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2 results

  • Chapter 1 - Athens in Crisis in the Hellenica

  • Matthew R. Christ, Indiana University
  • Book:
    Xenophon and the Athenian Democracy
    Published online:
    28 August 2020
    Print publication:
    03 September 2020, pp 16-36

  • Summary

    This chapter examines Xenophon’s portrayal of the Athenian elite in the opening books of the Hellenica. His presentation of the Arginusae episode (406 BC), in which the Athenian dēmos executed six of its generals without trial, focuses not so much on the behavior of the dēmos as on the essential role of elite Athenians in advising the dēmos. Despite his attraction to oligarchy as an alternative to democracy, Xenophon presents a dark picture of the regime of the Thirty and its rapid descent into violence and lawlessness and hails the restoration of the democracy as a return to normalcy and harmony. This episode is key to understanding Xenophon’s political perspective: the manifest failure of the city’s elite to offer a reasonable alternative to democracy means that for Xenophon the central political question for elite Athenians of his time is not how to overthrow the city’s democratic constitution but how to provide the democracy with the leadership it needs to succeed. Xenophon’s portrayal of several elite Athenian leaders in the opening books of the Hellenica provides some important indications of what Xenophon regards as capable and responsible elite leadership.

Xenophon and the Athenian Democracy
  • The Education of an Elite Citizenry
  • Matthew R. Christ
  • Published online:
    28 August 2020
    Print publication:
    03 September 2020
  • This book seeks to understand Xenophon as an elite Athenian writing largely for an elite Athenian audience in the first half of the fourth century BC. It argues that Xenophon calls on men of his own class to set aside their assumptions of superiority based on birth or wealth and to reinvent themselves as individuals who can provide effective leadership to the democratic city and serve it as good citizens. Xenophon challenges, criticizes, and sometimes satirizes the Athenian elite, and seeks to instruct them concerning the values, knowledge, and practical skills they will need to succeed as civic leaders. Xenophon is thus best understood not as an aristocratic dinosaur who is out of place in a democratic setting, as some have assumed, but as a thoughtful and pragmatic reformist who seeks to ensure that meritorious members of the elite step forward to lead within the democracy.