Proceedings of the 2024 10th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2024)

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Re-examining “ξενος” in Xenophon's Anabasis

--Based on an examination of word meanings, contexts

Authors
Xu Zheng1, *
1Peking University, Beijing, China
*Corresponding author. Email: 2201212049@stu.pku.edu.cn
Corresponding Author
Xu Zheng
Available Online 2 September 2024.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-277-4_197How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Anabasis; guest friends; guest friendship; Greek mercenaries
Abstract

“ ξενο ς “ is widely used in Xenophon's Anabasis. “ξενος” is quite rich in meaning in ancient Greek texts, and is often associated with “ ξενια “ - “guest fellowship “. It is inappropriate for modern scholars to understand “ξενος” in the Anabasis as “mercenary”, and it is more reasonable to understand it as “guest friend” in the context of the Long March. In the context of the Long March, it is more reasonable to understand it as “guest friends”. Analyzing the corresponding texts in The Long March in the reconstructed cultural context of “guest friends” can confirm the relationship between Cyrus the Younger and some of the mercenary generals as “guest friends”, and also give a glimpse of Xenophon's intention of “self-justification”. The use of the term in the Anabasis essentially reflects the conflict between personal feelings and the interests of the city-state, and Xenophon's choice of personal feelings epitomizes the collapse of the citizen-city-state community and the decline of the city-state.

Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2024 10th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2024)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
2 September 2024
ISBN
978-2-38476-277-4
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-277-4_197How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Xu Zheng
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/09/02
TI  - Re-examining “ξενος” in Xenophon's Anabasis
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 10th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1752
EP  - 1763
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-277-4_197
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-277-4_197
ID  - Zheng2024
ER  -