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The Persian Expedition
In The Persian Expedition, Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand - to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne. When the Greeks were then betrayed by their Persian employers, they were forced to march home through hundreds of miles of difficult terrain - adrift in a hostile country and under constant attack from the unforgiving Persians and warlike tribes. In this outstanding description of endurance and individual bravery, Xenophon, one of those chosen to lead the retreating army, provides a vivid narrative of the campaign and its aftermath, and his account remains one of the best pictures we have of Greeks confronting a 'barbarian' world.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 401
About the author
Xenophon
1,939 books414 followersXenophon (Ancient Greek Ξενοφῶν, Modern Greek Ξενοφώντας; ca. 431 – 355 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and the life of ancient Greece.
Historical and biographical works
Anabasis (or The Persian Expedition)
Cyropaedia
Hellenica
Agesilaus
Socratic works and dialogues
Memorabilia
Oeconomicus
Symposium
Apology
Hiero
Short treatises
On Horsemanship
The Cavalry General
Hunting with Dogs
Ways and Means
Constitution of Sparta
Historical and biographical works
Anabasis (or The Persian Expedition)
Cyropaedia
Hellenica
Agesilaus
Socratic works and dialogues
Memorabilia
Oeconomicus
Symposium
Apology
Hiero
Short treatises
On Horsemanship
The Cavalry General
Hunting with Dogs
Ways and Means
Constitution of Sparta
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 569 reviews
May 18, 2022
Xenophon is an ambitious 20ish man from a prominent family in Athens that doesn't have money anymore because of the war with Sparta, which they lost. He agrees to his friend's Proxenus plee , urging him to fight for the treacherous Prince Cyrus, younger brother of Artaxerxes II , the Persian king in 401 B.C. With the end of the Peloponnesian War and Sparta's victory over dejected Athens, the glory has vanished . The impoverished Greeks look to the Persian Empire for any loot they can get there hands on. Cyrus doesn't tell his foreign mercenaries, the 10,000 that he wants to replace his brother as king.
The Greeks were ostensibly recruited to defeat local enemies and receive coins. When Cyrus is slain at the battle of Cunaxa, the foreigners have lost their reason for being in Persia, in a hostile nation which despises the invaders. After the Greek generals are killed by treachery, a meeting that was a bloodbath , no leaders either. Can they survive unfriendly tribes , get passed wide rivers , over high mountains, overcome snowy weather and get back to their native, wonderful Greece alive? New leaders are chosen and Xenophon becomes a general, a dubious honor in these bleak conditions. The long march continues, day after endless day, week after week , month after month, step after tired step always forward never looking back until they reach their native land with 6,000 left. But having little plunder , the mercenaries return to the Persian Empire, get rich they hope and fight in a local war, after all they're soldiers! A tremendous book that tells not only about brutal battles but even better the way the ancients lived , worked, and hated, a little love too, fought wars, not a pleasant subject yet necessary for our understanding of them, culture changes, however the human spirit remains the same...that is the problem...For those interested in history this can't be beat, written by a man who experience the horrific adventure and lived...
The Greeks were ostensibly recruited to defeat local enemies and receive coins. When Cyrus is slain at the battle of Cunaxa, the foreigners have lost their reason for being in Persia, in a hostile nation which despises the invaders. After the Greek generals are killed by treachery, a meeting that was a bloodbath , no leaders either. Can they survive unfriendly tribes , get passed wide rivers , over high mountains, overcome snowy weather and get back to their native, wonderful Greece alive? New leaders are chosen and Xenophon becomes a general, a dubious honor in these bleak conditions. The long march continues, day after endless day, week after week , month after month, step after tired step always forward never looking back until they reach their native land with 6,000 left. But having little plunder , the mercenaries return to the Persian Empire, get rich they hope and fight in a local war, after all they're soldiers! A tremendous book that tells not only about brutal battles but even better the way the ancients lived , worked, and hated, a little love too, fought wars, not a pleasant subject yet necessary for our understanding of them, culture changes, however the human spirit remains the same...that is the problem...For those interested in history this can't be beat, written by a man who experience the horrific adventure and lived...
December 23, 2016
The Persian Expedition (or The Anabasis, or The March Up Country) tells the story of an army of Greek mercenaries who ended up fighting for the losing side of a Persian civil war and must travel through hostile territory to return home. And this isn't a metter of just dialing up 10,000 Uber rides (besides, the surge fee would be enormous), they have to march through hundreds of miles of hostile territory with both natives and the Persian army seeking to block their way. They are completely on their own with no help on the way. It is, at the very least, a compelling story and has the benefit of actually happening.
This was certainly an interesting reading experience. The writing style was definitely not of the modern world. A good chunk of it was devoted to explaining the movements of the Greek forces through hostile territory. As in They marched X leagues to this new area and chilled for a bit. then marched another Y leagues to a new area. There was much food and supplies to be acquired. There were also some extended paragraphs of people (not characters mind you, all these people actually existed) giving speeches, there was little to no dialogue and everything was stated in a very matter of fact manner. While similar to other period books I read in terms of the structure, however I thought the prose didn't reach the same elevated level History of the Peloponnesian War reached.
One must keep in mind that this account comes to us from Xenophon, a Greek and eventual leader of the expedition. So we run the risk of leaning on this account too much since the source is rather biased. Xenophon comes off as a perfectly selfless and noble leader among men, almost too perfect. Everyone who opposes him is often shown as conniving and devious. Clearly salt should be taken when reading this account.
It is also important to remember the people on the other side of the story. Here is this 10,000 man strong mercenary force traveling through a hostile land and basically living off of it and any stored supplies they can capture. They are basically heavily armed locusts with a lot of military experience and no compunction against harming "barbarian" people. I imagine the story from their victims gives a very different account.
All in all this was an interesting read in so far as it gives a contemporary account of Greek culture and world view (for instance: the Greeks love sacrificing stuff to figure out the best course of action. there are even professional seers that travel with the army to interpret the results of the sacrifice. IT was like every other page it was time for another sacrifice). It was also a good illustration of just how decentralized everything was compared to modern nation states. Greek cities basically did their own thing even if they were bound (loosely) by a common culture. The Persian Empire was more a collection of kingdoms held in line by the central Persian authority's ability to punish or reward them, much different from even the Roman Empire. The past truly is a foreign country in many respects.
So while I wouldn't recommend this book in terms a pure entertainment, it was an illuminating look into the time and is worthwhile on that account.
This was certainly an interesting reading experience. The writing style was definitely not of the modern world. A good chunk of it was devoted to explaining the movements of the Greek forces through hostile territory. As in They marched X leagues to this new area and chilled for a bit. then marched another Y leagues to a new area. There was much food and supplies to be acquired. There were also some extended paragraphs of people (not characters mind you, all these people actually existed) giving speeches, there was little to no dialogue and everything was stated in a very matter of fact manner. While similar to other period books I read in terms of the structure, however I thought the prose didn't reach the same elevated level History of the Peloponnesian War reached.
One must keep in mind that this account comes to us from Xenophon, a Greek and eventual leader of the expedition. So we run the risk of leaning on this account too much since the source is rather biased. Xenophon comes off as a perfectly selfless and noble leader among men, almost too perfect. Everyone who opposes him is often shown as conniving and devious. Clearly salt should be taken when reading this account.
It is also important to remember the people on the other side of the story. Here is this 10,000 man strong mercenary force traveling through a hostile land and basically living off of it and any stored supplies they can capture. They are basically heavily armed locusts with a lot of military experience and no compunction against harming "barbarian" people. I imagine the story from their victims gives a very different account.
All in all this was an interesting read in so far as it gives a contemporary account of Greek culture and world view (for instance: the Greeks love sacrificing stuff to figure out the best course of action. there are even professional seers that travel with the army to interpret the results of the sacrifice. IT was like every other page it was time for another sacrifice). It was also a good illustration of just how decentralized everything was compared to modern nation states. Greek cities basically did their own thing even if they were bound (loosely) by a common culture. The Persian Empire was more a collection of kingdoms held in line by the central Persian authority's ability to punish or reward them, much different from even the Roman Empire. The past truly is a foreign country in many respects.
So while I wouldn't recommend this book in terms a pure entertainment, it was an illuminating look into the time and is worthwhile on that account.
November 28, 2011
The book is an account of Prince Cyrus's attempt in 401 BCE to replace his brother Ataxerxes II on the Persian throne. The narrative moves at a nice clip though at the expense of detail. The Ten Thousand, as the Greek mercenaries are known, advance a thousand miles from Greek Sardis in Asia Minor to Babylon only to have Cyrus die in battle and leave them stranded. I am not a big reader of military histories. This subject interested me because I had liked Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War so much. This account is not as good as that. Thucydides sought something like journalistic objectivity in his account and he had a gift for detail. Xenophon lacks any such narrative balance or descriptive acumen. In fact, much of the last half of the book might be regarded as auto-hagiography (if there is such a thing) since Xenophon was (or considered himself to be) a major player in the action. After Cyrus's death the Greeks have to fight their way back home along a much longer route. Understandably, very few native peoples are happy to let an army of this size pass unmolested through their lands, especially when plunder is a necessary means of survival for the Greeks. Xenophon proceeds by way of travelogue interrupted now and then by biographies of those significant persons, usually generals, who are killed in action. Here you will find all the elements of a spirited adventure narrative: heroism, military battle, treachery, megalomania, sacking of villages, taking of prisoners, sacrifices to the gods and so on. Especially interesting too is the soothsaying by way of animal entrails. Chapter 1 Book 6 of this translation features a fascinating account of the various dances done during a respite by the soldiers who represent all regions of Greece. My favorite passage however comes late in the book when Xenophon has to control his unruly soldiers at Byzantium. The way he assuages their anger and then talks them out of sacking the Spartan-run city is a joy to read. Highly recommended.
April 5, 2022
A bit dry in parts perhaps but a necessary read for any student or aficionado of Greek history. The story of Xenophon and his march with his fellow Greeks across the deserts and wilderness of places like modern day Iraq and Turkey is a fascinating and timeless one.
I think my biggest takeaway in reading this book was just how alien the ancient world really is to us. For all the ways we like to compare ourselves to the Ancient Greeks - their ideals of freedom of thought, democratic principles, and philosophies - the ancient world would be a completely foreign and crazy world to any modern person.
Take the amount of times the Greeks have to make a sacrifice to the gods, for instance, before a major or even minor decision. If I had played a drinking game and taken a shot every time the Greeks sacrificed to the gods in this book, I would have been dead by page 10.
