The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika

Hellenika covers the years between 411 and 362 B.C.E., a particularly dramatic period during which the alliances among Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Persia were in constant flux. Together with the volumes of Herodotus and Thucydides, it completes an ancient narrative of the military and political history of classical Greece. Xenophon was an Athenian who participated in the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against Cyrus’ brother, the Persian King Artaxerxes II. Later Xenophon joined the Spartan army and was exiled from Athens. In addition to Hellenika, a number of his essays have survived, including one on his memories of his teacher, Socrates. Beautifully illustrated, heavily annotated, and filled with detailed, clear maps, this edition offers a new, authoritative, and accessible translation by John Marincola, a comprehensive introduction by David Thomas, sixteen appendices written by leading classics scholars, and an extensive timeline/chronology to clarify this otherwise confusing period. Unlike other editions of Hellenika, it also includes relevant texts of Diodorus Siculus and the Oxyrhynchus Historian, with explanatory footnotes and a table correlating passages of the three works, which may be crucial to assessing Xenophon’s reliability and quality as a historian. Like the two Landmark editions that precede it, The Landmark Xenophon’s Hellenika is the most readable and comprehensive edition available of this essential history.