Editing Xenophon (section)

====Persians as centaurs====
The ''Cyropaedia'' praises the first Persian emperor, [[Cyrus the Great]], and it was through his greatness that the Persian Empire held together. However, following the lead of [[Leo Strauss]], David Johnson suggests that there is a subtle layer to the book in which Xenophon conveys criticism of the Persians, the Spartans, and the Athenians.<ref name="autogenerated177">Johnson, D. M. 2005. "Persians as Centaurs in Xenophon's ‘Cyropaedia'", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association''. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177–207.</ref> In section 4.3 of the ''Cyropaedia'', Cyrus wrote his desire to institute cavalry. He wrote that he desires that no Persian ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kalokagaqos&la=greek#Perseus:text:1999.04.0058:entry=kaloka)gaqo/s-contents kalokagathos]'' ("noble and good man" literally, or simply "noble") ever be seen on foot but always on a horse, so much so that the Persians may actually seem to be [[centaur]]s (4.3.22–23).

Xenophon plays upon the post-Persian-war propagandistic paradigm of using mythological imagery to represent the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Greco-Persian conflict]]. Examples of this include the wedding of the [[Lapiths]], [[Gigantomachy]], [[Trojan War]], and [[Amazonomachy]] on the [[Parthenon Frieze|Parthenon frieze]]. Johnson believes that the unstable dichotomy of man and horse found in a centaur is indicative of the unstable alliance of Persian and Mede formulated by Cyrus.<ref name="autogenerated177" /> He cites the regression of the Persians directly after the death of Cyrus as the result of this instability, a union made possible only through Cyrus.<ref name="autogenerated177" />