Pseudo-xenophon

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A pseudo-xenophon (sometimes also: "the old oligarch") is an anonymous ancient Greek author who probably worked in the last third of the 5th century BC. BC, after 430 and before 411 BC BC, wrote a pamphlet on the “State of the Athenians”, which was handed down under the writings of Xenophons , but does not come from him. The work must not be confused with the eponymous font Athenaion politeia , which was written either by Aristotle or (more likely) by one of his students.

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Pseudo-Xenophon's writing shows oligarchic tendencies and is thus directed against the Athenian democracy , which was increasingly tumbling towards the end of the Peloponnesian War (see oligarchic overthrow 411 BC). The origin of the script is probably due to this historical background. The unknown author criticizes the Athenian democracy for the fact that the "common masses" have so much influence. In fact, the ability of the nobles in Athens to exert influence was only very limited during this period. According to the author, the poor are only interested in offices that bring in a payment. Furthermore, the common people are already uneducated and there is too much bureaucracy. The nobility, on the other hand, are not rewarded for their expenditures in the war and only have the choice to participate or to establish a new order, which Ps.-Xenophon describes as eunomia (for example: "good order"). This is ultimately favored by the author, since a deep gap has arisen between the nobility and the demos . The writing thus represents a reflex to considerations of aristocratic circles on how to transform the political system of Athens. But there are also interesting references to the treatment of metics (strangers) and slaves.

All in all, despite the sharpness of the language, it is a noteworthy source, since the author made some correct statements, for example regarding the political system of Athens at that time. Thus, despite all rejection of democracy, the democratic system itself is assessed as consistently consistent and correct and the question is raised whether the Attic sea power could also survive with another form of government.

Editions / translations

  • Pseudo-Xenophon: The Constitution of the Athenians. Greek and German (= texts on research. Vol. 100). Edited, introduced and translated by Gregor Weber . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-14320-7 (introduction, translation, critical notes and commentary).
  • Robin Osborne : The Old Oligarch. Pseudo-Xenophon's Constitution of the Athenians (= LACTOR. Vol. 2). 2nd Edition. London Association of Classical Teachers, London 2004, ISBN 0-903625-31-8 (introduction, translation and commentary).

literature

  • Ernst Hohl : time and purpose of the pseudoxenophontic Athenaion Politeia. In: Classical Philology. Vol. 45, No. 1, 1950, ISSN  0009-837X , pp. 26-35, JSTOR 266177 .
  • Simon Hornblower: The Old Oligarch (Pseudo-Xenophon's Athenaion Politeia) and Thucydides. A fourth-century date for the old oligarch? In: Pernille Flensted-Jensen, Thomas Heine Nielsen, Lene Rubinstein (eds.): Polis & Politics. Studies in Ancient Greek History. Presented to Mogens Herman Hansen on his Sixtieth Birthday, August 20, 2000. Museum Tusculanum Press et al., Copenhagen 2000, ISBN 87-7289-628-0 , pp. 363-384.
  • Christian Meier : The emergence of the political among the Greeks. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-518-07505-5 .
  • Carlo Scardino: Pseudo-Xenophon. In: Bernhard Zimmermann (ed.): The literature of the archaic and classical time (= handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity (= handbook of ancient science . Dept. 7: Handbook of Greek literature of antiquity. Vol. 1). CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-57673-7 , pp 417-423.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ps.-Xen., II, 14
  2. ↑ See Meier, p. 296
  3. ↑ Ps.-Xen., III, 9
personal data
SURNAME Pseudo-xenophon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES old oligarch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek author
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC BC or 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.