The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika (Landmark Series)

Strassler's Xenophon has something to offer the beginner as well as more advanced reader. A very nice 50-page introduction places the text into historical and literary context. Maps every few pages indicate the location of every city or region mentioned in the text. Additionally, frequent footnotes at the bottom of each page (not inconveniently at the end of the text) provide important additional background information. Even better, 15 essays by various authors at the end of the text (each approximately two to six pages long) cover relevant topics: multiple short biographies, the Athenian government during the period of the Hellenica, as well as short essays on Persia and Sparta.Despite everything bad written regarding the quality of Xenophon's text, it is still the most important primary source covering this period. We are frequently reminded of multiple omissions and inconsistencies. Strassler studiously compares the Hellenica with another existent text covering the same period by Diodorus Siculus and other sources to prove this point, but the Hellenica is still extremely impressive because it is a contemporaneous account written by a man who not only had high-level access to information but also played a large role himself.For the more advanced reader, the referenced sections of Diodorus' text are provided at the end of the book. Some sections of Diodorus give more information on the topic at hand. Other sections give diverging information. Sometime Strassler sides with Xenophon's account. Other times, not. Additionally, sections of a fragmentary, more recently discovered third text on this period called the Oxyrhynicha papyrus fragments are also included at the end of the text and referenced from within the main text.The text itself is plodding in some sections, though in others it moves along. Conveniently, every several paragraphs there is a 2 or 3 sentence summary in the outer margin of each page, making it easy to catch up on your train of thought each time you pick up the book again. The small summaries also make it easy to make sure you understand each paragraph or haven't missed something important in a difficult to understand section. Further, the summaries provide an easy way to skim through or easily reference the text.Not being a scholar or expert in the material, it was more difficult for me personally to be dismayed by inaccuracies and omissions. There is no need to get hung up on this point because Strassler does a good job pointing them out and filling in the holes. There is still a lot to glean from the text, especially how the different city-states of ancient Greece were run, the complex politics, and the extreme amount of infighting that occurred among the Greeks after the Peloponnesian War.You gain a much greater understanding that the Greek world went well beyond Athens and Sparta and Corinth and Thebes. The ancient Greek world comprised of many, many established city-states that don't get much recognition today that held sway back then. The sections on the fighting in the Ionic city-states and the involvement of Persia was also interesting.Lastly, the translation is new and very readable. No antiquated text or other worries in this respect.PS Next up for the Landmark series is Arrian and then Polybius.

The entire Landmark series informs deeply and delights!

Full English language translation of complete original text - heavily annotated with (black & white) maps, charts, diagrams, photos, chronologies, glossary, index. Reasonably priced too. I have three others from this series - all super. Thanks to seller for quick, undamaged shipment of pristine book. abh

Xenophon was an ancient Greek general, aristocrat, and author of books on history, cavalry, philosophy, and politics.Hellenika picks up where Thucydides' book leaves off and covers the final years of the Peloponneseian War. It then narrates the next 40 years of Greek history, when Sparta is the dominant city and tries to expand it's power, only to be thwarted by the up and coming city of Thebes. This period is fraught with wars, alliances, and relations with the Persian empire. Xenophon himself served in a few of the campaigns and was a close friend of the Spartan king Agesilaus, who reigned for most of the period. It's a pro-Sparta book, so you get the impression that the other cities were all ruining a good thing. But this Landmark is unique in that it provides excerpts from two other sources, which give an objective narrative of the same events. These 3 combined sources are all we have on the period, so this Landmark edition is pretty much the definitive source.The Landmark series is known for it's excellent maps and footnotes, and this book is no different. The appendices can stand alone as their own book. Scattered throughout the book are pictures of artifacts, ruins, and even ancient battlefields. The introduction is also valuable for explaining just who Xenophon was and what he was trying to achieve with this work.

The landmark Hellenika is especially valuable for the inclusion of selections from Diodorus and the Ozyrhynchos author., as well as the introduction that explains some of Xenophon's lapses, faults and biases.If you want to go a bit deeper into this history, I recommed Simon Hornblower'sThe Greek World 479-323 Hornblower ties the facts together that get lost in the details: the causes, reasons and conclusions to be drawn from the facts presented in the ancient sources. The book is dense reading on its own but enormously helpful read in tandem with the the Landmark edition.

If you've struggled with Greek ancient history, this may be your salvation. I'm a neophyte in this area, since I've been discouraged so consistently before (even with Kagan's histories.) But this edition "makes it all possible." The maps are fantastic--meticulously referenced, and redundantly so, to avoid this exasperating process of thumbing back and forward to try to find where it was you saw that geographical name elsewhere. And the Appendices--yes, the APPENDICES--are absorbing, with biographical supplements, a fascinating discussion of Greek triremes, etc., etc. Dr. Strassler has got it just right. Imagine--reading 4th C BC Greek history just for fun!