BC. Personally invited by Proxenus of Beotia ( Anabasis 3.1.9), one of the captains in Cyrus's mercenary army, Xenophon, sailed to Ephesus to meet Cyrus the Younger and participate in Cyrus's military campaign against Tissaphernes , the Persian satrap of Ionia . Xenophon describes his life in 401 BC and 400 BC in

4080-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):

4182-490: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from

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4284-686: The Classical period of ancient Greek. (The second line is the IPA , the third is transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme .) Ὅτι [hóti Hóti μὲν men mèn ὑμεῖς, hyːmêːs hūmeîs,   Thirty Tyrants After the Athenian navy was destroyed at the battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, Lysander led the Spartan and Peloponnesian League naval force to Athens for

4386-665: The Great , and it was through his greatness that the Persian Empire held together. However, following the lead of Leo Strauss , David Johnson suggests that there is a subtle layer to the book in which Xenophon conveys criticism of the Persians, the Spartans, and the Athenians. In section 4.3 of the Cyropaedia , Cyrus wrote his desire to institute cavalry. He wrote that he desires that no Persian kalokagathos ("noble and good man" literally, or simply "noble") ever be seen on foot but always on

4488-529: The Greeks led by Thimbron lay siege to Larissa . Failing to capture Larissa, the Greeks fall back to Caria . As a result, the ephors of Sparta recall Thimbron and send Dercylidas to lead the Greek army. After facing the court at Sparta, Thimbron is banished. Xenophon describes Dercylidas as a significantly more experienced commander than Thimbron. Led by Dercylidas, Xenophon and the Greek army march to Aeolis and capture nine cities in 8 days, including Larissa , Hamaxitus , and Kolonai . The Persians negotiated

4590-484: The Greeks to Leucophrys . Dercylidas proposed the new terms of truce to Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus and the three parties submitted the truce proposal to Sparta and the Persian king for ratification. Under Dercylidas' proposal, the Persians abandoned claims to independent Greek cities in Ionia, and the Spartans withdrew the army. In 396 BC, the newly appointed Spartan king, Agesilaus , arrived at Ephesus and assumed command of

4692-685: The Medes were the strongest of the kingdoms that opposed the Babylonians (1.5.2). In the Harran Stele, a document from the court of Nabonidus wrote the same point. In the entry for year 14 or 15 of his reign (542–540 BC), Nabonidus speaks of his enemies as the kings of Egypt, the Medes, and the Arabs. There is no mention of the Persians; according to Herodotus and the current consensus, the Medians had been made "slaves" of

4794-462: The Persian satrap of Ionia , Cyrus assembled a massive army composed of native Persian soldiers and Greeks. Prior to waging war against Artaxerxes, Cyrus proposed that the enemy was the Pisidians , and so the Greeks were unaware that they were to battle against the larger army of King Artaxerxes II ( Anabasis 1.1.8–11). At Tarsus , the soldiers became aware of Cyrus's plans to depose the king and, as

4896-529: The Persian throne from Artaxerxes II of Persia , and the return of Greek mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the Battle of Cunaxa . Xenophon wrote Cyropaedia , outlining both military and political methods used by Cyrus the Great to conquer the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. Anabasis and Cyropaedia inspired Alexander the Great and other Greeks to conquer Babylon and the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC. The Hellenica continues directly from

4998-499: The Persians 20 years before the capture of Babylon in 539 BC. The Cyropaedia relates instead that Astyages died and was succeeded by his son, Cyaxares II , the maternal uncle of Cyrus (1.5.2). In the initial campaign against the Lydians, Babylonians, and their allies, the Medians were led by Cyaxares and the Persians by Cyrus, who was crown prince of the Persians since his father was still alive (4.5.17). Xenophon relates that at this time

5100-410: The Persians blocked this as well. Xenophon sent a small force back toward the other ford, causing the Persians to detach a major part of their force parallel. Xenophon overwhelmed the force at his ford. Winter has arrived as the Greeks marched through Armenia "absolutely unprovided with clothing suitable for such weather". The Greeks decided to attack a wooden castle known to have had storage. The castle

