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The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika
From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides and The Landmark Herodotus, here is a new edition of Xenophon’s Hellenika, the primary source for the events of the final seven years and aftermath of the Peloponnesian War.
Hellenika covers the years between 411 and 362 B.C.E., a particularly dramatic period during which the alliances among Athens, Sparta, Theb...more
Hellenika covers the years between 411 and 362 B.C.E., a particularly dramatic period during which the alliances among Athens, Sparta, Theb...more
Hardcover, 579 pages
Published
November 3rd 2009
by Pantheon Books
(first published -361)
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Xenophon could not believe what happened at Leuctra so, apparently, he had to aggrandize Spartan achievement throughout the preceding years from the end of the Pelopennisian War. Or, possibly, influenced by Spartan censorship, Xenophon couldn't help lying. In any case, this is a great continuation from Thucydides (as it was meant to be) and horrifically details the reign of the thirty tyrants in Athens, the virtues, vices and campaigns of Agesilaus and Lycurgus (the former having given Xenophon ...more
Xmas 2009 gift. This is the third deluxe Greek history produced by retired-oil-businessman-turned-classicist Robert Strassler. I greatly enjoyed and recommend all three of them.
Xenophon's Hellenika picks up a few months after Thucydides, with a few years left in the Pelonnesian War.
Xenophon is not as good a historian as either Herotodus or Thucydides in my thoroughly uninformed opinion. He's not as earthy or digressive (or as gullible) as old Herotodus and not as impartia...more
Xenophon's Hellenika picks up a few months after Thucydides, with a few years left in the Pelonnesian War.
Xenophon is not as good a historian as either Herotodus or Thucydides in my thoroughly uninformed opinion. He's not as earthy or digressive (or as gullible) as old Herotodus and not as impartia...more
Xenophon is an essential source for the period he writes about (because we have few other contemporary accounts), but his "history" is so sketchy and biased, omitting, for the most part, any point of view besides that of Sparta, or any actions that might put other states in a better light, and Sparta in a worse one. Despite being a soldier, he is pretty uninterested in tactics and is utterly clueless about strategy and policy. Following Thucydides, he includes speeches intended to sw...more
I think this an exceptional reading experience and an exceptional experience in history. This history in the Landmark series edited by Robert Strassler follows the editions of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides and The Histories by Herodotus. We record and read history all the time. Xenophon's writings demonstrate, as those of Thucydides and Herodotus, that even 2400 years ago history was being recorded in accounts so gripping that readers today can't put them down. These Landmark Greek his...more
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I bought this hardcover on Jan. 15, 2010 (Friday) and had ordered anothet two, that is, The Landmark Herodotus & The Landmark Thucydides (via Kinokuniya, each book would arrive within 2 months and 3 weeks respectively!) since they are more convenient for me to read for better understanding as compared to those textuality without any figure, map, table, footnote, etc. Therefore, I've found this three-book series is readable and thus enjoyable.
Erik Graff
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Peloponnesian War fans
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
history
I read Thucydides in college and a good deal about the Peloponnesian Wars afterwards, enough to know of Xenophon's continuation of the cashiered Athenian general's account. Finally, I got around to reading the thing, seeing what the source for most of our information of the war's culmination and aftermath actually contained.
Still reading, lots of historical and geographical references of Spartan and Athenian conflicts after the Peloponnesian wars. Landmark edition, edited by Strassler has many helpful maps, charts, and illustrations. It is also a recent English translation with helpful appendixes.
Finding the layout of the text rather awkward, I glanced at the Web for alternatives. I found that precisely the same edition is available as a Gutenberg text (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1174) -- but with spelling corrections missing in this paperback edition.
This is a necessary book for reviewing the ending of the Peloponnesian War, taking up after Thucydides leaves off. That having been said, Xenophon's work is more memoir than history and thus compares somewhat unfavorably with Thucydides. Nonetheless, it is interesting to hear about events in early 4th century BC Greece from more of a Spartan than Athenian perspective. How clear it is that the Greek city-states were unable to think beyond their model and forge a true federation. Instead, they...more
A good book to understand Greece in the 4th century BCE.
Mike Anderson
rated it
Recommends it for:
All those looking to read primary sources.
Shelves:
ancient-history-greece
Incredible new version with great maps and photographs.
This takes up the account of Thucydides from where The History of the Peloponessian War breaks off and completes the history of the said war before going on to cover the period up to around the 370s B. C. E., if memory serves. It is very much anecdotal and from internal descriptions it has been established that Xenophon took part in some, particularly the earlier in date, of the incidents described.
Despite the "My" in the title. This work has considerably fewer references to Xenophon than his Persian Expedition (Yes I am once again making fun of Xenophon). It was also more boring than that account. I don't know if he just wasn't in as interesting of a mood or if these battles were just more bland but eh? Kind of boring Xenophon... come on where is all the self flattery? We love that stuff!
Xenophon is very sad. But it is excellent and curiously appropriate for the situation with America at the moment...
Part of the greek mosaic. Not to be read as pure history, but as a memoir.
Given how little we have how do I rate the ancient sources other than "must read?"
Ryan Tindall
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Sarah Zeld Dobos
marked it as to-read
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Xenophon (Ancient Greek Ξενοφῶν, Modern Greek "Ξενοφών", "Ξενοφώντας"; ca. 431 – 355 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and the life of ancient Greece.
Historical and biographical works ...more
More about Xenophon...
Historical and biographical works ...more
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