I think my biggest takeaway in reading this book was just how alien the ancient world really is to us. For all the ways we like to compare ourselves to the Ancient Greeks - their ideals of freedom of thought, democratic principles, and philosophies - the ancient world would be a completely foreign and crazy world to any modern person.
Take the amount of times the Greeks have to make a sacrifice to the gods, for instance, before a major or even minor decision. If I had played a drinking game and taken a shot every time the Greeks sacrificed to the gods in this book, I would have been dead by page 10.
April 12, 2012
If I could have lunch with any person from history I think that Xenophon would be in my top five. He was so amazing, his spirit so impressive, his writing so eloquent, his actions so monumental. This account is beautiful. The rhetoric is stunning. It is so informative about ancient Greek military tactics, about the importance of omens (down to a sneeze during a speech), and the general disposition of ancient man, that it is an absolute must read for anyone interested in classical antiquity or military history. My favorite parts are the long speeches, they are so emotional and raw, and just breathtaking.
January 7, 2022
“Thálassa! Thálassa!”
Qualche anno fa è uscita la serie tv The Terror, che narrava della Spedizione perduta del Capitano John Franklin, che nel 1845, con le due navi della marina britannica HMS Erebus e HMS Terror, partì dall’Inghilterra alla ricerca del mitico Passaggio a Nord-Ovest.
Nel sesto episodio, le due navi sono irreparabilmente bloccate nel ghiaccio e una parte dell’equipaggio si appresta a partire per una disperata spedizione alla ricerca di aiuto. Tra questi, ci sarà tra il giovane capo coffa di trinchetto Henry Peglar. Nel corso dei preparativi, lo steward degli ufficiali, John Bridgens gli regalerà.... Xenophon’s Anabasis a.k.a The March of the Ten Thousand, e ne riassumerà mirabilmente il suo contenuto...
Nella raccolta di saggi di Italo Calvino Perché leggere i classici, pubblicata postuma nel 1991, troviamo anche il testo che costituisce l’illuminante introduzione di questo libro. Calvino racconterà dell’ansia del ritorno, dello sgomento del paese straniero, dello sforzo di non disperdersi, del concetto di patria, e naturalmente, citerà i libri della ritirata degli alpini dalla Russia durante la seconda guerra mondiale, primo tra tutti, il capolavoro di Mario Rigoni Stern.
Quando finalmente ho deciso di ‘affrontare’ questo testo, ero afflitto dalla sindrome del mattone e già mi preparavo ad accogliere la raccomandazione di Stendhal «Quelle patience il vous faudra, ô mon lecteur!».
Mi sbagliavo. E di molto.
È stata un’avventura avvincente.
Nel 401 A.C., insieme a Senofonte, Ciro e... qualche amico, opliti, peltasti, frombolieri, cavalieri, siamo partiti per questa spedizione verso l'interno dell’Impero persiano, per combattere una guerra che, in fondo, on ci apparteneva.
Abbiamo percorso oltre millecentocinquanta parasanghe, superato fiumi larghi tre pletri, ci siamo accampati a molti stadi dal nemico e abbiamo guadagnato e perso drame, darici, oboli, sigli. Offerto sacrifici agli dèi, combattuto mille battaglie, superato ostacoli imprevisti e seppellito tanti amici e compagni. E poi un giorno, Trapezunte e la vista delle acque del Mar Nero... The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free! (1)
Come si può intuire... non perdemmo quindi la Trebisonda...
(1) da The sea di Barry Cornwall
Qualche anno fa è uscita la serie tv The Terror, che narrava della Spedizione perduta del Capitano John Franklin, che nel 1845, con le due navi della marina britannica HMS Erebus e HMS Terror, partì dall’Inghilterra alla ricerca del mitico Passaggio a Nord-Ovest.
Nel sesto episodio, le due navi sono irreparabilmente bloccate nel ghiaccio e una parte dell’equipaggio si appresta a partire per una disperata spedizione alla ricerca di aiuto. Tra questi, ci sarà tra il giovane capo coffa di trinchetto Henry Peglar. Nel corso dei preparativi, lo steward degli ufficiali, John Bridgens gli regalerà.... Xenophon’s Anabasis a.k.a The March of the Ten Thousand, e ne riassumerà mirabilmente il suo contenuto...
Nella raccolta di saggi di Italo Calvino Perché leggere i classici, pubblicata postuma nel 1991, troviamo anche il testo che costituisce l’illuminante introduzione di questo libro. Calvino racconterà dell’ansia del ritorno, dello sgomento del paese straniero, dello sforzo di non disperdersi, del concetto di patria, e naturalmente, citerà i libri della ritirata degli alpini dalla Russia durante la seconda guerra mondiale, primo tra tutti, il capolavoro di Mario Rigoni Stern.
Quando finalmente ho deciso di ‘affrontare’ questo testo, ero afflitto dalla sindrome del mattone e già mi preparavo ad accogliere la raccomandazione di Stendhal «Quelle patience il vous faudra, ô mon lecteur!».
Mi sbagliavo. E di molto.
È stata un’avventura avvincente.
Nel 401 A.C., insieme a Senofonte, Ciro e... qualche amico, opliti, peltasti, frombolieri, cavalieri, siamo partiti per questa spedizione verso l'interno dell’Impero persiano, per combattere una guerra che, in fondo, on ci apparteneva.
Abbiamo percorso oltre millecentocinquanta parasanghe, superato fiumi larghi tre pletri, ci siamo accampati a molti stadi dal nemico e abbiamo guadagnato e perso drame, darici, oboli, sigli. Offerto sacrifici agli dèi, combattuto mille battaglie, superato ostacoli imprevisti e seppellito tanti amici e compagni. E poi un giorno, Trapezunte e la vista delle acque del Mar Nero... The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free! (1)
Come si può intuire... non perdemmo quindi la Trebisonda...
(1) da The sea di Barry Cornwall
July 31, 2008
Xenophon has become a bit of a fascination of mine at the moment. I’ve started reading his Socratic Conversations – which I’ll review when I finish, but am finding remarkable – and then I found this as a talking book under the title The March of the Ten Thousand. I’ve just finished listening to this. Amazing story. A group of Greek mercenaries go off to raid, rape and pillage their way through Persia, when things go awry – seriously awry. All of the leaders are killed – one after being tortured for a year – and the army of ten thousand are left with the Euphrates on one side and the king’s army on the other – and a very long way from home.
This is in part a tale of privations – but only in part. There are interesting bits where he discusses the local customs of the peoples he comes across. Also interesting were the bits where he discusses, in a remarkably off-hand manner, torturing prisoners. The homosexuality of some of the soldiers made me think of all that trouble there was in the US army a while ago over just this issue. There is a point in this book where they decide they have to get rid of all superfluous baggage, but Xenophon notes that some soldiers still hid away some pretty boys and even some women. Even women? Who'd have thought!
What I found most interesting though, was the discussions of sacrifices to see if the time was auspicious to take a particular action. It would be good to be able to think that people really didn’t believe in this nonsense, but it is utterly clear that people did believe. At the start he goes over to see his good friend Socrates to find out if he ought to go off to war and Socrates advises him to consult the Delphic Oracle – I mean, imagine! Socrates then criticises him for not asking the right question of the Oracle – and if anyone knows anything about questions, it is Socrates.
What was perhaps most human about this was that the army was united under attack throughout its journey, but became fragmented once back on Greek soil (I mean territory). And the cause of the fragmentation? Well, naturally that other great divider of humanity – Nationality. If only one could wrap all of the world's holy books in all of the world's flags and drop them somewhere out of harms way – imagine!
This was quite a boy’s own romp – not at all what I was expecting from a mate of Socrates’s. It perhaps suffers a little by being written by Xenophon and so he tends to give himself a remarkably good rap – but there are times when he goes on about his men only remembering the beatings and not remembering the praise … you know, it is funny how people are like that, totally lacking in gratitude.
This is in part a tale of privations – but only in part. There are interesting bits where he discusses the local customs of the peoples he comes across. Also interesting were the bits where he discusses, in a remarkably off-hand manner, torturing prisoners. The homosexuality of some of the soldiers made me think of all that trouble there was in the US army a while ago over just this issue. There is a point in this book where they decide they have to get rid of all superfluous baggage, but Xenophon notes that some soldiers still hid away some pretty boys and even some women. Even women? Who'd have thought!
What I found most interesting though, was the discussions of sacrifices to see if the time was auspicious to take a particular action. It would be good to be able to think that people really didn’t believe in this nonsense, but it is utterly clear that people did believe. At the start he goes over to see his good friend Socrates to find out if he ought to go off to war and Socrates advises him to consult the Delphic Oracle – I mean, imagine! Socrates then criticises him for not asking the right question of the Oracle – and if anyone knows anything about questions, it is Socrates.
What was perhaps most human about this was that the army was united under attack throughout its journey, but became fragmented once back on Greek soil (I mean territory). And the cause of the fragmentation? Well, naturally that other great divider of humanity – Nationality. If only one could wrap all of the world's holy books in all of the world's flags and drop them somewhere out of harms way – imagine!
This was quite a boy’s own romp – not at all what I was expecting from a mate of Socrates’s. It perhaps suffers a little by being written by Xenophon and so he tends to give himself a remarkably good rap – but there are times when he goes on about his men only remembering the beatings and not remembering the praise … you know, it is funny how people are like that, totally lacking in gratitude.
May 19, 2018
Kyros'un ağabeyi II. Artakserkes'le olan savaşında arkasına takılarak ona eşlik eden kitabın yazarı Xenophon ve önderliğindeki on binin (Hellen ordusu) geri dönüşünü sürükleyici ve destansı bir dille okuyucuya sunan "Anabasis: On Binler'in Dönüşü"nün (yaklaşık M.Ö. 370) Herodotus'un "Tarih"ine (yaklaşık M.Ö. 440) kıyasla daha az detay barındırması ve dilinin daha sade oluşu sebebiyle rahat okunabilen oldukça değerli bir tarihi eser olduğunu söylemeliyim. Özellikle Antik Yunan edebiyatını tamamlamak isteyenler için okunması gereken bir eser olan kitabın ilk iki bölümünün "Game of Thrones" serisine ilham kaynağı olduğu açıkça görülüyor. Her bölümü ayrı bir heyecan barındıran "Anabasis"in ikinci yarısı ise liderlik dersi niteliğinde. Xenophon'un tarih anlatırken bir yandan da felsefeye yer verdiği eserin okuyucuya tarihten daha fazlasını sunduğuna şüphe yok.