5202-456: The Persians several years previously. An archaeological bas-reliefs in the stairway at Persepolis shows no distinction in official status between the Persian and Median. Olmstead nevertheless wrote, "Medes were honored equally with Persians; they were employed in high office and were chosen to lead Persian armies." Both Herodotus (1.123,214) and Xenophon (1.5.1,2,4, 8.5.20) present Cyrus as about 40 years old when his forces captured Babylon. In

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5304-475: The Round Chamber and instructed us to go and fetch Leon of Salamis from his home for execution. This was, of course, only one of many instances in which they issued such instructions, their object being to implicate as many people as possible in their crimes. On this occasion, however, I again made it clear, not by my words but by my actions, that the attention I paid to death was zero (if that is not too unrefined

5406-401: The Spartans instructed, Athens appointed five ephors to organize all voting through the phylarchoi , the tribal council representing the eleven tribes of Athens. The Ecclesia split into different factions on what the new government should be, with some favoring an oligarchic model while Theramenes became the de facto leader of those who wanted a democratic system. The debate led to deadlock and

5508-492: The Spartans intervened and demanded that the Athenians appoint thirty men to oversee the drafting of new laws and a new constitution. It was determined that Theramenes would choose ten, the five Ephors would choose ten, and the Ecclesia would choose the final ten. The final thirty selected men were tasked with drawing up the laws under which they would govern. The names of the Thirty are listed by Xenophon : With Spartan support,

5610-480: The Thirty ), and the ten who ruled in Piraeus . After the revolution that overthrew the Thirty Tyrants, Athens and its citizens struggled to reconcile and rebuild. Plato , in the opening portion of his Seventh Letter (the authenticity of which is questioned by several modern scholars), recounts the rule of the Thirty Tyrants during his youth. He explains that following the revolution, fifty-one men became rulers of

5712-570: The Thirty established an interim government in Athens. They reestablished the Boule , a council composed of 500 members. They appointed other officials, including 10 men who would rule the port town of Piraeus on behalf of the Thirty, and hired 300 mastigophoroi, whip bearers who would act as a police force. The Thirty oversaw trials in the Boule against Athenian leaders who had opposed the peace with Sparta and sentenced them to death. They then tried and executed

5814-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has

5916-547: The army from Dercylidas. Xenophon joined Agesilaus' campaign for the Ionian Greece independence of 396–394 BC. In 394 BC, Agesilaus' army returned to Greece, taking the route of the Persian invasion eighty years earlier and fought in the Battle of Coronea . Athens banished Xenophon for fighting on the Spartan side. Xenophon probably followed Agesilaus' march to Sparta in 394 BC and finished his military journey after seven years. Xenophon received an estate in Scillus where he spent

6018-499: The army of the Spartan general Thimbron (whom Xenophon refers to as Thibron). Xenophon's conduct of the retreat caused Dodge to name the Athenian knight the greatest general that preceded Alexander the Great. Xenophon's Anabasis ends in 399 BC in the city of Pergamon with the arrival of the Spartan commander Thimbron . Thimbron's campaign is described in Hellenica . In the describtors, after capturing Teuthrania and Halisarna ,

6120-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in

6222-564: The best possible conditions from the Spartans. His request was granted, and he met with Lysander at Samos, who then sent him to Sparta. Before the Spartan assembly and representatives of the Peloponnesian League, Theramenes negotiated a final surrender of Athens, ending the Peloponnesian War. While some members of the Peloponnesian League called for Athens to be completely destroyed, the Spartans refused to do so, arguing that Athens

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6324-438: The center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West

6426-417: The city through this period, which caused the public to associate him with the Thirty and may have contributed to his eventual death sentence, especially since Critias had been his student. In Plato's Apology , Socrates recounts an incident in which the Thirty once ordered him (and four other men) to bring before them Leon of Salamis , a man known for his justice and upright character, for execution. While

