Xenophon Xenophon ( ; , " Xenophōn " , ; c . 430 – 354 BC ) , son of Gryllus , of the deme Erchia of Athens , also known as Xenophon of Athens , was a Greek historian , soldier , mercenary , philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates . He is known for his writings on the history of his own times , the 4th century BC , preserving the sayings of Socrates , and descriptions of life in ancient Greece and the Persian Empire . Life and writings . Early years . Xenophon ' s birth date is uncertain , but most scholars agree that he was born around 430 BC near the city of Athens . Xenophon was born into the ranks of the upper classes , thus granting him access to certain privileges of the aristocracy of ancient Attica . While a young man , Xenophon participated in the expedition led by Cyrus the Younger against his older brother , king Artaxerxes II of Persia , in 401 BC . Xenophon writes that he had asked the veteran Socrates for advice on whether to go with Cyrus , and that Socrates referred him to the divinely inspired Delphic oracle . Xenophon ' s query to the oracle , however , was not whether or not to accept Cyrus ' invitation , but " to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice , so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety , with good fortune " . The oracle answered his question and told him to which gods to pray and sacrifice . When Xenophon returned to Athens and told Socrates of the oracle ' s advice , Socrates chastised him for asking so disingenuous a question . Under the pretext of fighting Tissaphernes , the Persian satrap of Ionia , Cyrus assembled a massive army composed of native Persian soldiers , but also a large number of Greeks . Prior to waging war against Artaxerxes , Cyrus proposed that the enemy was the Pisidia ns , and so the Greeks were unaware that they were to battle against the larger army of King Artaxerxes II . At Tarsus the soldiers became aware of Cyrus ' s plans to depose the king , and as a result , refused to continue . However , Clearchus , a Spartan general , convinced the Greeks to continue with the expedition . The army of Cyrus met the army of Artaxerxes II in the Battle of Cunaxa . Despite effective fighting by the Greeks , Cyrus was killed in the battle . Shortly thereafter , Clearchus was invited to a peace conference , where , alongside four other generals and many captains , he was betrayed and executed . The mercenaries , known as the Ten Thousand , found themselves without leadership far from the sea , deep in hostile territory near the heart of Mesopotamia . They elected new leaders , including Xenophon himself , and fought their way north through hostile Persians and Medes to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea . They then made their way westward back to Greece . Once there , they helped Seuthes II make himself king of Thrace , before being recruited into the army of the Spartan general Thibron . Xenophon ' s book " Anabasis " ( Greek : ἀνάβασις , literally " going up " ) is his record of the entire expedition against the Persians and the journey home . The " Anabasis " was used as a field guide by Alexander the Great during the early phases of his expedition into Persia . Exile and death . Xenophon was later exiled from Athens , most likely because he fought under the Spartan king Agesilaus II against Athens at Coronea . However , there may have been contributory causes , such as his support for Socrates , as well as the fact that he had taken service with the Persians . The Spartans gave him property at Scillus , near Olympia in Elis , where he composed the " Anabasis " . However , because his son Gryllus fought and died for Athens at the Battle of Mantinea while Xenophon was still alive , Xenophon ' s banishment may have been revoked . Xenophon died in either Corinth or Athens . His date of death is uncertain ; historians only know that he survived his patron Agesilaus II , for whom he wrote an encomium . Xenophon had a fond love of Athens but didn ' t believe in its political morals , which leads some to believe that he was an oligarch , or even a laconist . Legacy . Diogenes Laertius states that Xenophon was sometimes known as the " Attic Muse " for the sweetness of his diction . Xenophon is often cited for promoting sympathetic training and humane treatment of horses in his " On Horsemanship " . Xenophon ' s standing as a political philosopher has been defended in recent times by Leo Strauss , who devoted a considerable part of his philosophic analysis to the works of Xenophon , returning to the high judgment of Xenophon as a thinker expressed by Shaftesbury , Winckelmann , Machiavelli and John Adams . Ponting cites Xenophon as one of the first thinkers to argue that the ordered world must have been conceived by a god or gods . Xenophon ' s " Memorabilia " poses the argument that all animals are " only produced and nourished for the sake of humans " . Xenophon was born in Athens but he spent much of his life in exile , and his relationship with Sparta ( he was a close companion of King Agesilaus II and many of his works betray a strong Spartan bias ) has led to him being closely associated with that city . List of works . Xenophon ' s writings , especially the " Anabasis " , are often read by students beginning the Greek language . His " Hellenica " is a major primary source for events in Greece from 411 to 362 BC , and is considered to be the continuation of the " History of the Peloponnesian War " by Thucydides , going so far as to begin with the phrase " Following these events . . . " . The " Hellenica " recounts the last seven years of the Peloponnesian war , as well as its aftermath . His Socratic writings , preserved complete , along with the dialogues of Plato , are the only surviving representatives of the genre of Sokratikoi logoi . Short treatises . In addition , a short treatise on the Constitution of Athens exists that was once thought to be by Xenophon , but which was probably written when Xenophon was about five years old . The work is found in manuscripts among the short works of Xenophon , as though he had written it also . The author , often called in English the " Old Oligarch " , detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes , but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes .