Xenophon's Prince : Republic and Empire in the Cyropaedia / Christopher Nadon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nadon, Christopher, 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cyrus, the Great, King of Persia, -530 B.C. or 529 B.C--In literature.

Cyrus.

Xenophon. Cyropaedia.

Xenophon.

Political fiction, Greek--History and criticism.

Political fiction, Greek.

Imperialism--History--To 1500.

Imperialism.

Imperialism in literature.

Politics and literature--Greece.

Politics and literature.

Republicanism--Greece.

Republicanism.

Republicanism in literature.

Iran--In literature.

Iran.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 p.) : 1 vign.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [2001]

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

For over two millennia, the Cyropaedia, an imaginative biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great, was Xenophon's most popular work and considered his masterpiece. This study contributes to the recent rediscovery of the Cyropaedia and Xenophon, making intelligible the high esteem in which writers of the stature of Machiavelli held Xenophon's works and the importance of his place among classical authors. The ending of the Cyropaedia has presented a notoriously difficult puzzle for scholars. The bulk of the work seems to idealize the career of Cyrus, but the final chapter documents the swift and disastrous degeneration of the empire he founded. This conclusion seems to call his achievements into question. Nadon resolves this long-standing interpretive difficulty and demonstrates for the first time the overall coherence and unity of the Cyropaedia. He elucidates the Xenophontic critique of Cyrus contained within the whole of the work and unearths its analysis of the limitations of both republican and imperial politics. This provocative and original treatment of the Cyropaedia will be a definitive step in restoring the status of this important work. Nadon's lively, insightful study draws upon his deep knowledge and understanding of classical political theory and reveals in the Cyropaedia a subtlety and sophistication overlooked until now.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: The Cyropaedia as Political Theory

1. Republic

2. Transformation

3. Empire

4. Motives

5. Xenophons Intentions

Works Cited

General Index

Index Locorum

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 07. Jul 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520925120

0520925122

OCLC:

1163877945