Cyrus’ Prayer and the Game of Life
In this blog post, I will outline the basics of two concepts that have been helpful to me in understanding the Cyropaedia: first, the nature and purpose of a “control level” in narrative generally, and second, the control level in this work in its broadest outline. Future posts will look more specifically at Xenophon’s unique […]
A Beginning: Control Levels and the Communtary
In the months ahead, I will be reading, inquiring about, commenting and blogging on our site on a regular basis. This work will constitute the project for which the CHS has granted me a fellowship this year, and has two objectives: First, I will be attempting to document an important aspect of Xenophon’s narrative technique […]
Xenophon’s Cyropaedia in the 21st Century
Question: Outside of professional academia what is the place for Xenophon’s Cyropaedia in the 21st century culture? This fall (2012) the Center for Hellenic Studies through its Sunoikisis outreach program will be working with colleges and universities to teach an introductory Greek course with the specific goal of using Cyrus’ Paradise as a third semester […]
The Cyropaedia and later prose fictions
Question: If Cyropaedia is a long prose fiction (a novel), what types of novel does it resemble? The literary specialists here seem to agree that Cyropaedia has no exact parallels in surviving ancient literature. There has been some discussion of what genre Xenophon, or an ancient reader, might have assigned the text too. I have […]
Why the Cyropaedia is so dull
This will be more of a provocation than a post. But it is a provocation that will I think be of relevance for those teaching the Cyropaedia anytime soon (a luxury I, alas, will not have). In 1993, Deborah Gera opened her fine book on the Cyropaedia with a decidedly unpromising sentence: “Considered by all […]
Some thoughts on finance and supply in the Cyropaedia
Question: Why is Xenophon so vague about how his Persian army is supported, particularly in the early books? Xenophon was a practical soldier whose works give us our richest view of Classical Greek land warfare. Although often euphemistic, he describes such small uglinesses as rawhide shoes freezing to their wearers’ flesh (Anabasis 4.5.14), and […]
Some thoughts about Xenophon’s observations of Military Leadership in the Cyropaedia
The starting questions: What does Xenophon consider important leadership qualities within a military context to be? Also, why is this such an important topic to him to justify returning to and exploring in such detail even in the Cyropaedia which is not obviously framed primarily as a military treatise? I must preface this post by […]
Wives, Subjects, Sons, and Lovers: Phthonos and Entitlement in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia
Guiding Question: What is the political and ethical significance of the emotion of phthonos (often translated as “envy”) in Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus? Abstract: In this post I explore a number of questions related to the ethical and political dimensions of phthonos, an emotion often but I believe incorrectly translated as “envy.” I argue rather […]
Xenophon’s Unusual Character Introductions in the Cyropaedia
Question: Why does Xenophon introduce several characters without giving their names but then reveal their names, often without apparent emphasis, several chapters or even books later? The following is a list of characters who are not introduced by name but are named later. After the list I provide a few hypotheses for why Xenophon may […]
ONLINE SUMMER SYMPOSIUM – CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS IN AN ONLINE SUMMER SYMPOSIUM ON “CYRUS’ PARADISE: A COLLABORATIVE COMMENTARY TO XENOPHON’S CYROPAEDIA” JUNE 18–JUNE 29, 2012 Sponsored by Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC. Moderated by David Carlisle (Cornell College), Sarah Ferrario (Catholic University), Jennifer Gates-Foster (University of Texas-Austin), Allen Romano (Florida State University), Norman Sandridge (Howard University). We […]
Recent Comments in this Document
February 4, 2018 at 9:33 am
This is not an exact parallel, but I’m reminded ofXenophon Anabasis 3.4.35 , where it is said that the Persians out on campaign are slow to get off the mark in the event of a night attack because they hobble their horses.
See in context
February 4, 2018 at 9:28 am
See the index to the Loeb, where it is suggested that these Armenian Chaldaeans are a people more correctly known as the Haldi.
See in context
February 4, 2018 at 9:18 am
I wonder if it’s a bit of a stretch to look for parallels with Sparta here, since elders had similar functions in a great many premodern societies.
See in context
February 4, 2018 at 9:08 am
The tone of this interchange reminds me of the dialogue between Pericles and Alcibiades atXenophon Memorabilia 1.2.40-46 . And for a wise, even if not wisecracking, child, how about Gorgo at Herodotus 5.51 ?
See in context
February 4, 2018 at 8:37 am
Surely just because it means ‘whatever makes your bread less dull’!
See in context
February 4, 2018 at 8:31 am
Reza Zarghamee’s blog posts on this site argue very convincingly that, yes, there could have been an Iranian tradition that leapfrogged back past Cambyses’ reign and attributed the conquest of Egypt to Cyrus.
See in context
August 16, 2016 at 4:56 pm
What’s going on with Median ἰσηγορία? Is this a little Xenophontic jibe directed toward Athens, which was famed for that “freedom/license/excessive of speech”?
See in context
August 16, 2016 at 4:15 pm
On this see now Norman’s own Sandridge 2012.
See in context
February 17, 2016 at 8:23 pm
Hale, J. R. 2013. “Not Patriots, Not Farmers, Not Amateurs: Greek Soldiers of Fortune and the Origins of Hoplite Warfare.” In Donald Kagan and Gregory F. Viggiano (eds.), Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece. (Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2013): 176-193
Luraghi, N. 2006. “Traders, Pirates, Warriors: The Proto-History of Greek Mercenary Soldiers in the Eastern Mediterranean.” Phoenix 60.1/2: 21-47
See in context
February 17, 2016 at 8:19 pm
On Greek soldiers in the service of foreign kings, see also Luraghi 2006 and Hale 2013. On the rhetorical, panhellenist context see especially the speeches of Isocrates.
See in context