Xenophon’s Anabasis: Reading the End with Zeus the Merciful

This paper analyzes Xenophon’s use of Zeus Meilichios in the Anabasis in his dual roles of wealth bringer and purifier of spilled kindred blood to train the reader to find closure in a text lacking any explicit conclusion. A survey of archaeological and literary evidence for Zeus the Merciful and a close reading of the end of the Anabasis, in particular the scene with the seer Eucleides (7.8.1–6), suggests how this cult figure serves as a symbol of mediation guiding readers to read for themselves and beyond the text the “proper” closure of Xenophon’s wanderer’s tale: homecoming and reconciliation with Athens. As we see Xenophon finding the gods not only “good to think with” but also “good to write with,” we broaden our appreciation of his literary and religious sensibilities.