Xenophon Table of Contents (Clicking on the links below will take you to that part of this article) Life Writings Xenophon's Account of Socrates Life An Athenian, the son of Gryllus, Xenophon was born about 444 BCE. In his early life he was a pupil of Socrates; but the turning point in his career came when he decided to serve in the Greek contingent raised by Cyrus against Artaxerxes in 401.