XENOPHON 



0370 



XERXES 



burgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & Saint Louis rail- 

 roads, and by interurban lines. In 1910 the 

 population was 8,706; in 1916 it was 8,710 (Fed- 

 eral estimate). Prominent features of the city 

 are the Federal building, completed in 1914 at 

 a cost of $160,000, and a Carnegie Library, the 

 city hall and the county courthouse. The city 

 is the seat of Xenia Theological Seminary 

 (United Presbyterian), and has the Ohio Sol- 

 diers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. Just out- 

 side of the city are the county infirmary and 

 children's home; at Wilberforce, three miles 

 distant, is Wilberforce University, a school for 

 colored students. Xenia manufactures rope, 

 twine, shoes, fuses, powder, rubber, canned 

 goods and candy. The place was settled in 

 1804, was incorporated as a town four years 

 later, and became a city in 1832. In the vi- 

 cinity are interesting relics of Indian mound 

 building. E.L.B. 



XENOPHON, zcn'ojon, an Athenian histo- 

 rian and soldier, who was born about 430 B.C. 

 and died not earlier than 355 B.C. He was a 

 pupil of Socrates, but the excitement of a sol- 

 dier's life appealed to him more than philoso- 

 phy, and in 401 B.C. he joined the expedition 

 of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes of 

 Persia. In the Battle of Cunaxa Cyrus was 

 killed, and shortly thereafter the satrap Tis- 

 sapheraes put the Greek generals to death. 

 Ten thousand Greek mercenaries were thus left 

 in a strange country, without a leader; but 

 they chose Xenophon for that post, and set out 

 on their march toward home. After innumer- 

 able hardships they reached the Bosporus, and 

 there they joined a Spartan army which was on 

 its way to do battle against Tissaphernes. 



Xenophon was fortunate during this expedi- 

 tion, for he received as ransom money for a 

 wealthy Persian whom he had captured enough 

 to make him independent for the rest of his 

 life. Returning to Greece he fought with the 

 Spartans against Athens, and was therefore 

 banished from his native city. Later the de- 

 cree of banishment was recalled, but he never 

 again made Athens his home. The most fa- 

 mous of Xenophon's writings are the Anabasis, 

 an account of the expedition of Cyrus and the 

 retreat of the ten thousand Greeks; the Hel- 

 Icnica, a history of the last part of the Pelopon- 

 ncsian War, intended as a sequel to the history 

 of Thucydides; the Memorabilia, or recollec- 

 tions of Socrates, and the Symposium, a dis- 

 cussion of an imaginary banquet at which 

 Socrates was supposed to have taken part. 

 Xenophon's style is clear and forceful, but 



sometimes almost monotonous; his work is 

 painstaking and accurate. 



Consult Wright's Short History of Greek Lit- 

 erature. 



XERXES, zurk'zccz, the name of three kings 

 of Persia, the most illustrious of whom was 

 Xerxes I, one of the greatest warriors of an- 

 cient times. 



Xerxes I was the son of Darius I and of 

 Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great. After his 

 accession to the throne in 485 B.C. he sup- 

 pressed the revolt in Egypt, and thereupon set 

 out to conquer Greece; he would thus avenge 

 the humiliations of his father, who had under- 

 taken the same task with the purpose of pun- 

 ishing the Greeks for their part in the Ionian 

 rebellion and the victory of Marathon. In 

 Cappadocia he collected a vast army, said to 

 have numbered a million men, from all parts of 

 his empire, and set out with an immense fleet 

 furnished by the Phoenicians. He threw two 

 bridges, formed by a double line of boats, 

 across the Hellespont and cut a canal through 

 Mount Athos. Arriving at Sardis in the au- 

 tumn of 481 B.C., he remained there for some 

 time, and then ordered his army on its march 

 across the Hellespont. Seven days and nights 

 were spent in making the passage, owing to the 

 vast numbers in his army, which required 1,207 

 ships-of-war, attended by 3,000 smaller vessels. 



At first Xerxes was victorious at Artemi- 

 sium, Athens and Thermopylae and he did 

 not rest content until he had ravaged all the 

 houses and temples of Athens. The tremen- 

 dous fleet was crushed at the Battle of Salamis, 

 in 480 B. c., and with no further communication 

 by sea with Asia, Xerxes fled to Sardis. Mar- 

 donius, his ablest general, was left in control of 

 the army, which was routed at Plataea the fol- 

 lowing year. Xerxes then undertook to destroy 

 the temples of the city of Babylon, and aimed 

 to circumnavigate Africa. Instead he yielded 

 to indifference and debauchery, and was finally 

 murdered by Artabanus, a captain of the 

 guards. He was succeeded by his son, Arta- 

 xerxes I. 



Xerxes II was the son of Artaxerxes I, and 

 lived approximately between the years 450 and 

 425 B.C. When his parents were murdered he 

 ascended the throne, but was assassinated after 

 a forty-five days' rule. The name of Xerxes 

 was also given to Oarses, who ruled about 

 337 B.C. 



Related Subjecta. The following articles in 

 these volumes will explain the references in the 

 above discussion : 



