Book Description
In 1906, a stilted English translation of Xenophon of Athens story about Cyrus the Greats military campaigns was published. Now, a century later, a much more accessible edition of one of historys most extraordinary and successful leaders is emerging. Among his many achievements, this great leader of wisdom and virtue founded and extended the Persian Empire; conquered Babylon; freed 40,000 Jews from captivity; wrote mankinds first human rights charter; and ruled over those he had conquered with respect and benevolence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Good book but disappointing
I became interested in Cyrus the Great after reading my daughter her history lesson from Susan Wise Bauer's "Story of the World, book 1".In Bauer's version Cyrus's grandfather was told his grandson would grow up to take the throne from him, so he sent him off to be killed as an infant.Instead he was raised in the country by a shepherd who had a barren wife.He converted to Judiasim at an early age and his future was shaped by his belief in one God.

In this version (and I don't know who is to blame - Xenophon or Hendrick) he often refers to the lessons he learned from his father, the King, and his youth hunting with the "peers" - i.e. people of the highest social class.Which is it?Raised by a shepherd as a commoner or in a life of privelege?Because it makes a huge difference on the rest of the story.He was a hero of the common man, saving peasants from becoming involved in the battles, etc.This book puts a very elitist spin on the entire story - he does these things because he is the best of the best and has such great virtue that he learned from his father the king.

Other than that, and the fact the vocabulary seems suited to a Junior High reader rather than an adult, it is a pretty good book.I usually don't like reading war strategy type things but it had me hooked.I think it is definately a much better choice forHigh School/college than Machiavelli's "The Prince" which is somehow supposed to be styled after this.

old wine in new wineskins
Wanted a copy of Cyrus the Great.This has "leadership" headings like it were a Steven Covey book.Would prefer the original.

It's important to understand Xenophon's intentions
This book is fine as a modernization of an ancient classic but several things need to be understood.Xenophon never intended to write a biography of Cyrus.He was writing an idealized portrait of a long dead Persian ruler.He combined what he knew about Persia, a few facts about the historical Cyrus and a fictional vision of a what he thought was the ideal ruler.The original is much closer to Maciavelli's the Prince in purpose than it is to Plutarch's Lives.So when credit is being given for the wisdom in the book, it must be given directly to Xenophon, not Cyrus.You learn very little about Cyrus and Persians in the original and a lot about Xenophon and Greeks (particularly Sparta, Xenophon's real life ideal.)

Great book
I enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. The two primary reasons I recommend it highly are:
1) It is a great leadership/management book. It shows you how you can have great power through respect and understanding of the human nature.
2) It provides many people who are not familiar with the history and culture of Persians and Iran an eye opening vista of the contributions of this civilization. I believe it is important for Persians and non-Persians to know more about this heritage and how far away form this the country has come today in the hopes of learning from the past leaders.

Wonderful Accomplishment
A very readable version of one of the most remarkable books ever written.Hats off to Mr. Hedrick for making this ancient text seem so contemporary, without undermining the historical integrity of the work.I am a big fan of making the classics accessible to the average reader and Mr. Hedrick has done that.This would be a great gift for the recent high school or college grad.We can only hope that he is working on something similar for Xenophon's Persian Expedition, another ancient text that is rich in contemporary lessons. ... Read more

Book Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Book Description
An unforgettable personal retracing of one of the most extraordinary expeditions of all time, when two great ancient civilizations, and two great armies, clashed.

The year is 403 B.C. The Athenian philosopher Xenophon finds himself with an army of Greeks marching to what is now Turkey. Their mission: to aid the Persian pretender Cyrus in a war against his brother Artaxerxes. At a great battle, Cyrus is killed and his army destroyed-except for the Greeks holding his right flank. Xenophon and the Greeks are now stranded in the heart of the Persian Empire, outnumbered a hundred to one.

The story of Xenophon's march to escape the Persian noose is an intensely personal and human tale, replete with clashes of arms and desperate hardships. It is also the tale of two civilizations at mortal odds with each other. With their turbulent mix of anarchy and democracy, Xenophon's men resembled a mobile Greek city, cutting both a military and a cultural slash through the Persian Empire. Though Xenophon's journey would end badly, his experience in the East would prove invaluable for those who followed, for sixty years later, the Greeks would return to Persia-under Alexander. John Prevas brings this epoch-shaping story to life with a compelling narrative vivified by his personal retracing of much of the route trod by Xenophon and his men in one of history's great adventures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Intro to Xenophon
Coming from a place of little to no understanding of this period in history, I found this book exactly what I needed to spark my interest to explore further into Greek history.It was an exciting read and difficult to put down. Prevas did well to capture the motion of the story and keep the reader on track with the movement of the troops and how Xenophon reacted to various situation. I also thought the description of the geography and local cultures were fascinating. For a novice like myself I thought it was a great read, both informative and exciting.