01.04.2016
Ankara Yolu, Türkiye
Alp Turgut
http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...
01.04.2016
Ankara Yolu, Türkiye
Alp Turgut
http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...
February 27, 2013
Herodotus might have been the Father of History, but Xenophon was the cool, older brother. This one-time pupil of Socrates is one of those soldier/scholars who makes both intellectuals and warriors feel inadequate. 'The Persian Expedition' or 'March of the Ten Thousand' or 'Anabasis' (all depending on your version or translation) relates the story told by Xenophon of his experiences fighting with and leading the 10,000 Hellene mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger and the army's 3000+ mile march into Persian.
This experience, which Will Durrant once called "one of the great adventures in human history," can be read as history, adventure story, leadership manual, or a real-life application of Socratic philosophy.
This experience, which Will Durrant once called "one of the great adventures in human history," can be read as history, adventure story, leadership manual, or a real-life application of Socratic philosophy.
November 15, 2022
Read this during my Penguin Classics phase. An exciting eye witness account of events so long ago and all the better for Xenophon's flaw of trying to make himself look good. But then, don't we all. There's no doubting the magnitude of the task facing the Hellenes, 8000 or so mercenaries from all over the Hellenic world.(The 'Ten Thousand seems to be the usual exaggeration by the author). What a march! Deserts, river crossings, mountain passes, ambushes. Boys Own stuff, you might say, but real. And the man was actually there and one of the elected leaders. Hard to feel more involved in 'ancient history' than by reading this.
June 3, 2019
When you're set upon
- read Xenophon.
- read Xenophon.
July 16, 2014
Picked up at Moe’s on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley and read as a little break from Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and as a diversion from last week's various news stories that were bumming me out. Them nutty ancient Greeks have a way of cheering me up.
Xenophon’s Anabasis was supposed to be one of the upcoming editions in the excellent Landmark Ancient Histories series, but there hasn’t been a new one of those in years.
So when I saw a used Penguin edition for $6 I figured I could probably slum my way through with only one janky map, some footnotes, and an introduction written in stilted prose with dumb Penguin-edition-introduction-esque words like ‘otiose.’
The Anabasis is sort like Kurdistan On Five Staters A Day mixed with Pulp Fiction. The plot is pretty simple, and I’m not going to consider these spoilers since they happened 2,000 years ago: Cyrus wants to kill his brother, the King of Persia, so he raises a secret army, including about 10,000 Greek mercenaries. Cyrus leads his army deep into Persia and manages to get himself killed in the first battle. After that the Persian part of the army sort of melts away, and the Greeks are left stranded deep in the heart of hostile Persian territory.
This all happens fairly quickly, so most of the book is about The Ten Thousand (as they are called, even though that number starts to go down pretty quickly) hacking their way back to Greece, even though none are actually “home” by the time the book ends. In fact, the majority of the remaining part of the army are preparing to set sail to go fight the Persians again at the end.
Because it's the Greeks, there is lots of warring followed by plenty of speechifying. Occasionally there is diplomacy. It's always interesting when Greeks meet up with non-Greeks, because you always learn something new about the Greeks, even if it's that they feel that some boys are just too darn pretty to put to death or that they don't care for dolphin fat unless it's mixed with water.
When the Ten Thousand finally reach the Hellespont, things get a little confusing (at least for me they did).
Sparta -- recently having won the Peloponnesian Wars -- was in control of the area, and wasn't super thrilled about having thousands upon thousands of hungry, horny, and battle-hardened troops idling around near an important city and port. Also, these same soldiers just tried to overthrow a huge, powerful Empire right next door, so even receiving them caused all kinds of diplomatic problems for Sparta.
So the Ten Thousand, led by Xenophon, hang out in Thrace and spend the winter propping up a two-bit King. More warring; more speechifying.
Finally Sparta decided (and I can't imagine it turned out well for them) to re-attack Persia. Xenophon wisely sells what meager possessions he has and scoots off to Greece.
The book works on so many levels. I'm always up for a good battle description, and the sly Greeks and Persian tricks are always interesting to me. The way Xenophon maintains command and slips his way out of various situations is amusing, but one has to remember that he's the one telling the tale (and about 30 years after it happened I'm guessing).
Xenophon is praised for his "unadorned style," but it is a bit jarring to read stuff like "some Greeks lost their noses and toes from frostbite" tossed off like an aside. That might be just a little too unadorned.
Xenophon’s Anabasis was supposed to be one of the upcoming editions in the excellent Landmark Ancient Histories series, but there hasn’t been a new one of those in years.
So when I saw a used Penguin edition for $6 I figured I could probably slum my way through with only one janky map, some footnotes, and an introduction written in stilted prose with dumb Penguin-edition-introduction-esque words like ‘otiose.’
The Anabasis is sort like Kurdistan On Five Staters A Day mixed with Pulp Fiction. The plot is pretty simple, and I’m not going to consider these spoilers since they happened 2,000 years ago: Cyrus wants to kill his brother, the King of Persia, so he raises a secret army, including about 10,000 Greek mercenaries. Cyrus leads his army deep into Persia and manages to get himself killed in the first battle. After that the Persian part of the army sort of melts away, and the Greeks are left stranded deep in the heart of hostile Persian territory.
This all happens fairly quickly, so most of the book is about The Ten Thousand (as they are called, even though that number starts to go down pretty quickly) hacking their way back to Greece, even though none are actually “home” by the time the book ends. In fact, the majority of the remaining part of the army are preparing to set sail to go fight the Persians again at the end.
Because it's the Greeks, there is lots of warring followed by plenty of speechifying. Occasionally there is diplomacy. It's always interesting when Greeks meet up with non-Greeks, because you always learn something new about the Greeks, even if it's that they feel that some boys are just too darn pretty to put to death or that they don't care for dolphin fat unless it's mixed with water.
When the Ten Thousand finally reach the Hellespont, things get a little confusing (at least for me they did).
Sparta -- recently having won the Peloponnesian Wars -- was in control of the area, and wasn't super thrilled about having thousands upon thousands of hungry, horny, and battle-hardened troops idling around near an important city and port. Also, these same soldiers just tried to overthrow a huge, powerful Empire right next door, so even receiving them caused all kinds of diplomatic problems for Sparta.
So the Ten Thousand, led by Xenophon, hang out in Thrace and spend the winter propping up a two-bit King. More warring; more speechifying.
Finally Sparta decided (and I can't imagine it turned out well for them) to re-attack Persia. Xenophon wisely sells what meager possessions he has and scoots off to Greece.
The book works on so many levels. I'm always up for a good battle description, and the sly Greeks and Persian tricks are always interesting to me. The way Xenophon maintains command and slips his way out of various situations is amusing, but one has to remember that he's the one telling the tale (and about 30 years after it happened I'm guessing).
Xenophon is praised for his "unadorned style," but it is a bit jarring to read stuff like "some Greeks lost their noses and toes from frostbite" tossed off like an aside. That might be just a little too unadorned.
August 3, 2017
The story Xenophon tells has been called the world's first great novel...a gripping narrative that builds up a single episode from the past into an exploration of the struggles and the values that shape human destiny." —Preface by Theodore K. Rabb
__________
I really enjoyed this. Exciting, suspenseful, lots of action, an undertone of seriousness with examples of Socratic Reasoning from Xenophon. A great story.
I think it would be a great for anyone who is looking for an entry into Greek History or before diving into Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon's Hellenica.
__________
Thanks Mark for getting me to read this much, much sooner than I would have otherwise.
__________
I really enjoyed this. Exciting, suspenseful, lots of action, an undertone of seriousness with examples of Socratic Reasoning from Xenophon. A great story.
I think it would be a great for anyone who is looking for an entry into Greek History or before diving into Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon's Hellenica.
__________
Thanks Mark for getting me to read this much, much sooner than I would have otherwise.
Read
August 4, 2018Η πρώτη στρατιωτική ιστορία, δεν χρειάζονται δικαιολογίες για να διαβάσει κανείς αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία.
World's first military history work, no excuses needed to read the ancient classics.
World's first military history work, no excuses needed to read the ancient classics.
December 30, 2021
"The Persian Expedition" aka "Anabasis" aka "The March of Ten Thousands" is a bestselling 2400 year old military travelogue in which Xenophon described the long and dangerous journey of -- surprise, surprise -- Xenophon and the army of Greek mercenaries to Persia and back.
It feels a bit funny at first when Xenophon refers to himself in the third person, but it must have been the thing to do in his time and age, considering that Julius Caesar referred to himself as Caesar in "Bellum Gallicum".
Now there was in that host a certain man, an Athenian, Xenophon, who had accompanied Cyrus, neither as a general, nor as an officer, nor yet as a private soldier, but simply on the invitation of an old friend, Proxenus. This old friend had sent to fetch him from home, promising, if he would come, to introduce him to Cyrus, "whom," said Proxenus, "I consider to be worth my fatherland and more to me."
So Xenophon began the journey without any official position, just tagging along with his mate in hope of gaining some riches and honors. Unfortunately for the Greeks, their employer Cyrus was killed in a battle with his brother the Persian king. Pretty soon the leading Greek commanders including Xenophon's mate were lured into a trap and treacherously killed by Persians.
That's when, in truly Homeric fashion, Xenophon was prompted into action by a momentous dream sent him by Zeus himself (obviously). Xenophon took the initiative and became a central figure among those who eventually led the Greek army out of Persia back to Greece, after much fighting and plundering.
Xenophon states in no uncertain terms that the reason Greek mercenaries went with Cyrus in the first place was money and riches. He specifically mentions that most of them didn't go to war because they were really poor and had nothing to eat, but because they thought with Cyrus they could "do well for themselves". Of course, a few just loved war for the war's sake (like Clearchus the Spartan), and a few were also interested in honor and reputation (including Xenophon himself), but in general money ruled supreme.
Actually, the algorithm of the march of the ten thousands can be described in a simple flowchart:
Start going -->
Are we in the enemy territory?
--> If YES (enemy territory), fight the enemy; plunder to get supplies, capture slaves, cattle etc; if the enemy asks for truce, make them give you supplies, slaves, cattle etc. --> Nothing left to plunder anymore. --> Advance-->Repeat.
--> If NO (friendly territory), buy supplies. -->After a while, no money left. --> Sell your services to plunder surrounding enemies on behalf of your friends. Demand payment from your friends for your services in plunder, money, slaves, cattle etc.
