Sophaenetus

Sophaenetus () was one of the leaders of the Ten Thousand, an army of Greek mercenaries in the service of Cyrus the Younger, in 401–400 BC.Christopher J. Tuplin
"Sophaenetus"
''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2012). Consulted online on 16 June 2023. A native of Stymphalus, he was an older man when he recruited and led one thousand hoplites to join Cyrus.Klaus Meister
"Sophaenetus"
''Brill's New Pauly'' (Brill Online, 2006). Consulted online on 16 June 2023. He led the army back to the Black Sea and from Trapezus to Cerasus by ship. At Cotyora, he was fined 10 '' minae'' for mishandling funds.

The main source for Sophaenetus' career is the ''Anabasis'' of Xenophon. Writing in the fifth century AD, Stephanus of Byzantium cites on four occasions a certain ''Anabasis Kyrou'' written by Sophaenetus. This is generally presumed to be the same person as mentioned by Xenophon. Stephanus cites him for the names of several places in Asia Minor. The ''Anabasis Kyrou'' is not attested outside of Stephanus. The lack of any reference to the work for several centuries after it would have been written is a difficult to explain and its authenticity has been questioned.H. D. Westlake, "Diodorus and the Expedition of Cyrus", ''Phoenix'' 41.3 (1987), pp. 241–254, at 251–252. Some modern scholars regard it as a late forgery, composed after the time of Plutarch. Panico Stylianou suggests that it may be a case of mistaken identity. Pieces of advice attributed to Sophaenetus entered the military handbooks and were misunderstood to refer to a book written by him.Panico J. Stylianou, "One ''Anabasis'' or Two?", in Robin Lane Fox (ed.), ''The Long March: Xenophon and the Ten Thousand'' (Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 68–96, at 73–74.

Some scholars who accept the authenticity of the ''Anabasis Kyrou'' regard it as the probable source of those elements in Diodorus Siculus' account of the Ten Thousand in his ''Bibliotheca historica'' that cannot be found in Xenophon. If the latter are correct, Diodorus probably encountered the ''Anabasis Kyrou'' indirectly, through Ephorus and the ''Hellenica Oxyrhynchia''. It has even been argued that Sophaenetus, as the senior officer, wrote his account before 385 BC, well before Xenophon, and that the latter wrote in response, even using Sophaenetus as a source.Aubrey Gwynn, "Xenophon and Sophaenetus", ''The Classical Quarterly'' 23.1 (1929), pp. 39–40. It has been suggested that it may have been outcompeted by the superior literary quality of Xenophon's ''Anabasis''. By comparison, Ptolemy's account of Alexander the Great's campaigns is also lost, but was used by Arrian in his ''Anabasis of Alexander'' centuries after it was written.

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5th-century BC births
5th-century BC Greek historians
Ancient Greek generals
Ancient Greek mercenaries
Ancient Greek military writers
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Classical-era Greek historians
Ten Thousand-ancient mercenaries
People from Corinthia