A organização militar (stratiotiké sýntaxis) e a estrutura econômica e política do império Persa na Ciropédia de Xenofonte

The military organization (stratiotiké sýntaxis) and the economical and political structure of the Persian empire in the Cyropaedia

Abstract

The goal of this article is to analyse an aspect of Xenophon’s political philosophy commonly overlooked by commentators: the military organization i.e. the hierarchy and the chain of command, as the element that gives the economical and political structure of the Persian empire in the Cyropaedia. The transposition of this hierarchical military model endows the structure of the State with a rationality which aims, from an economical perspective, at the efficiency in the production of resources and the fiscal balance; and, from a political perspective, at the elimination of internal conflicts and anarchy, but also at the efficacy in the transmission of orders and the speed in the execution of administrative tasks, since everybody knows his place and functions in this hierarchical system, which is maintained by the sovereign’s power disseminated through all the instances of the government.