--> Friends pay. --> Advance --> Repeat. Advance. Repeat.
--> Friends don't pay. --> Friends=enemies.-->Repeat. Advance. Repeat.
And this way you trod from one enemy/friendly territory towards the other. The algorithm is simple, but the journey is anything but dull. Besides fighting all kinds of exotic fierce tribes and equally exotic and fierce meteorological and geographical conditions, there is plenty of intrigue and powerplay between army commanders for control over the army and money and cattle and slaves.
But most importantly, every time you have to make an important decision, you sacrifice (animals, of course, or victims, as Xenophon calls them). The soothsayer examines the entrails of the sacrificed animals and declares if the conditions are favorable or not. He might also spot additional omens while he is at it -- some eagles flying around in meaningful ways etc. By the way, Xenophon claims he has also become rather adapt at the art of entrails analysis due to "experience".
Anyway, if your brain tells you the best way of action is Alpha, but your sacrifice tells you the gods are not un favor of Alpha today, you don't do the Alpha. Forget the Alpha! What you do is you sit around till tomorrow and then sacrifice again. Oops, again no luck with the plan Alpha, judging by the sacrifice. Well, let's sacrifice once again. Three times -- still no luck? Wait another day. And so it goes on, until either the sacrifice becomes favorable or you decide on the plan Beta and give up on Alpha altogether. No kidding! That's exactly how you do it. There is more than one example of the proper sacrifice-driven behavior in "Anabasis".
One can't help but wonder about the potential for manipulative power of soothsayers over the army. Still, being the mouthpiece of the gods probably wasn't the easiest of professions when things were not looking up.
To summarize: it's a fact universally acknowledged that "Anabasis" is a perfect manual on how to conquer the Persian empire. Later it would be put to a good usage by Alexander the Great. And some 2400 years after Xenophon had scribbled it down, "Anabasis" still makes for an interesting read. I wonder what Xenophon would have thought about his literary fame. He impressed me as rather full of himself, so I doubt he would have been surprised.
It feels a bit funny at first when Xenophon refers to himself in the third person, but it must have been the thing to do in his time and age, considering that Julius Caesar referred to himself as Caesar in "Bellum Gallicum".
Now there was in that host a certain man, an Athenian, Xenophon, who had accompanied Cyrus, neither as a general, nor as an officer, nor yet as a private soldier, but simply on the invitation of an old friend, Proxenus. This old friend had sent to fetch him from home, promising, if he would come, to introduce him to Cyrus, "whom," said Proxenus, "I consider to be worth my fatherland and more to me."
So Xenophon began the journey without any official position, just tagging along with his mate in hope of gaining some riches and honors. Unfortunately for the Greeks, their employer Cyrus was killed in a battle with his brother the Persian king. Pretty soon the leading Greek commanders including Xenophon's mate were lured into a trap and treacherously killed by Persians.
That's when, in truly Homeric fashion, Xenophon was prompted into action by a momentous dream sent him by Zeus himself (obviously). Xenophon took the initiative and became a central figure among those who eventually led the Greek army out of Persia back to Greece, after much fighting and plundering.
Xenophon states in no uncertain terms that the reason Greek mercenaries went with Cyrus in the first place was money and riches. He specifically mentions that most of them didn't go to war because they were really poor and had nothing to eat, but because they thought with Cyrus they could "do well for themselves". Of course, a few just loved war for the war's sake (like Clearchus the Spartan), and a few were also interested in honor and reputation (including Xenophon himself), but in general money ruled supreme.
Actually, the algorithm of the march of the ten thousands can be described in a simple flowchart:
Start going -->
Are we in the enemy territory?
--> If YES (enemy territory), fight the enemy; plunder to get supplies, capture slaves, cattle etc; if the enemy asks for truce, make them give you supplies, slaves, cattle etc. --> Nothing left to plunder anymore. --> Advance-->Repeat.
--> If NO (friendly territory), buy supplies. -->After a while, no money left. --> Sell your services to plunder surrounding enemies on behalf of your friends. Demand payment from your friends for your services in plunder, money, slaves, cattle etc.
--> Friends pay. --> Advance --> Repeat. Advance. Repeat.
--> Friends don't pay. --> Friends=enemies.-->Repeat. Advance. Repeat.
And this way you trod from one enemy/friendly territory towards the other. The algorithm is simple, but the journey is anything but dull. Besides fighting all kinds of exotic fierce tribes and equally exotic and fierce meteorological and geographical conditions, there is plenty of intrigue and powerplay between army commanders for control over the army and money and cattle and slaves.
But most importantly, every time you have to make an important decision, you sacrifice (animals, of course, or victims, as Xenophon calls them). The soothsayer examines the entrails of the sacrificed animals and declares if the conditions are favorable or not. He might also spot additional omens while he is at it -- some eagles flying around in meaningful ways etc. By the way, Xenophon claims he has also become rather adapt at the art of entrails analysis due to "experience".
Anyway, if your brain tells you the best way of action is Alpha, but your sacrifice tells you the gods are not un favor of Alpha today, you don't do the Alpha. Forget the Alpha! What you do is you sit around till tomorrow and then sacrifice again. Oops, again no luck with the plan Alpha, judging by the sacrifice. Well, let's sacrifice once again. Three times -- still no luck? Wait another day. And so it goes on, until either the sacrifice becomes favorable or you decide on the plan Beta and give up on Alpha altogether. No kidding! That's exactly how you do it. There is more than one example of the proper sacrifice-driven behavior in "Anabasis".
One can't help but wonder about the potential for manipulative power of soothsayers over the army. Still, being the mouthpiece of the gods probably wasn't the easiest of professions when things were not looking up.
To summarize: it's a fact universally acknowledged that "Anabasis" is a perfect manual on how to conquer the Persian empire. Later it would be put to a good usage by Alexander the Great. And some 2400 years after Xenophon had scribbled it down, "Anabasis" still makes for an interesting read. I wonder what Xenophon would have thought about his literary fame. He impressed me as rather full of himself, so I doubt he would have been surprised.
February 10, 2016
The marched and fought their way right round Turkey! And a good chunk of Iraq, too! All the way from the Ionian coast to Mesopotamia — they got within fighting distance of Babylon – and then all the way back to the Bosporus (here's a map). They fought the Persians, the Kurds, the Armenians, the Thracians and anyone else who got in their way. And all they were doing was trying to get home.
It took them fifteen months. There were ten thousand of them to begin with and eight thousand left at the end. Some were killed in battle, some perished from cold in the high mountain passes, some died of treachery. And when they reached the relative safety of the Black Sea coast, they took to quarrelling amongst themselves.
An absolutely amazing story—a combination of traveller's tale, adventure story, manual of military tactics and meditation on man's ingratitude. One of the great literary works of civilisation, the Anabasis is also a rattling good read.
It took them fifteen months. There were ten thousand of them to begin with and eight thousand left at the end. Some were killed in battle, some perished from cold in the high mountain passes, some died of treachery. And when they reached the relative safety of the Black Sea coast, they took to quarrelling amongst themselves.
An absolutely amazing story—a combination of traveller's tale, adventure story, manual of military tactics and meditation on man's ingratitude. One of the great literary works of civilisation, the Anabasis is also a rattling good read.
January 23, 2024
Το Μάρτιο του 401 π.Χ. μαζεύεται στις Σάρδεις σώμα Ελλήνων μισθοφόρων μετά το κάλεσμα του σατράπη της Μ. Ασίας Κύρου με πρόφαση την αντιμετώπιση τοπικών αντιπάλων του. Κατά την προέλαση τους γίνεται αντιληπτό ότι ο Κύρος έχει άλλο σκοπό: την εκθρόνιση του αδερφού του Αρταξέρξη.
Το πρώτο βιβλίο καλύπτει την πορεία προς τη Βαβυλώνα (την ανάβαση του Κύρου) από το Μάρτιο έως τον Σεπτέμβριο του ίδιου έτους και τελειώνει με την μάχη στα Κούναξα και το θάνατο του Κύρου.
Λίγες ημέρες αργότερα τα ελληνικά μισθοφορικά σρατεύματα βρίσκονται προδομένα, με τους αρχηγούς τους δολοφονημένους, χωρίς εφόδια, χωρίς άλογα, χωρίς οδηγούς, περιτριγυρισμένα από εχθρούς στην καρδιά της Περσικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Από εδώ ξεκινά η περίφημη κάθοδος των Μυρίων, η οπισθοχώρηση των 13.000 Ελλήνων μισθοφόρων σε μια πορεία ωσάν άλλη Οδύσσεια με διαρκείς μάχες, βουνοκορφές καλυμμένες με χιόνι, πείνα, προδοσίες και διπλωματικά τρικ.
Ο Ξενοφώντας βρίσκεται από την αρχή εκεί ως απλός στρατιωτικός και κατόπιν ως ένας από τους διοικητές. Γράφει απλά, λακωνικά -γνωστή άλλωστε η συμπάθεια του προς τους Λάκωνες και τον τρόπο ζωής τους- μα περιεκτικά, με το κείμενο να είναι προσβάσιμο ακόμη και στο πρωτότυπο για όσους έχουν κάποια ευχέρεια στα αρχαία. Δίνονται περιγραφές γεωγραφίας, λαών, ηθών κι εθίμων, διπλωματικών διαλόγων, στρατηγικής και φυσικά μαχών.
Το κατά πόσο είναι αντικειμενικά όσα γράφονται είναι φυσικά άλλο θέμα αλλά καθώς το έργο αποτελεί μια από τις παλαιότερες και εξ ολοκλήρου σωζόμενες στρατιωτικές ιστορίες -νομίζω μάλιστα την πρώτη σε πρωτοπρόσωπη αφήγηση- αξίζει να διαβαστεί ενώ η παρακαταθήκη του σε θέματα στρατηγικής και ηγεσίας είναι αδιαμφισβήτητη.
Το πρώτο βιβλίο καλύπτει την πορεία προς τη Βαβυλώνα (την ανάβαση του Κύρου) από το Μάρτιο έως τον Σεπτέμβριο του ίδιου έτους και τελειώνει με την μάχη στα Κούναξα και το θάνατο του Κύρου.