6528-478: The city. Instead of drafting a new constitution, the Thirty ruled Athens themselves, similar to the Spartan Gerousia. They limited citizenship and the right "to share in the government" to only 3,000 selected Athenians. These hand-selected individuals had the right to carry weapons, to have a jury trial, and to reside within city limits. The list of the selected 3,000 was constantly revised. Although little

6630-714: The coast of the Black Sea ( Anabasis 4.8.22). Before their departure, the Greeks made an alliance with the locals and fought one last battle against the Colchians , vassals of the Persians. Xenophon ordered his men to deploy the line extremely thin so as to overlap the enemy. The Colchians divided their army to check the Greek deployment, opening a gap in their line through which Xenophon rushed in his reserves. They then made their way westward back to Greek territory via Chrysopolis ( Anabasis 6.3.16). Once there, they helped Seuthes II make himself king of Thrace before being recruited into

6732-497: The commander of the Ten Thousand, "But men of Lacedaemon, we are the same men now as we were last year; but the commander now is one man (Dercylidas), and in the past was another (Thimbron). Therefore you are at once able to judge for yourselves the reason why we are not at fault now, although we were then." In 397 BC, Dercylidas' force mirrored the movement of Tissaphernes ' and Pharnabazus ' forces near Ephesus but did not engage in battle. The Persian army retreated to Tralles and

6834-572: The devaluation of the homotīmoi ("equal", or "same honours", i.e., "peers"). Homotīmoi were highly educated and thus became the core of the soldiers as heavy infantry. Their band (1000 when Cyrus fought the Assyrians ) shared equally in the spoils of war. However, in the face of overwhelming numbers against the Assyrians, Cyrus armed the commoners with similar arms instead of their normal light ranged armament ( Cyropaedia 2.1.9). Argument ensued as to how

6936-563: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of

7038-456: The emperor for positions and honours; from this point, they were referred to as entīmoi , no longer of the "same honours" but having to be "in" to get the honour. The Spartans wrote nothing about themselves, or if they did it, it is lost. Xenophon, in the Constitution of the Spartans, wrote: It occurred to me one day that Sparta, though among the most thinly populated of states, was evidently

7140-535: The final destruction of the city. The Athenians prepared for a siege, but without a navy to defend them or import food, many Athenian citizens starved. After the Spartans began cutting them off by occupying Decelea , the Athenians decided to surrender in March 404 BC. After initial negotiations of surrender failed, Athenian general Theramenes asked the Ecclesia for permission to speak with Lysander, believing that he could get

7242-556: The final sentence of Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War covering the last seven years of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) and the subsequent forty-two years (404–362 BC) ending with the Second Battle of Mantinea . Xenophon was born c.  430 BC in the deme (local district) of Erchia in Athens ; his father was called Gryllus ( Γρύλλος ) and belonged to an Athenian aristocratic family. The Peloponnesian War

7344-653: The first who established in rear of the phalanx a reserve from which he could at will feed weak parts of his line. This was a superb first conception." The Ten Thousand eventually made their way into the land of the Carduchians , a wild tribe inhabiting the mountains of modern southeastern Turkey. "Once the Great King had sent into their country an army of 120,000 men, to subdue them, but of all that great host not one had ever seen his home again." The Ten Thousand were shot at with stones and arrows for several days before they reached

7446-663: The forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c.  1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c.  1200–800 BC ), the Archaic or Epic period ( c.  800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c.  500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been

7548-403: The genre of Socratic dialogue . These works include Xenophon's Apology , Memorabilia , Symposium , and Oeconomicus . The Symposium outlines the character of Socrates as he and his companions discuss what attributes they take pride in. One of the main plots of the Symposium is about the type of loving relationship ( noble or base ) a rich aristocrat will be able to establish with

7650-424: The gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune". The oracle answered his question and told him which gods to pray and sacrifice to. When Xenophon returned to Athens and told Socrates of the oracle's advice, Socrates chastised him for asking so disingenuous a question ( Anabasis 3.1.5–7). Under the pretext of fighting Tissaphernes ,

7752-648: The greatest writers of antiquity. Xenophon's works span multiple genres and are written in plain Attic Greek , which is why they have often been used in translation exercises for contemporary students of the Ancient Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , Diogenes Laërtius observed that Xenophon was known as the "Attic Muse" because of the sweetness of his diction. Despite being born an Athenian citizen, Xenophon came to be associated with Sparta ,

7854-556: The historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from

7956-472: The historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at the time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to

8058-449: The interaction between Socrates and the Thirty. In the Republic , Plato mentions Lysias , one of the men from Athens who escaped the Thirty's reign of terror. Lysias' brother Polemarchus "fell victim to the Thirty Tyrants." Due to their desire to remain in complete control over Athens, the Thirty sought to exile or kill anyone who outwardly opposed their regime. Socrates remained in

8160-506: The memoir Anabasis . Written years after the events it recounts, Xenophon's book Anabasis (Greek: ἀνάβασις, literally "going up") is his record of the expedition of Cyrus and the Greek mercenaries' journey to home. Xenophon writes that he asked Socrates for advice on whether to go with Cyrus and that Socrates referred him to the Pythia . Xenophon's query to the oracle, however, was not whether or not to accept Cyrus' invitation, but "to which of

8262-508: The most powerful and most celebrated city in Greece; and I fell to wondering how this could have happened. But when I considered the institutions of the Spartans, I wondered no longer. Xenophon goes on to describe in detail the main aspects of Laconia . A short treatise on the Constitution of the Athenians exists that was once thought to be written by Xenophon was probably written when Xenophon

8364-435: The new form of government. Those who did not approve of the new laws could either fight, risking exile or execution, or accept the Thirty's rule. Some supporters of democracy chose to fight and were exiled, among them Thrasybulus , a trierarch in the Athenian navy and noted supporter of democratic government. The uprising that overthrew the Thirty in 403 BCE was orchestrated by a group of exiles led by Thrasybulus. Critias

8466-549: The next twenty-three years. In 371 BC, after the Battle of Leuctra , the Elians confiscated Xenophon's estate, and, according to Diogenes Laërtius , Xenophon moved to Corinth . Diogenes writes that Xenophon lived in Corinth until his death in 354 BC, at around the age of 74 or 75. Pausanias mentions Xenophon's tomb in Scillus . Xenophon took a keen interest in political philosophy and his work often examines leadership. Xenophon wrote

8568-499: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which

8670-502: The other four men obeyed, Socrates refused, not wanting to partake in the guilt of the executioners. However, he did not attempt to warn or save Leon of Salamis. By disobeying, Socrates may have been placing his own life in jeopardy, and he claimed it was only the disbanding of the oligarchy soon afterward that saved his life. When the oligarchy came into power, the Thirty Commissioners, in their turn, summoned me and four others to

8772-460: The overthrow of the Thirty's regime by Thrasybulus' rebel forces. After the revolution, Athens needed to decide the best way to govern the liberated city-state and to reconcile the atrocities committed by the Thirty. It was decided to give amnesty to all of the members of the selected 3,000, except for the Thirty themselves, the Eleven (a group of prison magistrates appointed by lot who reported directly to

8874-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c.  1450 BC ) are in

8976-407: The river, and covered with dirt so as not to be slippery and be used as a bridge to cross the river. This plan was discarded as impractical. Dodge notes, "On this retreat also was first shown the necessary, if cruel, means of arresting a pursuing enemy by the systematic devastation of the country traversed and the destruction of its villages to deprive him of food and shelter. And Xenophon is moreover

9078-431: The rule of the Thirty, as one of the two commanders of the cavalry, which were the Thirty's militia. Indeed, in his book Hipparchos (Commander of the cavalry), Xenophon mentions just one of the commanders (there were always two), only to revile him, while never mentioning the other. In his Memorabilia (Bk 1, Ch 2), Xenophon reports a contentious confrontation between Socrates and the Thirty, Critias included. Socrates

9180-401: The spoils would now be split, and Cyrus enforced a meritocracy . Many homotīmoi found this unfair because their military training was no better than the commoners, only their education, and hand-to-hand combat was less a matter of skill than strength and bravery. As Johnson asserts, this passage decries imperial meritocracy and corruption, for the homotīmoi now had to ingratiate themselves to

