14 h 3 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Victory ends a war, but who can hold the peace when every Greek city guards its own power?
In Hellenica, Xenophon takes up Greek history exactly where Thucydides stops, in the middle of the Peloponnesian War. Athens fights on, Alcibiades returns from exile, and Sparta presses its advantage. Marches, ambushes and quarrels bring the struggle close, as the fate of cities rests on decisions made by generals and rulers.
Xenophon follows Greek affairs for almost fifty years, through Spartan rule, Persian intervention and the rise of Thebes. An Athenian soldier with close ties to Sparta, he writes with an eye for command and sudden reversals. His loyalties, his belief in divine punishment for broken oaths, and his silences also shape the account.
What you’ll discover
- War through a soldier's eyes Follow marches and ambushes with a writer who knows the demands of military life.
- Athens under mounting pressure Meet Alcibiades and Lysander as victories and dangerous choices shape the struggle for power.
- The burden of victory Watch Sparta confront the harder task of ruling after winning a war.
- Persia in Greek affairs See Persian money and royal terms reach into the quarrels of Greek cities.
- A historian with loyalties Read for Xenophon's admiration of good command, while noticing his choices and omissions.
Who will love it
For readers who love ancient history and war told by a soldier, and anyone who has read Thucydides and wants to know what came next.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Xenophon takes up where Thucydides stops
- Athens fights on, wins, and then wrongs its own
- Lysander wins the war and Athens falls
- The Thirty Tyrants and the return of democracy
- Sparta spreads its power into Asia
- The Corinthian War and Persian money
- The King's Peace and Spartan overreach
- Thebes rises and Sparta breaks at Leuctra
- Mantinea settles nothing and the book simply stops
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- 15-minute summary
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Elleniche
by Senofonte
Xenophon follows Greek cities through marches, ambushes and broken oaths as Athens, Sparta and Thebes vie for power.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Hellenica is the history of the Greek world written by Xenophon, an Athenian soldier and writer who died in 355 BC. It picks up in the middle of the Peloponnesian War, at the exact point where Thucydides left his own history unfinished.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Xenophon takes up where Thucydides stops
Thucydides wrote the story of the long war between Athens and Sparta, but his text breaks off abruptly in the year 411 BC. Xenophon begins his own first book at that very spot, with no introduction and no explanation. He simply carries on, year by year, in the same plain order of summers and winters. They are very different in spirit.
Who was Xenophon? He was born in Athens around 430 BC, into a family with enough money to ride horses and serve as a cavalryman. He knew Socrates and wrote about him in other books. Later he joined a Greek mercenary army that went to Persia with Cyrus the Younger, and he led the survivors home. That story is told in his Anabasis, and it shaped his view of leadership for the rest of his life.
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What is Hellenica by Xenophon about?
It is a history of the Greek world from 411 to 362 BC. It covers the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Thirty Tyrants, Spartan power, the Corinthian War, the rise of Thebes, and the battle of Mantinea.
Is Hellenica a continuation of Thucydides?
Yes. Xenophon begins in 411 BC, at the exact point where Thucydides' unfinished history breaks off. Many readers treat the two books as a pair, though Xenophon writes in a plainer and more personal style.
Is Xenophon biased toward Sparta?
Many historians think so. Xenophon served under King Agesilaus and lived on land given by Sparta. He praises Spartan discipline and piety, and he says little about some Theban achievements, such as the planning of Epaminondas.
The author
Xenophon
430 BC–353 BC · Ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Greek philosopher, historian, and soldier.
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