Thucydides was born around 465 B.C. His Thracian father, Olorus, was a man of property. His mother was Athenian. He may have been a grandson of Miltiades, a hero of the Battle of Marathon, and a kinsman of Cimon, a general at the Battle of Salamis. He is said to have developed an interest in history early and to have been greatly moved during one of Herodotus' public readings. He may have taken part in the Peloponnesian War about 431 B.C. when he was thirty. He suffered from the plague that hit Athens during the Peloponnesian War but he was one of the few who recovered. He was elected as a general and stationed at Thasos, an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. He led a fleet of seven ships to rescue Amphipolis from a Spartan attack but he arrived too late to be successful. In his History of the Peloponnesian War he claimed that his exile from Athens was voluntary. He lived in Thrace until amnesty was declared at the end of the war in 404 B.C. He traveled a lot, especially to Syracuse in Sicily. He was also able to talk with Spartans and sought to provide a balanced account in his History of the Peloponnesian War. When he died in 399 B.C., his work was left unfinished. His work abruptly ended with the events of 411 B.C. Some say his daughter finished his eighth book and preserved his writings. Later historians continued his history where he left off.
Thucydides wrote a generation after the famous historian, Herodotus. Thucydides was active between 430 to 399 B.C. While Herodotus focused on more distant events and the individuals who influenced their times, Thucydides focused on contemporary or nearly contemporary events. Later generations of historians also focused on contemporary events. Thucydides emphasized mass movements and mass behavior rather than individuals in history. Like Herodotus, Thucydides used fictitious speeches to keep his histories interesting. While Herodotus felt that arrogance and impiety were the major seeds for disaster, Thucydides felt that stupidity was the main cause. Of the many Greek authors, only Thucydides and Aristotle were later considered to be unimpeachable sources of information.
Xenophon was one of the many historians who continued Thucydides' History. Xenophon began writing late in life. He was born into a land-rich family in Erchia near Athens. His father was Gryllus. He wrote of his experiences as an Athenian cavalryman in the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BC), a mercenary for Cyrus the Younger in Persia, a student of philosophy under Socrates, and as a gentleman farmer in Elis. Xenophon fought under Cyrus the Younger against Cyrus' brother, Artaxerxes. After Cyrus' death, Xenophon led 10,000 Greek survivors from Cunaxa through the Armenian highlands to the Black Sea. In the process he saved half of his troops. Because of his alliance with Perisa, he was banished from Athens. When he returned to Greece in 399 B.C., he served with a Spartan force against Persian despots. For his efforts he was awarded a country estate near Olympia in Elis. He lived on his estate in Elis with his wife, Philesia, and his two sons, Gryllus and Diodorus for twenty years. He farmed, hunted, and wrote until 371 B.C., when his estate was captured by the Eleans. Xenophon then fled to Corinth and his Athenian citizenship was restored. He sent his two sons to serve in the Athenian cavalry. His son Gryllus was killed at Mantinea in 362 B.C.
Xenophon wrote many works during his lifetime. His Anabasis ("The Military Expedition") recounts Cyrus' unsuccessful campaign and the Greek retreat from Cunaxa. His Hellenica chronicles Greek history after Thucydides' account ends. Hellenica covers the period from 411 to 362 B.C. Cyropaedia is an idealized biography of Cyrus the Great, who lived from 559 to 529 B.C. and who founded the Persian empire. The biography has been called the first historical romance. Xenophon's other works include the Polity of the Lacedaemonians, Agesilaus, Hipparchicus (Cavalry Commander), On Horsemanship, Cynegeticus (A Hunting Manual), Hieron, Symposium (Banquet), Oeconomicus (Horse Manager), Socrates' Apology, Memorable Facts About Socrates, On Revenues, and Polity of the Athenians.
Source:
Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Cliffs Notes on Greek Classics, New York: Wiley Publishing Inc., 1998.
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