9282-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies

9384-487: The traditional opponent of Athens. Much of what is known today about the Spartan society comes from Xenophon's royal biography of the Spartan king Agesilaus and the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians . The sub-satrap Mania is primarily known through Xenophon's writings. Xenophon's Anabasis recounts his adventures with the Ten Thousand while in the service of Cyrus the Younger , Cyrus's failed campaign to claim

9486-475: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,

9588-545: Was a student of Socrates. In his Lives of Eminent Philosophers , the Greek biographer Diogenes Laërtius (who writes many centuries later) reports how Xenophon met Socrates. "They say that Socrates met [Xenophon] in a narrow lane, and put his stick across it and prevented him from passing by, asking him where all kinds of necessary things were sold. And when he had answered him, he asked him again where men were made good and virtuous. And as he did not know, he said, 'Follow me, then, and learn.' And from this time forth, Xenophon became

9690-532: Was about five years old. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch" or Pseudo-Xenophon, detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes, but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes. Xenophon's works include a selection of Socratic dialogues; these writings are preserved. Except for the dialogues of Plato , they are the only surviving representatives of

9792-506: Was being waged throughout Xenophon's childhood and youth. A contemporary of Plato , Xenophon associated with Socrates , as was common for wealthy young men in this period, and probably served in the Athenian cavalry. He appears to have remained in Athens during the overthrow of Athenian democracy under the Thirty Tyrants , and fought democratic insurgents in the civil war of 403-404. Accounts of events in Hellenica suggest that Xenophon personally witnessed tumultuous political events such as

9894-406: Was captured and executed ( Anabasis 2.5.31–32). The mercenaries , known as the Ten Thousand , had no leadership in territory near Mesopotamia . They elected new leaders, including Xenophon himself. Dodge says of Xenophon's generalship, "Xenophon is the father of the system of retreat [...] He reduced its management to a perfect method." Xenophon and his men initially had to deal with volleys by

9996-435: Was killed in the fighting at the doors of Athens. The Thirty Tyrants' brief reign was characterized by violence and corruption. Historian Sian Lewis argues that the violence and brutality the Thirty carried out in Athens was necessary to transition Athens from a democracy to an oligarchy. However, the more violent the Thirty's regime became, the more opposition they faced. The increased level of opposition ultimately led to

10098-456: Was one of the great cities of Greece. The terms agreed on called for Athens to destroy the long walls of Piraeus , allow exiles back into the city, and reduce their navy to only twelve vessels, surrendering all remaining ones to the Spartans. The Athenians were also to recraft their government on one dictated by the Spartans and to submit to Sparta in both "peace and war,” recalling their ambassadors from other city states. To reform their laws as

10200-582: Was one of their own, Theramenes , whom Xenophon depicts as revolted by Critias' excessive violence and injustice and trying to oppose him. Critias accused Theramenes of conspiracy and treason and then forced him to drink hemlock . Many wealthy citizens were executed simply so the oligarchs could confiscate their assets, which were then distributed among the Thirty and their supporters. They also hired 300 "lash-bearers,” or whip-bearing men to intimidate Athenian citizens. The Thirty's regime did not meet with much overt opposition, although many Athenians disliked

10302-421: Was perceived to have spoken arrogantly. Conversely, while not omitting it completely, Plato worked to temper that arrogance in his own Apology . Xenophon framed Socrates' defense, which both men admit was not prepared at all, not as a failure to argue, but as striving for death even in the light of unconvincing charges. As Danzig interprets it, convincing the jury to condemn him even on unconvincing charges would be

10404-461: Was stationed on a hill surrounded by forest. Xenophon ordered small parties of his men to appear on the hill road, and when the defenders shot at them, one soldier would leap into the trees. Then, "the other men followed his example [...] When the stones were almost exhausted, the soldiers raced one another over the exposed part of the road", storming the fortress with most of the garrison now neutralized. Soon after, Xenophon's men reached Trapezus on

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