Adventure at Its Best
I enjoyed this book.Prevas's elaboration on Xenophon's history is highly readable. The book's narrative flows well and adds some drama. This book is well worth a look for anyone interested in classical or military history, but it is not academic. The volume has a good index and a significant bibliography but no notes. There is a chronology at the beginning of the text that is a useful tool to set the historical stage, especially if one is unfamiliar with ancient history. Prevas also includes several black and white photographs that lend a visual perspective of the ground the Greeks covered, a map describing their route and some borrowed illustrations that unfortunately depict Greek hoplite infantry from roughly 100 years earlier than the described events.

In his introduction, Prevas says that the march of the 10,000 (there were actually over 14,000 Greek mercenaries in the attempted coup by Cyrus the Younger) is "one of the greatest adventures ever told."I think he is right. The story of the 10,000 is a history lesson packed with political, social and cultural implications, and in that sense, it is a saga that demands to be retold and reread over and over again.This should be a high school text, but the West gave up on classical history in high school long ago.

The "Ten Thousand"
I must confess that my knowledge of classical Greek history is rather weak, so I was very pleased to purchase this book. The author takes Xenophon's "Anabasis" and tells the interested reader about the famed "March of the Ten Thousand" through the Persian Empire and the Anatolian area. It's quite an interesting work, and although at times the author puts out facts that don't really appear to be accurate, he is merely letting us know what Xenophon wrote those many centuries ago. As with all ancient Greek histories, there are extended speeches that were probably never made, but the author does explain that in his afterward, to my satisfaction. Brush up on your Greek history, and read this work.

Retelling the Anabasis
An incredible narrative that entertains those who read it. Retelling the Anabasis with great talent and thorough research. Recommended for those who have not read Xenophon in the original Greek.

Enjoyable Read
Xenophon's March: Into the Lair of the Persian Lion by John Prevas was a very enjoyable read about a splendid corner of history.At the end of the fifth century B.C. an army of fourteen thousand Greek mercenaries joined an army of a usurper to the Persian Throne.When the usurper was killed and his army almost destroyed, the Greeks were trapped more than a thousand miles from their homeland and outnumbered almost a hundred to one.To make matters worse, their leader, and most of their captains, had been murdered and they were without significant cavalry.

If any were able to return to Greece that would have been remarkable.The fact that more than half returned is beyond description.However, the way in which it occurred is even more amazing.The Army that marched through the heart of Persia was not one led by a strong, experienced leader who had a firm control of a Army.The Greeks were led by an inexperienced commander, and the major decisions were made by the army as a whole, and only after a thorough public discourse.After the decisions were made, the soldiers would take issue with the leaders and punish those leaders, who in the view of the soldiers, had not acted properly.One can hardly imagine the American Army voting on tactics or the future of its leasers.

The book is a very cursory overview of the "March of the Ten Thousand."At times Prevas seems to move between a travel log and a history.With these limitations, the book is well worth reading.It is well written, and tells a remarkable story.However, if one wants a more thorough history I would suggest Xenophon own writings. ... Read more

Book Description

Xenophon (ca. 430 to ca. 354 BCE) was a wealthy Athenian and friend of Socrates. He left Athens in 401 and joined an expedition including ten thousand Greeks led by the Persian governor Cyrus against the Persian king. After the defeat of Cyrus, it fell to Xenophon to lead the Greeks from the gates of Babylon back to the coast through inhospitable lands. Later he wrote the famous vivid account of this 'March Up-Country' (Anabasis); but meanwhile he entered service under the Spartans against the Persian king, married happily, and joined the staff of the Spartan king, Agesilaus. But Athens was at war with Sparta in 394 and so exiled Xenophon. The Spartans gave him an estate near Elis where he lived for years writing and hunting and educating his sons. Reconciled to Sparta, Athens restored Xenophon to honour but he preferred to retire to Corinth.

Xenophon's Anabasis is a true story of remarkable adventures. Hellenica, a history of Greek affairs from 411 to 362, begins as a continuation of Thucydides' account. There are four works on Socrates (collected in Volume IV of the Loeb Xenophon edition). In Memorabilia Xenophon adds to Plato's picture of Socrates from a different viewpoint. The Apology is an interesting complement to Plato's account of Socrates' defense at his trial. Xenophon's Symposium portrays a dinner party at which Socrates speaks of love; and Oeconomicus has him giving advice on household management and married life. Cyropaedia, a historical romance on the education of Cyrus (the Elder), reflects Xenophon's ideas about rulers and government; the Loeb edition is in two volumes.

We also have his Hiero, a dialogue on government; Agesilaus, in praise of that king; Constitution of Lacedaemon (on the Spartan system); Ways and Means (on the finances of Athens); Manual for a Cavalry Commander; a good manual of Horsemanship; and a lively Hunting with Hounds. The Constitution of the Athenians, though clearly not by Xenophon, is an interesting document on politics at Athens. These eight books are collected in the last of the seven volumes of the Loeb Classical Library edition of Xenophon.