Λίγες ημέρες αργότερα τα ελληνικά μισθοφορικά σρατεύματα βρίσκονται προδομένα, με τους αρχηγούς τους δολοφονημένους, χωρίς εφόδια, χωρίς άλογα, χωρίς οδηγούς, περιτριγυρισμένα από εχθρούς στην καρδιά της Περσικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Από εδώ ξεκινά η περίφημη κάθοδος των Μυρίων, η οπισθοχώρηση των 13.000 Ελλήνων μισθοφόρων σε μια πορεία ωσάν άλλη Οδύσσεια με διαρκείς μάχες, βουνοκορφές καλυμμένες με χιόνι, πείνα, προδοσίες και διπλωματικά τρικ.
Ο Ξενοφώντας βρίσκεται από την αρχή εκεί ως απλός στρατιωτικός και κατόπιν ως ένας από τους διοικητές. Γράφει απλά, λακωνικά -γνωστή άλλωστε η συμπάθεια του προς τους Λάκωνες και τον τρόπο ζωής τους- μα περιεκτικά, με το κείμενο να είναι προσβάσιμο ακόμη και στο πρωτότυπο για όσους έχουν κάποια ευχέρεια στα αρχαία. Δίνονται περιγραφές γεωγραφίας, λαών, ηθών κι εθίμων, διπλωματικών διαλόγων, στρατηγικής και φυσικά μαχών.
Το κατά πόσο είναι αντικειμενικά όσα γράφονται είναι φυσικά άλλο θέμα αλλά καθώς το έργο αποτελεί μια από τις παλαιότερες και εξ ολοκλήρου σωζόμενες στρατιωτικές ιστορίες -νομίζω μάλιστα την πρώτη σε πρωτοπρόσωπη αφήγηση- αξίζει να διαβαστεί ενώ η παρακαταθήκη του σε θέματα στρατηγικής και ηγεσίας είναι αδιαμφισβήτητη.
May 25, 2022
2022-05-25 Just finished this early this morning. Had it on my "To read" list since either High School World History class or an ROTC class in college when I first heard of it. Classic Greek work about a mercenary group of 10,000 in Persia and how they fought, marched, cajoled, outthought, outtalked and outfought their incredible number of adversaries, to get out of Persia or Mesopotamia and back to Greece/Hellas, after the Persian leader Cyrus died trying to kill his brother and take over the Persian Empire. It was quite a feat and quite a tale.
I'm not sure how many years it took or men were lost in the journey, but wow, was it a tale of incredible scope and magnitude.
The motivations and circumstances for why this group of about 10K Greek mercenaries happened to go to Persia to fight for Cyrus were not discussed too much in this book. Money, greed, adventure, ostracism from their Greek homeland, proving one's sense of manhood, etc. - all probably played some parts for the members of this group.
I found the narration of the story fascinating, since the book is accredited to Xenophon, but he plays almost no role in the first third or so of the book, just as the narrator, but then he emerges as the leader of the group, but is only acknowledged as a totally separate actor in the story, not as the narrator. Therefore, the motives of Xenophon are suspect, since the story is very, very complimentary (at least to his values) to him.
The values he says are his highest, and he seems to consistently support throughout the book, are:
- valor
- honesty
- justice
These are reasonable, but do not cover things like:
- human thriving
- peaceful dealings with others
and his views of justice were quite constrained by his understanding of the need for force and what is "due" a whole army which just happens to show up on many, many different peoples' lands, with a request for sustenance, shelter and free passage,... and belief in their honesty and true motives - no small requests, those.
I hope to find a little extra time to review some notes and add some quotations and observations on this fascinating work from about 2500 years ago.
My Kindle advertised another book by Xenophon that I had never heard about before, "Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus" which I took to delve into more on the "Why" would Greek soldiers be so attracted to this leader in Persia as to stake their lives and reputation to travel all the way there to be in his employ. Maybe someday I might follow-up on it. But for now, it is just beyond me why someone would do that.
Oh, and as to the title of the book: "The meaning of ANABASIS is a going or marching up : advance; especially : a military advance." - Interesting that it says "advance" and not "retreat." Spin, not a new concept at all.
I'm not sure how many years it took or men were lost in the journey, but wow, was it a tale of incredible scope and magnitude.
The motivations and circumstances for why this group of about 10K Greek mercenaries happened to go to Persia to fight for Cyrus were not discussed too much in this book. Money, greed, adventure, ostracism from their Greek homeland, proving one's sense of manhood, etc. - all probably played some parts for the members of this group.
I found the narration of the story fascinating, since the book is accredited to Xenophon, but he plays almost no role in the first third or so of the book, just as the narrator, but then he emerges as the leader of the group, but is only acknowledged as a totally separate actor in the story, not as the narrator. Therefore, the motives of Xenophon are suspect, since the story is very, very complimentary (at least to his values) to him.
The values he says are his highest, and he seems to consistently support throughout the book, are:
- valor
- honesty
- justice
These are reasonable, but do not cover things like:
- human thriving
- peaceful dealings with others
and his views of justice were quite constrained by his understanding of the need for force and what is "due" a whole army which just happens to show up on many, many different peoples' lands, with a request for sustenance, shelter and free passage,... and belief in their honesty and true motives - no small requests, those.
I hope to find a little extra time to review some notes and add some quotations and observations on this fascinating work from about 2500 years ago.
My Kindle advertised another book by Xenophon that I had never heard about before, "Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus" which I took to delve into more on the "Why" would Greek soldiers be so attracted to this leader in Persia as to stake their lives and reputation to travel all the way there to be in his employ. Maybe someday I might follow-up on it. But for now, it is just beyond me why someone would do that.
Oh, and as to the title of the book: "The meaning of ANABASIS is a going or marching up : advance; especially : a military advance." - Interesting that it says "advance" and not "retreat." Spin, not a new concept at all.
October 9, 2021
Anabasis (also rendered as The March of the Ten Thousand or The Persian Expedition) is a firsthand account of the Greeks' participation in Cyrus the Younger's revolt against his brother King Artaxerxes II, and their perilous return journey to the Black Sea after Cyrus' death in the Battle of Cunaxa.
Xenophon highlights the myriads of challenges a general faces in leading an army and carrying out a successful campaign. In addition to providing for a large army, commanding their respect and obedience despite his own shortcomings, and motivating them for a common purpose, he has to contend against nature, such as inclement weather and unfamiliar terrain; against his enemies, their guerrilla and attrition warfare; against his own comrades, who attempt to usurp leadership for their own gain to the detriment of the army.
As Xenophon has stated elsewhere, a statesman faces the same type of challenges in governing a nation. Ironically, just as a statesman would be maligned by the fickle public especially during national crisis, Xenophon was persecuted by his soldiers twice, almost to the point of death, after being praised by them for his selfless service and leadership.
Ultimately, I think of Anabasis as an allegory of the journey of life, and the triumphant joy with which the Greeks cry out, "The Sea, The Sea!" awaits us all.
Xenophon highlights the myriads of challenges a general faces in leading an army and carrying out a successful campaign. In addition to providing for a large army, commanding their respect and obedience despite his own shortcomings, and motivating them for a common purpose, he has to contend against nature, such as inclement weather and unfamiliar terrain; against his enemies, their guerrilla and attrition warfare; against his own comrades, who attempt to usurp leadership for their own gain to the detriment of the army.
As Xenophon has stated elsewhere, a statesman faces the same type of challenges in governing a nation. Ironically, just as a statesman would be maligned by the fickle public especially during national crisis, Xenophon was persecuted by his soldiers twice, almost to the point of death, after being praised by them for his selfless service and leadership.
Ultimately, I think of Anabasis as an allegory of the journey of life, and the triumphant joy with which the Greeks cry out, "The Sea, The Sea!" awaits us all.
March 31, 2021
Behind Enemy Lines
30 March 2021
This is one of those books that if you end up studying Ancient Greek, you will read, and in the original language as well. The reason being is that it happens to be written in quite easy Greek, and at least for the first half, it is a rip-roaring adventure about an army of ten thousand Greeks trapped thousands of miles behind enemy lines, and must somehow make their way out again while dealing with tribal warriors, and of course the Persians who are in hot pursuit. The problem is that Xenophon doesn’t seem to know how to end a story, and after they finally return to Greece, he just waffles on, and on, and on, and it does get rather dull. Yeah, he did that with his history of the Peloponesian war as well.
The story, as historical as a text written back in Ancient Greece can be, is about how the king of Persia died, and because of that a dispute arose between his sons, Cyrus the Younger and Artaxerxes III, as to who was the rightful heir to the throne. Artaxerxes took the throne, so Cyrus went to Anatolia, raised an army, which included a contingent of Greeks of which Xenephon was a part of, and then marched on the capital. The two forces met at Cunaxa where they engaged in battle, and in all intents and purposes Cyrus won – except for one problem – he was killed.
Sure, while Artaxerxes technically lost the battle, considering that he was alive, and Cyrus wasn’t, you could say that he became the winner by default – it is sort of like if you come in second, and the guy in front is disqualified so you end up winning. Or it could even by like the guy from Equatorial Guinea during a swimming event at the 2000 Olympics, where he was coming dead last, but everybody else in the race was disqualified, so despite the fact that it took him ages to actually finish, because he ended up being the only one competing, he still won.
The problem for the Greeks is that Cunaxa is sort of like in the middle of modern day Iraq, or to be more specific, it is pretty much where Basra happens to be located, so yeah, they are sort of a really, really long way from home, and because they happened to turn up with the guy that ended up losing by default, you could sort of say that they really don’t have all that many friends. As such, they need to make their way out of their pretty fast, and the route between Cunaxa and the Black Sea isn’t all that easy either (which is probably a good thing since it means that they aren’t going to be harassed by the Persian cavalry). Remember also that they didn’t have GPS either, which meant that in many cases they were wandering about blindly, and it was probably a stroke of luck that they actually stumbled upon the Black Sea. Sure, they probably knew how to figure out where North was, but that was probably the extent of their navigational abilities.
Anyway, here is a map from Wikipedia to show you the route that they took:
One of the interesting things in this book is the introduction, something that I generally like reading because, well, it gives you a lot of background. For instance, we tend to view the Persians as bad guys, but that is probably because we take a Greco-Roman view of the world (and it is interesting that this dislike of the Middle-East seems to linger even to this day). However, the translator’s suggestion is that Persia was the fore-runner to the Roman Empire, and apparently ruled over the largest percentage of the world’s population of any empire ever. Another interesting thing is that while we mark out the empire on the map, it wasn’t that they controlled all of that area – that would have been impossible to do – rather they controlled the trade routes and the major cities. Okay, many of the tribes paid them tribute, but that was because the Persians have a principle of live and let live (something that the Greeks didn’t have – they were a pretty snobbish, and intolerant lot to be honest with you).
