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Athenian Democracy Refosunded: Xenophon’ss Political History in the Hellenika

Athenian Democracy Refosunded: Xenophon’ss Political History in the Hellenika This article aims to shed new light on the character of political history as written by Xenophon, by exploring the first two Books of the Hellenika , which, it is argued, implicity correct Thucydides’ judgment that the regime of the Five Thousand in Athens was the best Athenian regime during his lifetime. Thucydides and Xenophon thus appear to disagree about the best regime, a theme central to classical political philosophy. But when we consider Thucydides’ praise of this regime in light of Xenophon’s Socratic defence of traditional political authorities (especially as presented in Euryptolemus’ speech), we see that the two treatments complement each other. Xenophon’s endorsement of a regime rooted in traditional authorities protects the Socratic way of life, while Thucydides’ praise of a non-conventional regime endorses those conditions that make such a life possible. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought Brill

Athenian Democracy Refosunded: Xenophon’ss Political History in the Hellenika

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0142-257x
eISSN
2051-2996
DOI
10.1163/20512996-90000156
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article aims to shed new light on the character of political history as written by Xenophon, by exploring the first two Books of the Hellenika , which, it is argued, implicity correct Thucydides’ judgment that the regime of the Five Thousand in Athens was the best Athenian regime during his lifetime. Thucydides and Xenophon thus appear to disagree about the best regime, a theme central to classical political philosophy. But when we consider Thucydides’ praise of this regime in light of Xenophon’s Socratic defence of traditional political authorities (especially as presented in Euryptolemus’ speech), we see that the two treatments complement each other. Xenophon’s endorsement of a regime rooted in traditional authorities protects the Socratic way of life, while Thucydides’ praise of a non-conventional regime endorses those conditions that make such a life possible.

Journal

Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political ThoughtBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2009

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