110 Xenophon and "The Ten Thousand"

The History of Ancient Greece

Ryan Stitt

History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2023

⏱️ 160 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we discuss the life, influences, drawbacks, and positives of the Athenian military leader, philosopher, and historian—Xenophon (ca. 428-354 BC)—who was one of Sokrates' more famous pupils; and the post-Peloponnesian war Panhellenic campaign into the heart of the Persian Empire that he made famous through his Anabasis, including the Battle of Kounaxa and the "March of the Ten Thousand"

Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2023/01/110-xenophon-and-ten-thousand.html

Transcript

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0:00.0	.
0:07.0	.
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0:21.0	.
0:28.0	.
0:39.0	Hello, I'm Ryan Stitt, and welcome back to the history of Ancient Greece.
0:44.0	Episode 110, Xenophon, and the 10,000.
0:50.0	Xenophon was born in Athens and lived from around 428 to 354 BC.
0:55.0	So he grew up with the background of the Peloponnesian War.
0:58.0	Little is known about his father, Grillis, who does not seem to have achieved any political
1:03.5	prominence in Athens, but his family background certainly was upper class.
1:08.0	And his keen interest in horses and horsemanship suggests that his family were members of
1:13.0	the wealthy equestrian class.
1:15.0	If this is so, then he may well have shared the same political outlook as portrayed in
1:19.8	Aristophanes as the Knights, which held an aristocratic contempt for the so-called demagogues,
1:26.8	as we discussed in Episode 95.
1:28.8	It may also partly explain his dislike of Athenian democracy and his respect for and praise
1:35.3	of Sparta's well-ordered and hierarchical society.
1:39.0	There will be more on that shortly.
1:41.4	The main sources for his life and career are his own works and a small section and
1:45.8	Diogenes Leartus' lives are philosophers.
1:49.6	Very little of his early life is a test it, but it's safe to assume that his education
	...

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