Yeah, this is a pretty entertaining book, or at least the first half is. As I mentioned, Xenophon has an annoying habit of just waffling on after he really should have finished his story, and I personally started losing interest after they reached the Black Sea and made contact with the Greek colonies. Still, I do remember translating this when I studied Ancient Greek back in University (and we didn’t go past the first half either), but as I suggested, pretty much everybody who studies Ancient Greek ends up translating this book.
30 March 2021
This is one of those books that if you end up studying Ancient Greek, you will read, and in the original language as well. The reason being is that it happens to be written in quite easy Greek, and at least for the first half, it is a rip-roaring adventure about an army of ten thousand Greeks trapped thousands of miles behind enemy lines, and must somehow make their way out again while dealing with tribal warriors, and of course the Persians who are in hot pursuit. The problem is that Xenophon doesn’t seem to know how to end a story, and after they finally return to Greece, he just waffles on, and on, and on, and it does get rather dull. Yeah, he did that with his history of the Peloponesian war as well.
The story, as historical as a text written back in Ancient Greece can be, is about how the king of Persia died, and because of that a dispute arose between his sons, Cyrus the Younger and Artaxerxes III, as to who was the rightful heir to the throne. Artaxerxes took the throne, so Cyrus went to Anatolia, raised an army, which included a contingent of Greeks of which Xenephon was a part of, and then marched on the capital. The two forces met at Cunaxa where they engaged in battle, and in all intents and purposes Cyrus won – except for one problem – he was killed.
Sure, while Artaxerxes technically lost the battle, considering that he was alive, and Cyrus wasn’t, you could say that he became the winner by default – it is sort of like if you come in second, and the guy in front is disqualified so you end up winning. Or it could even by like the guy from Equatorial Guinea during a swimming event at the 2000 Olympics, where he was coming dead last, but everybody else in the race was disqualified, so despite the fact that it took him ages to actually finish, because he ended up being the only one competing, he still won.
The problem for the Greeks is that Cunaxa is sort of like in the middle of modern day Iraq, or to be more specific, it is pretty much where Basra happens to be located, so yeah, they are sort of a really, really long way from home, and because they happened to turn up with the guy that ended up losing by default, you could sort of say that they really don’t have all that many friends. As such, they need to make their way out of their pretty fast, and the route between Cunaxa and the Black Sea isn’t all that easy either (which is probably a good thing since it means that they aren’t going to be harassed by the Persian cavalry). Remember also that they didn’t have GPS either, which meant that in many cases they were wandering about blindly, and it was probably a stroke of luck that they actually stumbled upon the Black Sea. Sure, they probably knew how to figure out where North was, but that was probably the extent of their navigational abilities.
Anyway, here is a map from Wikipedia to show you the route that they took:
One of the interesting things in this book is the introduction, something that I generally like reading because, well, it gives you a lot of background. For instance, we tend to view the Persians as bad guys, but that is probably because we take a Greco-Roman view of the world (and it is interesting that this dislike of the Middle-East seems to linger even to this day). However, the translator’s suggestion is that Persia was the fore-runner to the Roman Empire, and apparently ruled over the largest percentage of the world’s population of any empire ever. Another interesting thing is that while we mark out the empire on the map, it wasn’t that they controlled all of that area – that would have been impossible to do – rather they controlled the trade routes and the major cities. Okay, many of the tribes paid them tribute, but that was because the Persians have a principle of live and let live (something that the Greeks didn’t have – they were a pretty snobbish, and intolerant lot to be honest with you).
Yeah, this is a pretty entertaining book, or at least the first half is. As I mentioned, Xenophon has an annoying habit of just waffling on after he really should have finished his story, and I personally started losing interest after they reached the Black Sea and made contact with the Greek colonies. Still, I do remember translating this when I studied Ancient Greek back in University (and we didn’t go past the first half either), but as I suggested, pretty much everybody who studies Ancient Greek ends up translating this book.
August 7, 2018
Come cavolo fai a non dare 5 stelle a Senofonte? Se non come scrittore, almeno come guida nella ritirata dei Diecimila. E, soprattutto, come salvatore della gran parte di uomini allo sbando che altrimenti sarebbero tutti dovuti perire durante l'attraversamento di paesi sconosciuti e ostili. Il titolo completo in realtà è "l'Anabasi di Ciro", il giovane rampollo achemenide che raccolse diecimila e passa mercenari greci per usurpare il trono del fratello Artaserse. Ma la parte più avventurosa e tragica del libro, dopo la battaglia vittoriosa dei greci di Cunassa e la morte di Ciro, dopo l'assassinio a tradimento dello stato maggiore ellenico, è la ritirata dell'esercito mercenario. Ritenuto invincibile dai persiani che limitarono ad azioni di disturbo e non attaccarono se non gli sbandati, sperando che morissero tutti di fame, sete e febbre nelle aride pianure della Mesopotamia, l'esercito dei Diecimila, assottigliandosi sempre più, invece risaliva l'Assiria, il Kurdistan, fino ad entrare nell'Armenia, l'antico Urartu, stato vassallo degli Achemenidi. E' una ritirata in pieno inverno tra le montagne e la neve del'Armenia. I greci vestiti alla leggere patirono le pene dell'inferno. Una scia di morte e di sangue li seguiva. Attaccati, rispondevano e trucidavano le popolazioni montanare, procurandosi il vitto con il saccheggio. Infine l'arrivo al mare, il Ponto Eusino, alle colonie greche amiche, prima di tutte Trapezunte. La salvezza.
In uno studio di Valerio Massimo Manfredi, una pubblicazione del 1986 (che si trova in Jaca Book al prezzo di 50 euri) dal titolo "La strada dei Diecimila. Topografia e geografia dell'Oriente di Senofonte", l'autore che per tre volte fece e studiò il percorso della ritirata, afferma che in realtà Senofonte omise deliberatamente la cronaca di due mesi, molto probabilmente perché sbagliò strada e perse per questo molti dei suoi uomini. Il fatto dovette incidere profondamente il suo animo causandogli forti sensi di colpa, per cui preferì rimuovere. Non biasimeremo certo Senofonte per aver sbagliato un tratto di strada. Ringraziamo invece VMM per la colta delucidazione e continuiamo ad ammirare Senofonte per le sue opere (tutte!, l'Anabasi di Ciro in primis), ma soprattutto per la sua riuscita ritirata, che per un pelo non si risolse in una tragica "ritirata di Russia".
In uno studio di Valerio Massimo Manfredi, una pubblicazione del 1986 (che si trova in Jaca Book al prezzo di 50 euri) dal titolo "La strada dei Diecimila. Topografia e geografia dell'Oriente di Senofonte", l'autore che per tre volte fece e studiò il percorso della ritirata, afferma che in realtà Senofonte omise deliberatamente la cronaca di due mesi, molto probabilmente perché sbagliò strada e perse per questo molti dei suoi uomini. Il fatto dovette incidere profondamente il suo animo causandogli forti sensi di colpa, per cui preferì rimuovere. Non biasimeremo certo Senofonte per aver sbagliato un tratto di strada. Ringraziamo invece VMM per la colta delucidazione e continuiamo ad ammirare Senofonte per le sue opere (tutte!, l'Anabasi di Ciro in primis), ma soprattutto per la sua riuscita ritirata, che per un pelo non si risolse in una tragica "ritirata di Russia".
May 3, 2017
-El antecesor, a su manera, de la crónica y el reportaje.-
Género. Historia (sin serlo exactamente, pero sigan leyendo para que me pueda explicar).
Lo que nos cuenta. Crónica del destino de los soldados mercenarios de la Antigua Grecia que, bajo mando del aspirante al trono persa Ciro el Joven e incluyendo a Jenofonte entre los efectivos de unos diez mil hombres, fueron a luchar a Asia contra Artajerjes II y que, tras ganar la batalla decisiva de Cunaxa, se descubren aislados a 4.000 kilómetros de sus hogares y sin demasiadas opciones favorables al morir su líder en el combate.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Historia (sin serlo exactamente, pero sigan leyendo para que me pueda explicar).
Lo que nos cuenta. Crónica del destino de los soldados mercenarios de la Antigua Grecia que, bajo mando del aspirante al trono persa Ciro el Joven e incluyendo a Jenofonte entre los efectivos de unos diez mil hombres, fueron a luchar a Asia contra Artajerjes II y que, tras ganar la batalla decisiva de Cunaxa, se descubren aislados a 4.000 kilómetros de sus hogares y sin demasiadas opciones favorables al morir su líder en el combate.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Read
June 26, 2023Actually read this in another Dutch translation (that of De Pauw and Clerckx, 1943!).
Very clear, lively style, very pleasant to read; careful use of speeches, special attention to military aspects, individuals acting strongly, no gods involved; subdued drama, cult of personality especially around his own person (he portrays himself as an excellent strategist, fine diplomat, artful speaker, gently modest, religious); the army is represented as an autonomous body with whims and wishes that constantly needs to be appeased and convinced. Clearly an apology.
Very clear, lively style, very pleasant to read; careful use of speeches, special attention to military aspects, individuals acting strongly, no gods involved; subdued drama, cult of personality especially around his own person (he portrays himself as an excellent strategist, fine diplomat, artful speaker, gently modest, religious); the army is represented as an autonomous body with whims and wishes that constantly needs to be appeased and convinced. Clearly an apology.
August 18, 2021
Persons reading Xenophon’s The Persian Expedition for epic battle action will get epic battle action. But there is much, much more for the careful reader in Xenophon’s account of how he led ten thousand mercenaries across Asia Minor and back to their Greek home.
First, a word about the title. Many readers, particularly those who are familiar with classical history and culture, will probably know this book as the Anabasis. Okay, so the Iliad is the story of the war at Ilium (or Troy), while the Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ long voyage home from that war; now, what in heaven's name is an Anabasis? The term translates roughly as “The March Up Country,” and I have seen the book published under that title; but as a title, The Persian Expedition is nothing if not accurate.
And a hell of an expedition it was. In 401 B.C., Xenophon, a young nobleman of Athens, was among the leaders of 10,000 soldiers who were looking for new employment after Athens' devastating defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars three years earlier. Having once been soldiers who fought for their country, these Athenians had turned mercenaries, and were, perhaps not too wisely, allowing themselves to become incorporated into the power politics of the Persian Empire.
