Xenophon Source Analysis

Primary Source Analysis

Content:

According to Xenophon, education for boys began “at an age when the child can understand what was being said to them”. The boys were often placed under the care of a guardian who had complete legal control over the boys. These guardians were called different names, compared to the different classes you were in. In the lower class, the guardian was called a Paidagogoi, and they would accompany the boys to the school they were sent off to. While at the schools, boys were taught grammar and music. In regards to the upper class, the guardians of the boys were often the highest magistrates, and they were called Paidonomos. In all social classes, if the boys didn’t obey their guardians, then they were punished severely. Once the boys reached puberty or adolescence, they were considered independent. However, to discourage the “pleasures of the mind” aristocratic fathers often had their son’s labor extremely hard on the land; if the boys refused or complained, then they were cut off from the family.

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Xenophon, who authored The Constitution of the Spartans, was born approximately 430 BC and he died in 354 BC. Xenophon lived during the Peloponnesian War, which was a war fought between Athens and Sparta. What is interesting about Xenophon is the fact that he was born an Athenian, but he was a Spartan supporter. During his exile from Athens, he found safety in Sparta, and it was there that he became a strong advocator for Spartan policies and government.

The second author, Strabo, was born in Amasia in Pontus, approximately 63 BC and died in approximately 24 AD. Strabo is the author of Geography and he lived during the transitional period of Rome; after the murder of Julius Caesar when the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire. The significance of his work is due to the fact that it is a compilation of geographies from his Mediterranean