Persian Leader In Xenophon's The Education Of Cyrus

The Education of Cyrus contains Xenophon’s fictional idea of the great Persian leader Cyrus. Xenophon created a guide for leaders himself and all those who followed him, by telling stories of Cyrus’s life and conquests. Xenophon accomplishes this goal by creating a narrative of his life and conquests laced with leadership lessons and virtuous traits. A major trait throughout Cyrus’s life is his seemingly unending generosity. Xenophon’s version of Cyrus has the young leader practicing generosity from a very early age. Xenophon uses Cyrus to show how strategic generosity inspires loyalty in his people. Xenophon establishes early on in Cyrus’s military career that the young leader practiced generosity. Xenophon writes that Cyrus used a tent that was large enough to fit a number of guests. (67). Xenophon writes that Cyrus would frequently invite captains and other high-ranking officials in the army. It is also said that Cyrus would occasionally invite private soldiers and entire squads and platoons to dine with him. The invitations were for those that demonstrated the practices Cyrus wished the
Xenophon uses the story of Panthea and her husband Abradatas as an example. Xenophon writes that Cyrus sends for Abradatas based on Panthea’s suggestion (184). Once Abradatas arrived, Cyrus sent him to his wife where she told him to repay Cyrus by becoming an ally to Cyrus. The generosity Cyrus showed to Panthea came back to him though Abradatas. Cyrus gained considerably through his use of generosity to Pantea; he gained a fiercely loyal ally in Abradatas. Abradatas’s alliance also gave Cyrus an increase in the size of his army. The gains Cyrus experienced were much more significant than what he would have experienced if he had behaved selfishly. Xenophon uses this story to show how Cyrus was willing to be generous to those who were not on his side, to then inspire them to be loyal to