The Athenian mercenaries’ employer, Cyrus the Younger, sought to depose his brother, the emperor Artaxerxes, and take Artaxerxes' place upon the Persian throne. But Cyrus’ plans went permanently and irrevocably awry at the battle of Cunaxa. The good news, from the Athenians' point of view, was that Cyrus' army won the battle; the bad news was that Cyrus himself was killed, rendering the entire war effort moot.
Xenophon, just 29 years old at the time, found himself leading an army of newly unemployed mercenaries, with hundreds of miles of hostile territory to cross before they could get home to Greece. After thwarting treacherous attempts at betrayal by the Persian leader Tissaphernes, Xenophon persuaded his fellow Greeks that they could make the march – “Whoever wants to see his own people again must remember to be a brave soldier: that is the only way of doing it. Whoever wants to keep alive must aim at victory” (p. 156) – and their long march to the sea began.
Their march involved arduous treks through bitterly cold mountain passes – “Soldiers who had lost the use of their eyes through snow-blindness or whose toes had dropped off from frostbite were left behind” (p. 197) – as well as battles with a great many tribal nations of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), all of whose customs, weapons, and battle tactics Xenophon describes in detail.
Xenophon writes in a direct, no-nonsense, soldierly style. Readers who savor the playful dialogues of Plato, or the intellectual intricacy of Aristotle’s orderly setting-forth of philosophical concepts, will find that Xenophon has no time for any of that sort of thing. His is a story of survival, and the style complements the story. The tone and style of the Anabasis reminded me of Julius Caesar’s Commentaries; reading of the Ten Thousand and the March to the Sea was, for me, much like reading about the conquest of Gaul, or the civil war with Pompey – bracingly uncomplicated. And, like Caesar, Xenophon knew that writing about oneself in the third person can make it seem quite objective when one is talking about one’s own good ideas and well-thought-out actions.
The direct and uncomplicated style of The March Up Country is no doubt part of the reason why, as George Cawkwell of University College Oxford points out in a helpful foreword, it was a staple of the classical education of many and many an English schoolchild. In classrooms from Exeter to London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, young people looked forward to translating this sentence: “So Xenophon mounted his horse and, taking Lycus and the cavalry with him, rode forward to give support, and, quite soon, they heard the soldiers shouting out ‘The sea! The sea!’ and passing the word down the column” (p. 211).
"Θάλαττα! θάλαττα!" "Thalatta! Thalatta!" "The sea! The sea!" One would think that dramatic moment would be the end of the story.
It wasn’t, of course. When “The Greeks Catch Sight of the Sea” (the title of that chapter), there are still 140 pages of The Persian Expedition to go. Xenophon and his men are in Greek territory at that point, to be sure – among Greek-speaking people who share their language and culture. But they are 10,000 mercenaries, soldiers who fight for money – men who want something to eat and drink, and are no doubt also interested in finding, shall we say, companionship. Is it any wonder if the people of Black Sea city-states like Trapezus and Sinope are generally eager to send the Greeks on their way?
The modern applicability of the Anabasis is considerable. For example, as many students of the American Civil War know, Union General William T. Sherman was an avid reader of classical literature. It is intriguing to wonder if Sherman’s own 1864 march across hostile Confederate territory – 250 miles, from Atlanta to the sea – may have been inspired by a reading of Xenophon.
And if you’ve seen Walter Hill’s cult-film classic The Warriors (1979) - the saga of a New York City street gang that must fight its way through hostile urban territory, past a variety of rival gangs (each with its own wildly stylized uniforms and weapons), in a long struggle to get back safely to the gang's oceanside turf at Coney Island - then you’ve seen a film whose original inspiration, The March Up Country, was written 2400 years ago.
With a helpful map that enables one to follow the entire long journey of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand, this Penguin Books edition of The Persian Expedition is a great addition for the libraries of classicists and armchair adventurers alike.
First, a word about the title. Many readers, particularly those who are familiar with classical history and culture, will probably know this book as the Anabasis. Okay, so the Iliad is the story of the war at Ilium (or Troy), while the Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ long voyage home from that war; now, what in heaven's name is an Anabasis? The term translates roughly as “The March Up Country,” and I have seen the book published under that title; but as a title, The Persian Expedition is nothing if not accurate.
And a hell of an expedition it was. In 401 B.C., Xenophon, a young nobleman of Athens, was among the leaders of 10,000 soldiers who were looking for new employment after Athens' devastating defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars three years earlier. Having once been soldiers who fought for their country, these Athenians had turned mercenaries, and were, perhaps not too wisely, allowing themselves to become incorporated into the power politics of the Persian Empire.
The Athenian mercenaries’ employer, Cyrus the Younger, sought to depose his brother, the emperor Artaxerxes, and take Artaxerxes' place upon the Persian throne. But Cyrus’ plans went permanently and irrevocably awry at the battle of Cunaxa. The good news, from the Athenians' point of view, was that Cyrus' army won the battle; the bad news was that Cyrus himself was killed, rendering the entire war effort moot.
Xenophon, just 29 years old at the time, found himself leading an army of newly unemployed mercenaries, with hundreds of miles of hostile territory to cross before they could get home to Greece. After thwarting treacherous attempts at betrayal by the Persian leader Tissaphernes, Xenophon persuaded his fellow Greeks that they could make the march – “Whoever wants to see his own people again must remember to be a brave soldier: that is the only way of doing it. Whoever wants to keep alive must aim at victory” (p. 156) – and their long march to the sea began.
Their march involved arduous treks through bitterly cold mountain passes – “Soldiers who had lost the use of their eyes through snow-blindness or whose toes had dropped off from frostbite were left behind” (p. 197) – as well as battles with a great many tribal nations of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), all of whose customs, weapons, and battle tactics Xenophon describes in detail.
Xenophon writes in a direct, no-nonsense, soldierly style. Readers who savor the playful dialogues of Plato, or the intellectual intricacy of Aristotle’s orderly setting-forth of philosophical concepts, will find that Xenophon has no time for any of that sort of thing. His is a story of survival, and the style complements the story. The tone and style of the Anabasis reminded me of Julius Caesar’s Commentaries; reading of the Ten Thousand and the March to the Sea was, for me, much like reading about the conquest of Gaul, or the civil war with Pompey – bracingly uncomplicated. And, like Caesar, Xenophon knew that writing about oneself in the third person can make it seem quite objective when one is talking about one’s own good ideas and well-thought-out actions.
The direct and uncomplicated style of The March Up Country is no doubt part of the reason why, as George Cawkwell of University College Oxford points out in a helpful foreword, it was a staple of the classical education of many and many an English schoolchild. In classrooms from Exeter to London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, young people looked forward to translating this sentence: “So Xenophon mounted his horse and, taking Lycus and the cavalry with him, rode forward to give support, and, quite soon, they heard the soldiers shouting out ‘The sea! The sea!’ and passing the word down the column” (p. 211).
"Θάλαττα! θάλαττα!" "Thalatta! Thalatta!" "The sea! The sea!" One would think that dramatic moment would be the end of the story.
It wasn’t, of course. When “The Greeks Catch Sight of the Sea” (the title of that chapter), there are still 140 pages of The Persian Expedition to go. Xenophon and his men are in Greek territory at that point, to be sure – among Greek-speaking people who share their language and culture. But they are 10,000 mercenaries, soldiers who fight for money – men who want something to eat and drink, and are no doubt also interested in finding, shall we say, companionship. Is it any wonder if the people of Black Sea city-states like Trapezus and Sinope are generally eager to send the Greeks on their way?
The modern applicability of the Anabasis is considerable. For example, as many students of the American Civil War know, Union General William T. Sherman was an avid reader of classical literature. It is intriguing to wonder if Sherman’s own 1864 march across hostile Confederate territory – 250 miles, from Atlanta to the sea – may have been inspired by a reading of Xenophon.
And if you’ve seen Walter Hill’s cult-film classic The Warriors (1979) - the saga of a New York City street gang that must fight its way through hostile urban territory, past a variety of rival gangs (each with its own wildly stylized uniforms and weapons), in a long struggle to get back safely to the gang's oceanside turf at Coney Island - then you’ve seen a film whose original inspiration, The March Up Country, was written 2400 years ago.
With a helpful map that enables one to follow the entire long journey of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand, this Penguin Books edition of The Persian Expedition is a great addition for the libraries of classicists and armchair adventurers alike.
June 10, 2020
Zor okudum, bunun nedeni çeviriden mi yazış stilinden mi emin değilim. İş Bankası'ndan da çevirisi olduğunu fark etmeden bu versiyonu almış bulundum. Mitolojikten çok savaş sanatı hakkında bir kitap olduğu için de çok ısınamamış olabilirim. Sefere çıkan büyük ordunun geri dönüşü ve geri dönüşündeki olayları anlatan bir kitap. Ksenophon temel olarak kendini anlatmış sanıyorum, kendisi asker olmasının yanında tarihçi ve felsefeci de.
December 29, 2015
A modern re-titling could be "The Adventures of Xenophon." I've given this 5 stars because the book is unique. It tells the autobiographical tale of Xenophon, then a twenty-something Athenian, student of Socrates, who joined a grand military campaign of Cyrus, son of Darius. Keeping his intentions secret from his ever-growing body of troops, Cyrus's goal is to de-throne his brother, Artaxerxes II, King of Persia. As Cyrus and his army traverse vast territory and engage in various military exploits, the would-be usurper still manages to keep his intentions secret from his troops. Finally, once they're "deep in" over a long haul of marching and pillaging, the true intent of Cyrus becomes clear.
The Persian satrap Tissaphernes has long suspected Cyrus's intentions and warns Artaxerxes. Accordingly, provisions have been made to thwart Cyrus. The rout is spectacular, Cyrus is killed, the troops are scattered. Leading the Hellenes to safety over many treacherous miles and through remarkably varied territory (snowy mountains, desert plains, etc.) falls in large part to the young Athenian Xenophon. This is the long retreat.
This book is part travelogue: throughout their long trip home they encounter a variety of cultures, including "the most barbaric and outlandish of people" who entertained visitors with exhibitions of their "fatted children" covered in tattoos, "fed up on boiled chestnuts until they were as white as white can be." We read about the food and drink of various peoples: one group keeps "slices of dolphin . . . in narrow-necked jars, all properly salted and pickled." Near the end of the book, Xenophon's soldiers suffer frostbite after encountering a sudden onset of cold and are said to then understand why the Thracian soldiers wore long garments into war and fox fur caps that covered their ears. And so on.
