Abstract
In the last decades the Cyropaedia enjoyed a renewed interest, mostly addressed to the controversial character of Cyrus, exemplary leader or susceptible to a dark reading. However the character of Cyrus as a child and adolescent, who appears in Cyr. 1.3-4, has been usually overlooked, especially with regard to the psychological side of his behavior, which instead deserves to be carefully analyzed. Xenophon indeed created a complex, multifaced character: on the one hand a Cyrus as a child, who already shows the exceptional character traits of the adult Cyrus; on the other hand – and this is the innovative aspect – a Cyrus as a child and adolescent who shows attitudes and behavior that today we are able to acknowledge as typical of children and adolescents. It is not difficult for us to grasp these attitudes and behavior, but that Xenophon succeeded in creating a character endowed with them is a really amazing achievement, because he could only rely on his observation skills, probably a kind of empathy and his gifts as a writer: an even more amazing achievement if we keep in mind that Greek literature and more generally Greek culture showed very little interest in the child itself, regarded nearly exclusively as the adult he was destined to become or anyway in its relationships with adults. Cyr. 1.4.3 is a very important passage, in which Xenophon gives a kind of overview of those features of Cyrus as a child that will quickly disappear already in the first phase of adolescence: immediately afterwards indeed in Cyr. 1.4.4 Xenophon summarizes in few lines some significant changes that mark the transition, often so abrupt, to adolescence and that will be described as the narration goes on. It is really noteworthy that very recent studies on some psychological processes (especially concerning mirror neurons) offer an explanation of the attitudes and behavior of Cyrus as a child and adolescent as they were narrated by Xenophon.
References
Asheri, D. (cur.), 1988, Erodoto, Le Storie. Libro I. La Lidia e la Persia, V. Antelami (trad.), Milano.
Auerbach, E., 1956, Mimesis. Il realismo nella letteratura occidentale, 2 vol., A. Romagnoli, H. Hinterhäuser (trad.), Torino.
Azoulay, V., 2004, “The Medo-Persian Ceremonial: Xenophon, Cyrus and the King’s Body”, in: Tuplin 2004, pp. 147–173.
Bandini, M., Dorion, L.-A. (cur.), 2000, Xénophon, Mémorables, t. I, Paris.
Baragwanath, E., 2017, “The Character and Function of Speeches in Xenophon”, in: Flower 2017, pp. 279–297.
Benedetti, F., Grandolini, S. (eds.), 2003, Studi di filologia e tradizione greca in memoria di Aristide Colonna, Napoli.
Bevilacqua, F., 2002, Anabasi di Senofonte, Torino.
Bevilacqua, F., 2003, “Seduzione e potere nella Ciropedia e nell’Economico di Senofonte”, in: Benedetti, Grandolini 2003, pp. 134–140.
Bevilacqua, F., 2010, Memorabili di Senofonte, Torino.
Bevilacqua, F., 2015, “L’Economico di Senofonte: un testo problematico, una ipotesi di lavoro”, Magazzino di filosofia 25, pp. 99–132.
Bevilacqua, F., 2016, “Alcesti ed Euridice: due figure del mito in parallelo”, Magazzino di filosofia 28, pp. 161–190.
Bevilacqua, F., 2018a, “Kalokagathia e kaloi kagathoi nelle opere socratiche di Senofonte”, Magazzino di filosofia 32, pp. 5–99.
Bevilacqua, F., 2018b, “Socrates’ Attitude towards Politics in Xenophon and Plato”, in: Danzig, Johnson, Morrison 2018, pp. 461–486.
Bizos, M. (cur.), 1971, Xénophon, Cyropédie, t. I, Paris.
Bourriot, F., 1995, Kalos kagathos – kalokagathia. D’un terme de propagande de sophistes à une notion sociale et philosophique, vol. I–II, Hildesheim–Zürich–New York.
Calvino, I., 1995, Perché leggere i classici, II ed., Milano.
Carlier, P., 1978, “L’idée de monarchie imperiale dans la Cyropédie de Xénophon”, Ktema 3, pp. 133–163 (reprinted in: V. J. Gray (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Xenophon, Oxford 2010, pp. 327–366).
Colonna, A., Bevilacqua, F. (cur.), 1996, Erodoto, Le storie, vol. I–II, Torino.
Danzig, G., 2009, “Big Boys, Little Boys: Justice and Law in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia and Memorabilia”, Polis 26, pp. 242–266.
Danzig, G., Johnson, D., Morrison, D. (eds.), 2018, Plato and Xenophon. Comparative Studies, Leiden.
