Cynegeticus is a treatise by the ancientGreek philosopher and military leader Xenophon, usually translated as"On Hunting" or "Hunting with Dogs." It is one of the four works by Xenophon on arts or skills. The other three are: Hipparchicus ("The SkilledCavalry Commander") Peri Hippikes ("On Horsemanship"), Oeconomicus ("OnEstate Management").Translated by H. G. Dakyns, 1897. Revised by Revised by F. M. Stawell.

In this work, the author aims to acquaint the novice with not only the techniques but also the values of the hunter. The work covers the famous hunters of legend, the moral value of hunting, and the various techniques of hunting.

As hunting generates such fierce debate in Britain today, it seems an appropriate moment to examine the two best classical works on the subject. For both authors hunting was primarily for hares with hounds.

Hunting and its imagery continued to play a significant role in archaic and classical Greece long after hunting had ceased being a necessity for survival in everyday life. Drawing on vase paintings, sculpture, inscriptions, and other literary evidence, Judith Barringer reexamines the theme of the hunt and shows how the tradition it depicts helped maintain the dominance of the ruling social groups. Along with athletics and battle, hunting was a defining activity of the masculine aristocracy and was crucial to the efforts of the Athenian elite to control the social agenda, even as their political power declined. The Hunt in Ancient Greece examines descriptions of hunting in initiation rituals as well as the ideals of masculinity and adulthood such rites of passage promoted. Barringer argues that depictions of the hunt in literature and art also served as striking metaphors for the intricacies of courtship, shedding light on sexuality and gender roles. Through an exploration of various representations of the hunt, Barringer provides extraordinary insight into Athenian society.

This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon's eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; Regime of the Athenians; Ways and Means, or On Revenue; The Skilled Cavalry Commander; On Horsemanship; and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs.

One of Socrates' Athenian disciples in his youth, Xenophon (c. 498-354 bc) fought as a mercenary commander in Cyrus the Younger's campaign to seize the Persian throne, and later wrote a wide range of works on history, politics and philosophy. These six treatises offer his informed insights into the nature of leadership. In the dialogue between the poet Simonides and Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, Xenophon provides a consummate consideration of the burdens of being an absolute dictator and the superior happiness of the private man. Elsewhere, his biography of King Agesilaus II of Sparta depicts the author's patron as a model of piety, justice, courage and wisdom, while other texts consider the essential qualities of the cavalry commander, analyse the skills of the horseman and the hunter, and advance a bold economic plan for democratic Athens.

Cyrus, a great Persian leader, was so widely and memorably respected that a hundred years later, Xenophon of Athens wrote this admiring book about the greatest leader of his era. Larry Hedrick's Introduction describes Cyrus and his times. Among his many achievements, this great leader of wisdom and virtue founded and extended the Persian Empire; conquered Babylon; freed 40,000 Jews from captivity; wrote mankind's first human rights charter; and ruled over those he had conquered with respect and benevolence. According to historian Will Durant, Cyrus the Great's military enemies knew that he was lenient, and they did not fight him with that desperate courage which men show when their only choice is "to kill or die." As a result the Iranians regarded him as "The Father," the Babylonians as "The Liberator," the Greeks as the "Law-Giver," and the Jews as the "Anointed of the Lord." By freshening the voice, style and diction of Cyrus, Larry Hedrick has created a more contemporary Cyrus. A new generation of readers, including business executives and managers, military officers, and government officials, can now learn about and benefit from Cyrus the Great's extraordinary achievements, which exceeded all other leaders' throughout antiquity.