Cyropaedia (Xenophon

Cyropaedia (from Greek Kúrou paideía "The education of Cyrus") is a "partly fictional biography"[1] of Cyrus the Great, written by the Athenian gentleman-soldier Xenophon.

In substance, the Cyropaedia is "a political romance, describing the education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a benevolent despot over his admiring and willing subjects."[2]

Although it is "generally agreed" that Xenophon "did not intend Cyropaedia as history,"[1] what other literary genre the work may belong to remains unclear. The validity as a source of Achaemenid history has been repeatedly questioned, and numerous descriptions of events or personae have been determined to be in error.[1] Other issues have been noted to be anachronistic and/or have a historic bias.

Xenophon (ca. 431 – 355 BCE) was not a contemporary of Cyrus (ca. 580 – 530 BCE) and it is likely that at least some of the historiographer's observations were based on events that occurred at the later Achaemenid court. It is also probable that stories of the great King were recounted (and embellished) by court society and that these are the basis of Xenophon's text.

Although the work narrates, in its entirety, the life of Cyrus, only the first of the 8 books is — technically speaking — the Cyropaedia. This first book is devoted to Cyrus' descent, education and his stay at the court of his maternal grandfather, the Median dynast Astyages. Books 2 through 7 cover Cyrus' life while still a vassal of the Medians. Book 8 is a sketch of Cyrus' kingship and his views of monarchy.

The book was considered a classic in antiquity: the ancients believed that Xenophon composed it in response to the Republic of Plato, or vice versa, and Plato's Laws seems to allude to the Cyropaedia. Scipio Africanus is said to have carried a copy with him at all times.[3]

The Cyropaedia was "re-discovered" in the Renaissance as a practical treatise on political virtue and social organization.[4] In his preface to The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser remarked: "Xenophon's Cyropaedia is to be preferred to Plato, for it demonstrates exquisite depth of monarchial judgement. Cyrus' formation of commonwealth is such as it should be, and government by example is much more profitable and gracious than government by rule."[a]

Similar sentiments have been been expressed in the modern-age. Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America sought inspiration from the Cyropaedia, and Thomas Jefferson had two personal copies of the book, "which was a mandatory read for statesmen alongside Machiavelli's The Prince."[5] In modern times, its reputation has declined; it has been described as "surely one of the most tedious books to have survived from the ancient world."[3]

Postmodern critics[attribution needed] may[weasel words] see a dual sense in the phrase "education of Cyrus", which could either mean the education he received or the one he gave, especially since Cyrus' preferred verb seems to be didaskein (to teach) and Xenophon seems concerned primarily with the alterations Cyrus made to Achaemenid Persian society in order to make it fit for empire, which could be described as an education.