The term "sophist" in Xenophon

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze how Xenophon uses the word sophistés. I will con-clude that he does not make a technical or pejorative use of it. The employees that ap-pear in Xenophon's works have a sense close to its original value, as a qualifier for a wise man or someone dedicated to intellectual labor. This thesis is not completely origi-nal, since it was already defended by Classen in 1984. However, I consider that his ana-lysis has two deficiencies that justify a revision: on the one hand, he does not take into account the Cynegeticus because he considers it to be spurious, without even problema-tizing that this work contains half of Xenophon's uses of sophistés and that perhaps it is possible to find a derogatory use there. On the other hand, his examination does not strive to place Xenophon in the intellectual context of his time, therefore, it loses the possibility of making use of all the potential that he could bring to the history of the concept.