The Cyropaedia, or The Education of Cyrus, is Xenophon's account in eight books of the life of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian empire, written late in Xenophon's life. It is not a history: Xenophon shapes Cyrus as the model of a ruler whom men obey willingly, and much of the work is speeches and conversations on command, the training and rewarding of soldiers, the handling of allies and the ordering of an empire. It survives complete in medieval manuscripts.
Book I opens on the instability of every kind of rule, describes the Persian education and Cyrus' boyhood at the Median court of his grandfather Astyages, and ends with his father Cambyses' long instruction on generalship. Books II to VII follow his campaigns with his uncle Cyaxares and the Medes against the Assyrians and their allies: the submission of the Armenian king, the alliance with Gobryas and Gadatas, the defeat of Croesus at Thymbrara, and the taking of Sardis and Babylon. Through them runs the story of the captive Panthea and her husband Abradatas, who dies in the battle against Croesus. Book VIII describes the ordering of the court and the satrapies, Cyrus' last speech to his sons and his death, and ends with an epilogue on how far the Persians of Xenophon's own day have fallen from his standard.
Xenophon of Athens Education of Cyrus: summary and contents (PDF)
Xenophon of Athens Education of Cyrus: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Αʹ Book I
Xenophon starts from the instability of every kind of rule and presents Cyrus as one who governed willing subjects. He describes the Persian education, Cyrus's boyhood at the Median court of his grandfather Astyages, his hunts and his first fight against an Assyrian raid, and closes with the long conversation in which his father Cambyses instructs him on generalship, supplies and the gods as he sets out to aid the Medes.
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Βʹ Book II
Cyrus reaches Media with a Persian force and arms the commoners as the peers are armed. At dinners with his officers he debates whether rewards should follow merit, and he trains and promotes men by worth rather than birth. When the Armenian king withholds his tribute and troops, Cyrus marches against him under cover of a hunt, ordering his men to harm no Armenian.
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Γʹ Book III
The Armenian king is captured and put on trial, and his son Tigranes wins his pardon by argument. Cyrus ends the war between Armenians and Chaldaeans with a treaty and a shared fort, then returns to Cyaxares and leads the allied army into Assyria, where the first battle is won and the Persian peers, pressing on to the enemy camp, draw back out of range in perfect order.
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Δʹ Book IV
After the victory over the Assyrians, the Medes and Hyrcanians follow Cyrus in pursuit while Cyaxares stays behind. Cyrus persuades the Persians to form a cavalry of their own, takes the enemy camp and receives Gobryas the Assyrian as an ally. The spoils are divided, the captive Panthea is set aside for Cyrus, and tents and money go to his men and to the Hyrcanians.
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Εʹ Book V
Cyrus entrusts the captive Panthea to Araspas, who boasts that love cannot master him. Cyrus visits Gobryas, whose son the Assyrian king had killed, the eunuch Gadatas defects, the Cadusians suffer a defeat, and Cyaxares' jealousy is soothed in a reconciliation with his nephew. The book closes with councils on how to keep the army in the field.
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Ϛʹ Book VI
The allies at Cyaxares' door resolve to continue the war, and Cyrus builds siege engines and prepares to meet Croesus and his coalition. Araspas, who has fallen in love with Panthea, goes to the enemy as a pretended deserter, while Panthea brings her husband Abradatas to Cyrus's side. The book ends with Cyrus's order of battle, his scythed chariots and his address before the fight.
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Ζʹ Book VII
Cyrus defeats Croesus at Thymbrara, where the Egyptians hold out and Abradatas falls, and Panthea kills herself over his body. Sardis is taken and Croesus spared; the Carians and Phrygians are subdued, and Babylon falls when the river is diverted and Gobryas and Gadatas kill its king. Cyrus then begins to set up his court, and urges the peers to keep their discipline as an example to their children.
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Ηʹ Book VIII
Chrysantas likens a good ruler to a good father, and Cyrus organises his empire: the court, its gifts and its great procession, banquets with Hystaspas and Gobryas, the satraps, and his marriage to the daughter of Cyaxares. Before his death he gives his sons and friends a last speech on life after death and on harmony between brothers. Xenophon ends with an epilogue on how far the Persians of his own day have fallen from Cyrus's standard.