Xenophon

thinks that the demos do not contribute as many benefits to Athens compared to the agathos. He says, satirically, that the common people are “the ones who impart strength to the city far more than the hoplites, the high-born, and the good men” (Pseudo-Xenophon I.2). As satire, the Old Oligarch’s writing really means to convey the opposite—he really actually means that the high-born are better for the city, and that the common people are not and thus should not be contributing to the government…

One thing is for sure is that Socrates didn 't commit any crime to cause his execution. Xenophon stated that the reason why Socrates was ready to die because the factors of being old were starting to get to him, so there was no reason to prolong his death. While Plato states that Socrates had no reason to fear death since his conscience was…

Physical evidence depicting the rule of Cyrus comes from three major sources, the Old Testament, Greek author Xenophon, and the Cyrus Cylinder. He is praised in the Old Testament twenty-two times. In 539 BCE he liberated the Jews from Babylon and supported more than 40,000 Jews when they chose to return to their homeland. He funded the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Xenophon believed him to be the ideal ruler, and sang his praises in the Cyropedia. However, the best evidence may…

rise and fall. The many forms of government gave philosophers around the Mediterranean examples of how each of the governing systems work in the real world. Xenophon voices his observation of the government of Sparta under the rule of Lycurgus and Xenophon notes it’s a “system utterly different than most others” (Xenophon, n.d.). Xenophon continues to reference the differences of the Spartan system and the others of Greece creating this idea of separation. Going on to explain how the Spartans…

father of history, and Xenophon. Herodotus explained how the Greeks even came into the greatest war the world had known, becoming the first historian to use the historical method. Thucydides was a general who was exiled and became a historian. He wrote about free will and that we are responsible for our own actions stressing the downfall of the struggle for power. He hoped his writing would prevent further devastations in the future in accordance to greed and power. Xenophon wrote “March of the…

Tyrtaeus was a Spartan poet from around the middle of the seventh century BC. His identity remains unknown. In Ancient Greek stories, he was variously speculated to have been a poet sent by Athens to help the Spartans, a lame schoolmaster and composer, and a Spartan general. Some scholars even doubt his existence. Nonetheless, fragments and four of Tyrtaeus ' elegies remain. Despite this few number, Tyrtaeus is the main source of evidence for his period of Spartan history, during which Sparta…

Socrates, she hadn’t reached her fifteenth birthday when she came to me. She had lived her entire life until that time under scrupulous supervision so that she should see, hear and say as little as possible’” (Joyal, Mcdougall, & Yardley, no. 3.6 = Xenophon, The Estate Manager, 7.3-6). As females they were meant to be seen and not heard and to run the household. Due to the fact that in Athens females had no “social or political influence” (Laurie, 1894: 500) they had a lot of time to spend at…

Fellow Athenians, today I will share with you the reasons why we must enact a law to give citizenship to the metics of our great city and to the freed slaves worthy of the title! I will persuade you to cast your vote to help our worthy brethren become full members of our society. As a simple pottery maker myself, I sell my wares in The Agora. Some well-known and wealthy metic families have been there in my hours of need. Through the issuance of loans from these great families, I was able to…

simply be the most prudent of all the peoples in the nation. In order to learn how to be appear prudent Cyrus inquires this to his father, who gives the response, “to seeming prudent about such things as you wish then becoming prudent about them” (Xenophon 53). Hence, according to the father of Cyrus, the best way in which to appear prudent is to actually be prudent. Cyrus takes these words to heart and is can be seen incorporating a moderate lifestyle both for himself, his troops, and eventual…

I Xenophon have come to the courts today to defend Socrates, a fine man. I was a pupil of Socrates and I am here to personally object to the charges facing my teacher. I would like to start off by stating that Socrates was a very wise man. He was an intellect that many yearned to learn from. I had the privilege of attending his lectures and hearing him sermon for hours on end about complex issues and philosophies. He was a man with the astuteness of many before and after. He taught me…