Xenophon (c. 430–c. 350 BC)

Greek soldier and writer who was a disciple of Socrates (described in Xenophon's Symposium). He joined the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger against his brother Artaxerxes II in 401 BC, and after the Battle of Cunaxa the same year took command. His book Anabasis describes how he led 10,000 Greek mercenaries on a 1,600-km/1,000-mile march home across enemy territory.

He then served various commanders until he returned to Greece with Agesilaus II in 394. Exiled from Athens, he lived on an estate near Olympia granted him by the Spartans until he was expelled after Leuctra in 371 BC. He died in Corinth.

In addition to Anabasis, his works include Hellenika, a history of Greece from 411 to 362; and two of the earliest theoretical military works, the Cyropaedia, a treatise on the ideal commander under the guise of a fictional biography of the founder of the Persian Empire, and Hipparchikos/Guide for a Cavalry Commander.