Filozofia polityczna Cyropedii Ksenofonta

Abstrakt

Xenophon’s ‘Cyropaedia’, or ‘The Education of Cyrus’, is the most important literary achievement
on one of the most interesting Socratics. It tells a story of Persian king Cyrus, successful conqueror
and ruler, from his upbringing at the Median court of his grandfather up until his last breath.
‘Cyropaedia’ is however not a biographical account of great monarch’s deeds (although arguments
for that are brought up in the paper), but a work akin to Plato’s ‘Republic’. In his longest
work Xenophon combines characteristic traits of many different genres – a novel, an encomium,
a military treatise and so on – to construct his own unique narrative, and through that narrative
establishes his own idea of a perfect government. Athenian philosopher judiciously weaves a tale
of human nature, divine order and social phenomena to present a powerful argument for aristocratic
monarchy, in which a perfect king (a ‘speaking law’) rules by his own perfect wisdom.