| Description |
1 online resource (xi, 444 pages) |
| Contents |
Machine generated contents note: -- Xenophon, or the Itinerary of a Traitor? -- A Corpus in All its Fragmentary Splendor -- The Masks of a Multifaceted man -- From Charisma to Chans -- Chan's in All Its Forms -- The Limits of Analysis and Methodological Gains -- Charis and Its Challenges -- I. The Law of Charts -- A Social Norm -- A Universal Form of Anthropology -- An Immanent Model -- II. Charis and Authority -- Horizontal Exchanges and Vertical Links -- The Delicate Position of the Recipient -- On the Strangeness of Thracian Customs? -- III. Charis in Democracy -- Athens and Its Allies: Imperial Charis -- Within the City: Charis Placed Under Supervision? -- The Emergence of a Democratic Form of Charis -- Legitimate Favors -- I. Xenophon's Three Graces -- Euergetic Spending -- Honorific Distinctions -- Charismatic attentions -- II. Supreme Benefits: Feeding Bodies and Minds -- An Economy of Alimentary Charis -- Dangerous Foodstuffs? -- The Art of Dining -- From Alimentary Prodigality to Philosophical Euergetism -- III. Contextualizing Favors: The Differential Effectiveness of Gifts -- The Spirit of the Gift -- Xenophon and the Transmutation of Benefits -- From Good Deeds to Misdeeds: The Corrupting -- Power of Charis -- I. The Ambiguities of Xenia -- II. Agesilaus and Xenophon: The Incorruptibles? -- III. From Material Corruption to Spiritual Corruption -- Between Charis and Misthos: Xenophon Against the Merchants? -- I. ̀The Hostile World' of Goods -- Buying Gratitude and Selling Favors? -- Enslaved by Misthos: Democratic Prostitution -- Refusing Coinage, Rejecting Merchants -- The Aristocrat and the Mercenary -- II. The Ambiguous Virtues of Commercial Exchange -- Small Deals with the Market -- On the Art of Giving a Salary -- The Proper Use of Mercenary Service -- The Poroi: A Conversion to Civic Misthos} -- Charis and Envy -- I. The Omnipresence of Phthonos: The Social Genesis of a Feeling -- The Envy of the People -- ̀Intra-elite' Rivalries -- II. Leveling From the Bottom or Redistributing From the Top? -- Spartan Standardization -- The Benefits of Charis -- III. Phthonos and Charis: Dangerous Liaisons -- Socrates and Envy -- Self-Praise and the Jealousy of Others -- Royal Charis and the Phthonos of the Elite -- Charis and Philia: The Politics of Friendship -- I. The Debate over Philia -- Democratic and Aristotelian Philia -- Xenophon's Friendships -- II. Philia and Patronage -- Socrates and Unequal Friendships -- Crito, Critobulus, and Their ̀Friends' -- Philia and Public Patronage -- III. From Philia to Philanthropia -- The First Philanthropists -- Cyrus, Friend of All Men -- An Inaugural Shift? -- Charis and Paternity -- I. From Fraternal Union to Paternal Love -- Fraternity, or the Power of Solidarity -- Paternity, or the Paradigm of Debt -- II. Paternal Power: An Unattainable Dream? -- Agesilaus: A Father in the City of Brothers? -- Xenophon, or the Frustrated Father -- Socrates and the Jealous Fathers -- III. Cyrus, or the Universal Father -- From the Perfect Son to the Benevolent Father -- The Fostering Father -- Symbolic Fathers and Ideal Sons: The King and the Eunuchs -- The Graces of Love -- I. Erotic Reciprocity and Its Dangers -- Eros in the Game of Exchange -- Eros Goes to War -- II. The Political Power of the Eromenos -- From Love of the City to Love of the Leader -- Three Paradoxical Eromenoi -- III. From Socrates to Cyrus: The Rivalry of Two Graces -- Strange Beauty Contests -- Cyrus, or Prince Charming -- The Politics of Radiance -- IV. Epilogue: On the Love of Men and the Veneration of the Gods -- Power and Time: The Charismatic Paradox -- The Miscontemporary -- Philological Annex: Charis in Xenophon's Corpus |
| Summary |
One of classical Greece's most worldly and lucid writers, Xenophon across his many works gave a restless criticism of power: democratic, oligarchic and autocratic. From military campaigns (in which he took part), through the great powers of his day (Sparta, Persia, Athens) to modes of control within the household, he observed intimately and often with partisan passion. In this work a leading French Hellenist, Vincent Azoulay, analyses across Xenophon's diverse texts the techniques by which the Greek writer recommends that leaders should manipulate. Through gifts and personal allure, though mystique, dazzling appearance, exemplary behaviour, strategic absences - and occasional terror, Xenophon analyses ways in which a powerful few might triumphantly replace the erratic democracies and self-indulgent oligarchies of his day. First published in French (in 2004) to international acclaim, this book is here translated for the first time, revised and updated |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-414) and indexes |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Xenophon -- Criticism and interpretation
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Xenophon |
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HISTORY -- Ancient -- Greece.
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books
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Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Krieger, Angela, translator.
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| ISBN |
9781910589939 |
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1910589934 |
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