Danzig, G., 2018, “Plato, Aristotle and Xenophon on the Ends of Virtue”, in Danzig, Johnson, Morrison 2018, p. 340–364.
Danzig, G., Johnson, D. M., Konstan, D. (eds.), 2024, Xenophon’s Virtues, Berlin–Boston.
Delebecque, É. (ed.), 1970, Xénophon, L’art de la chasse, Paris.
Di Benedetto, V., 1983, Sofocle, Firenze.
Donlan, W., 1973, “The Origin of kalos kagathos”, The American Journal of Philology 94, pp. 365-374.
Due, B., 1989, The Cyropaedia. Xenophon’s Aims and Methods, Aarhus.
Ellis, A., 2016, “A Socratic History: Theology in Xenophon’s Rewriting of Herodotus’ Croesus Logos”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 136, pp. 73–91.
Ferrari, F. (cur.), 1995, Senofonte, Ciropedia, vol. I–II, Milano.
Flower, M. A. (ed.), 2017, The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon, Cambridge.
Forsten, E. (ed.), 1995, Groningen Colloquium on the Novel, vol. 6, Groningen.
Gallese, V., 2001, “The ‘Shared Manifold’ Hypothesis: From Mirror Neurons to Empathy”, Journal of Consciousness Studies 8, pp. 33–50.
Gera, D. L., 1993, Xenophon’s Cyropaedia. Style, Genre, and Literary Technique, Oxford.
Goldman, A., 2005, “Imitation, Mind Reading and Simulation”, in: Hurley, Chater 2005, pp. 79–93.
Gray, V. J., 2011, Xenophon’s Mirror of Princes, Oxford.
Higgins, W. E., 1977, Xenophon the Athenian. The Problem of Individual and the Society of the Polis, Albany.
Hurley, S., Chater, N. (eds.), 2005, Perspectives on Imitation: From Neuroscience to Social Science, vol. 2, Cambridge (MA)
Illarraga, R., 2020, “Xenophon’s Psychology of Philotimia”, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 60, pp. 192–210.
Lefèvre, E., 1971, “Die Frage nach βίος εὐδαίμων. Die Begegnung zwischen Kyros and Kroisos bei Xenophon”, Hermes 99, pp. 283–296 (reprinted in V. J. Gray (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Xenophon, Oxford, 2010, p. 401–417).
Paduano, G. (cur.), 1993, Euripide. Alcesti, Milano.
Pomeroy, S. B., 1994, Xenophon Oeconomicus. A Social and Historical Commentary, Oxford.
Reichel, M., 1995, “Xenophon’s Cyropaedia and the Hellenistic Novel”, in: Forsten 1995, pp. 1–18 (reprinted in: V. J. Gray (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Xenophon, Oxford, 2010, p. 418–438).
Rood, T., 2017, “Xenophon’s Narrative Style”, in: Flower 2017, p. 263–278.
Roscalla, F. (cur.), 1991, Senofonte, Economico, Milano.
Roscalla, F., 2004, “Kalokagathia e kaloi kagathoi in Senofonte”, in: Tuplin 2004, pp. 115–124.
Sandridge, N. B., 2012, Loving Humanity, Learning and Being Honored. The Foundations of Leadership in Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus, Cambridge (MA)–London.
Sarri, F., 1997, Socrate e la nascita del concetto occidentale di anima, Milano.
Saunders, T. J. (cur.), 2014, Aristotele, Politica, vol. I, Milano.
Stadter, P. A., 1991, “Fictional Narrative in the Cyropaideia”, American Journal of Philology 112, pp. 461–491 (reprinted in V. J. Gray (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Xenophon, Oxford, 2010, pp. 367–400).
Stern, D. N., 2005, Il momento presente in psicoterapia e nella vita quotidiana, trad. D. Sarracino, Milano.
Tamiolaki, M., 2017, “Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: Tentative Answers to an Enigma”, in: Flower 2017, pp. 174–194.
Tamiolaki, M., 2024, “Xenophon and Aristotle on Freedom”, in: Danzig, Johnson, Konstan 2024, pp. 405–437.
Tatum, J., 1989, Xenophon’s Imperial Fiction, On the Education of Cyrus, Princeton.
Tuplin, C. (ed.), 2004, Xenophon and his World, Stuttgart.
Vegetti, M., 1979, Il coltello e lo stilo. Animali, schiavi, barbari, donne, alle origini della razionalità scientifica, Milano.
Zoja, L., 2003, Il gesto di Ettore. Preistoria, storia, attualità e scomparsa del padre, Torino.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Peitho provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.