Book Description
Three treatises survive from classical Greece under the loose title Politeiai (Constitutions) which are unique in character and indispensable to any student of the period. The longest and most important is Aristotle's Constitution of Athens which is both a history of Athenian constitutional development and a survey of the constitutional machinery of Aristotle's own day.
The second, by Xenophon, is an account of the Spartan social and educational system, and the third, also attributed to Xenophon, The Constitution of the Athenians, though probably by an earlier author, is the first example in history of political pamphleteering.
Dr. Moore has newly translated all three of these documents and an additional fragment The Boeotian Constitution written in the fourth century B. C. and the only surviving account of a genuinely oligarchic regime of the period.
To these much needed, scholarly translations Dr. Moore has added brilliant introductions and commentaries which evaluate the documents, illumine their significance, and provide the background information which the writers assumed their readers to possess.
In bringing together, translating, and annotating these constitutional documents from ancient Greece, Dr. Moore has produced an authoritative work of the highest scholarship which will place all students of constitutional history and of the Ancient World in his debt. ... Read more

Book Description
Professor Lee provides a social and cultural history of the Cyreans, the classical Greek mercenary soldiers depicted in Xenophon's Anabasis.While the Cyrean army has often been thought of as a single political community, Lee reveals that in fact the soldiers' lives were shaped largely by their participation in a set of smaller social communities: the formal unit organization of the lochos ('company') and the informal comradeship of the suskenia ('mess group').Drawing on a wide array of ancient literary and archaeological evidence, along with comparative perspectives from military sociology and modern war studies, he examines the full range of the Cyreans' experience, including the environmental conditions of their campaign, ethnic and socio-economic relations amongst the soldiers, equipment and transport, marching and camping, eating and drinking, sanitation, and medical care.He also accords detailed attention to the non-combatants who accompanied the army.Anyone interested in ancient Greek warfare or in Xenophon's Anabasis will want to read this book. ... Read more

Book Description
Xenophon of Athens was a pupil of Socrates and a philosopher in his own right. He wrote two of the texts included in this volume, the Hiero (On Tyranny) and the Constitution of the Spartans. The third, the Constitution of the Athenians, is found under Xenophon's name alongside the other two in the manuscripts. This volume presents an introduction discussing Xenophon's views on government in the context of his general political thought and a commentary on the Greek text of each work aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. ... Read more

Book Description
This work presents a new critical edition of The Spartan Constitution, a treatise in state philosophy attributed to the historian Xenophon (c. 430 - c. 355 B. C.). The Greek text, reconstructed on the basis of extant manuscript sources, is prefaced by an introduction and supplemented by a critical commentary and an English translation. The introduction discusses the problem of the text's authenticity and dating and provides a comprehensive account of its sources, reception, language, style and structure as well as an analysis of the manuscript sources and the textual tradition. The commentary addresses linguistic as well as historical problems. ... Read more

Product Description
Translation by H. G. Dakyns ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Leaves you wanting for more
Dont be confused by the relatively low ranking, this book is good. The only trouble is that it only contains fragments of the greatest historians ever. Though this is what the editor set out to do, you will feel cheated by not having the whole story to read.If all you want is a glimpse at what made the ancient historians so special, this is the book for you.However, chances are that you will want the complete story as well, something this collection cant offer. ... Read more

Book Description
"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he chooses to love.Download Description
So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he chooses to love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Skip the third party comments!
Excellent recount of the greatness of Cyrus The Great, founder of the Persian Empire and in essence founder of Human Rights and civilization as we know it.

Need to stick to Xenophon's writings and skip over the editorials, etc. which are highly influenced by the Herodotus' intentional distortion of the image of the Persians.

Even now that the world knows about the achievements of Cyrus the Great through discovery of his decleration of Human Rights Cylinder and mention of him as the only gentile messiah in the old testament, editorials are found in a book like the Cyropaedia to the effect that these were achievments of Greeks and Spartans as opposed to the Persians ... one should ask why would Xenophon (a Greek) would take Greek achievements and superimpose it onto a Persian ... certainly, he would not do that!

In effect the Greeks and Spartans were the UNcivilized ones relative to the Persians, when you actually filter the Western World's (Greek based) bias and see the truth.

Enjoy the book, it is a great life lesson for everyone in any line of work.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sociologically interesting
This is a more naturalistic version of Plato's Symposium, invented by Xenophon.

The ingredients are a copious meal and a drinking bout 'adorned' by a female acrobat. It all ends with a highly stimulating performance of the 'Dionysos and Ariadne' dance: 'Those who were not married swore that they would do it soon. Those who were, mounted on their horses and stormed home to enjoy their wives.'

The discussions don't attain far and away the philosophical heights of Plato. They centre on perfume, dance, wine and courage. The participants are also asked of which feature they are most proud. The answers vary from wealth, poverty, beauty, friendship, literature and justice.
Socrates explains his preference for spiritual love which never dies, whereas physical love passes away.

This symposium is sociologically interesting because it gives a fair impression of the daily life of Greek citizens.

Not a masterpiece. ... Read more