Three-quarters of the way in the book I began to tire of the military strategy details (if you can find a version of this book with maps and diagrams for the battles, I'd recommend that). The biggest takeaway is the wisdom of young Xenophon in successfully meeting incredible challenges, including, towards the end of the book, the attempted mutiny of some of his men who wrongly accuse him and seek his death. Highly observant, Xenophon is always ahead of those scheming against him.
Xenophon finally completes his journey, and is so poor he is forced to sell his prized horse. That's before a dramatic turn of events, which I'll leave to the reader to discover. (Mini-spoiler: Xenophon gets his horse back).
The Persian satrap Tissaphernes has long suspected Cyrus's intentions and warns Artaxerxes. Accordingly, provisions have been made to thwart Cyrus. The rout is spectacular, Cyrus is killed, the troops are scattered. Leading the Hellenes to safety over many treacherous miles and through remarkably varied territory (snowy mountains, desert plains, etc.) falls in large part to the young Athenian Xenophon. This is the long retreat.
This book is part travelogue: throughout their long trip home they encounter a variety of cultures, including "the most barbaric and outlandish of people" who entertained visitors with exhibitions of their "fatted children" covered in tattoos, "fed up on boiled chestnuts until they were as white as white can be." We read about the food and drink of various peoples: one group keeps "slices of dolphin . . . in narrow-necked jars, all properly salted and pickled." Near the end of the book, Xenophon's soldiers suffer frostbite after encountering a sudden onset of cold and are said to then understand why the Thracian soldiers wore long garments into war and fox fur caps that covered their ears. And so on.
Three-quarters of the way in the book I began to tire of the military strategy details (if you can find a version of this book with maps and diagrams for the battles, I'd recommend that). The biggest takeaway is the wisdom of young Xenophon in successfully meeting incredible challenges, including, towards the end of the book, the attempted mutiny of some of his men who wrongly accuse him and seek his death. Highly observant, Xenophon is always ahead of those scheming against him.
Xenophon finally completes his journey, and is so poor he is forced to sell his prized horse. That's before a dramatic turn of events, which I'll leave to the reader to discover. (Mini-spoiler: Xenophon gets his horse back).
October 29, 2011
I figured it was about time that I finally read Xenophon's "Anabasis." When I was in HS, students studying Greek either learned enough Greek to do some Homer, more challenging, but more fun, or Xenophon, who has a limited vocabulary, focus and a plain style which makes him good for people learing basic Attic Greek.
That said, I would have to class this with Caesar's "Gallic Wars," which do the same for Latin (as a Latin student, I was prepped to read Caesar). For Caesar, the choice of a limited vocabulary and plain style was a rhetorical one. By casting his commentaries on the war in a plain style, he cast himself as a plain, no-nonsense kind of guy, not interested in big words and a florid style, but in stating the facts. Of course, this "no-spin" style of Caesar allowed him to cover up what could be considered in Rome as crimes. Caesar also was a proponent of trimming the Latin language towards plainness, and there was a philosophical debate on rhetoric going on at that time. Ultimately Caesar lost that fight (the middle style of Cicero and the Asiatic style of Seneca and later authors won the day).
I'm not sure what Xenophon's purpose was in using this style. It may hide all sorts of embarrassment -- Xenophon was joining with Athens' traditional enemy, Sparta, in going to help Cyrus usurp the Persian throne (the "anabasis" of the title refers to the march up country to Cunaxa where the big battle was fought and where Cyrus and the Greeks lost), and then, in failing to do so. Taking a neutral style, Xenophon hides his own culpability in the expedition. It also tends to downplay his own heroism in extricating the Greeks from a difficult position (hundreds of miles inside enemy territory).
Though there may have been rhetorical reasons for the very plain style, I think that it ends up turning what could be a ripping good yarn into a rather tedious statement. Think of Steven Wright reading the "Gettysburg Address."
There were some exciting moments -- the battle of Cunaxa, e.g. and there are moments that are rather thoughtful (Xenophon's analysis of what made Cyrus a more suitable ruler than Artaxerxes), but I mainly recall, "then we traveled on foot for 50 miles until we came to the river ..." over and over again. I'm glad I read the book (another book off my bucket list), but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not interested in military history.
That said, I would have to class this with Caesar's "Gallic Wars," which do the same for Latin (as a Latin student, I was prepped to read Caesar). For Caesar, the choice of a limited vocabulary and plain style was a rhetorical one. By casting his commentaries on the war in a plain style, he cast himself as a plain, no-nonsense kind of guy, not interested in big words and a florid style, but in stating the facts. Of course, this "no-spin" style of Caesar allowed him to cover up what could be considered in Rome as crimes. Caesar also was a proponent of trimming the Latin language towards plainness, and there was a philosophical debate on rhetoric going on at that time. Ultimately Caesar lost that fight (the middle style of Cicero and the Asiatic style of Seneca and later authors won the day).
I'm not sure what Xenophon's purpose was in using this style. It may hide all sorts of embarrassment -- Xenophon was joining with Athens' traditional enemy, Sparta, in going to help Cyrus usurp the Persian throne (the "anabasis" of the title refers to the march up country to Cunaxa where the big battle was fought and where Cyrus and the Greeks lost), and then, in failing to do so. Taking a neutral style, Xenophon hides his own culpability in the expedition. It also tends to downplay his own heroism in extricating the Greeks from a difficult position (hundreds of miles inside enemy territory).
Though there may have been rhetorical reasons for the very plain style, I think that it ends up turning what could be a ripping good yarn into a rather tedious statement. Think of Steven Wright reading the "Gettysburg Address."
There were some exciting moments -- the battle of Cunaxa, e.g. and there are moments that are rather thoughtful (Xenophon's analysis of what made Cyrus a more suitable ruler than Artaxerxes), but I mainly recall, "then we traveled on foot for 50 miles until we came to the river ..." over and over again. I'm glad I read the book (another book off my bucket list), but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not interested in military history.
August 8, 2022
The greatest adventure story in history
Little, if any proof of Socrates' life exists, reliant as we are on the writings of his two famous pupils: Plato and Xenophon, the former being revered as one of humanity's greatest thinkers, the latter remembered for his march home from Persia, the subject of which concerns this book.
And yet, the Persian expedition, or The Anabasis to give it its proper title, is no mere tale of adventure, a plethora of such tales was readily available in a country (Greece) that had just emerged from the Peloponnesian war. So what elevates this story above those of Xenophon's peers, some of whom accompanied him on this expedition, penning their own versions at a later date.
The Persian expedition goes deeper than a tale of daring do. This tale, this story of a 'marching Republic,' of ten thousand men, can be seen as a direct response to Plato's Republic.
Unable to match Plato's intellectual prowess, many have long suspected that Xenophon drew on a resource that Plato could never hope to match: his experience of life, and particular, his involvement in warfare and adventure, culminating in Xenophon practically inventing the genre of Biography, which we have long taken for granted.
Cossetted as he was at home, Plato never experienced the heat of battle, the burdens of command, encounters with 'barbarian' peoples, or the sheer exultation of safety, culminating in the famous chant of "The Sea! The Sea!"
It is this edge, this experience, that gives the Persian expedition its rich and vivid account of adventure, of warfare, and shines a light on the Greek themselves: their intrigue, their religious piety. At times, the bias can verge on the ridiculous, the sense of hindsight hanging heavily on the page, and yet, Xenophon asks the question that few of his peers would not or could not do: what is it to be Greek? It is this question on self-examination that weighs heavily through the text, a prose Odyssey.
Part adventure, part philosophical discourse, part anthropology. The Persian Expedition, alongside Caesar's commentaries, have rightly been lauded as the high water marks of classical literature.
Little, if any proof of Socrates' life exists, reliant as we are on the writings of his two famous pupils: Plato and Xenophon, the former being revered as one of humanity's greatest thinkers, the latter remembered for his march home from Persia, the subject of which concerns this book.
And yet, the Persian expedition, or The Anabasis to give it its proper title, is no mere tale of adventure, a plethora of such tales was readily available in a country (Greece) that had just emerged from the Peloponnesian war. So what elevates this story above those of Xenophon's peers, some of whom accompanied him on this expedition, penning their own versions at a later date.
The Persian expedition goes deeper than a tale of daring do. This tale, this story of a 'marching Republic,' of ten thousand men, can be seen as a direct response to Plato's Republic.
Unable to match Plato's intellectual prowess, many have long suspected that Xenophon drew on a resource that Plato could never hope to match: his experience of life, and particular, his involvement in warfare and adventure, culminating in Xenophon practically inventing the genre of Biography, which we have long taken for granted.
Cossetted as he was at home, Plato never experienced the heat of battle, the burdens of command, encounters with 'barbarian' peoples, or the sheer exultation of safety, culminating in the famous chant of "The Sea! The Sea!"
It is this edge, this experience, that gives the Persian expedition its rich and vivid account of adventure, of warfare, and shines a light on the Greek themselves: their intrigue, their religious piety. At times, the bias can verge on the ridiculous, the sense of hindsight hanging heavily on the page, and yet, Xenophon asks the question that few of his peers would not or could not do: what is it to be Greek? It is this question on self-examination that weighs heavily through the text, a prose Odyssey.
Part adventure, part philosophical discourse, part anthropology. The Persian Expedition, alongside Caesar's commentaries, have rightly been lauded as the high water marks of classical literature.
May 25, 2019
I've briefly covered my feelings on ancient texts in a prior review of Xenophon's Hellenica. I now most fervidly close the back cover of classics, as goes the histories and biographies, anyway. Maybe I once innocently assumed reading the classics conferred wisdom upon the reader. I certainly no longer feel that way. These texts serve as reminders of the brutality and brevity of human lives in an earlier era. Because of their dubious authenticity, we can't attach much value to their words. In addition, there just ain't much, if any, 'there' there. A shame, for I so, so wished for a large serving of wisdom.
January 19, 2022
Are you often disheartened by the world around us? Do you see almost nothing but enervation and cowardice displayed in public life? Of course you are, and you do, or you’re not paying any attention. But it does not have to be this way. Read, instead of your Twitter feed or the latest regime propaganda, this book—the story of how, four hundred years before Christ, ten thousand Greek soldiers, free men all, through determination and vital energy extracted themselves from the disastrous situation in which they found themselves. You will then perhaps remember that all ages, most of all the current Age of Stupid, come to an end, and you will see what spirit must be reborn to remake the world as it should be.
"Anabasis" is the story of how the Ten Thousand, Greek mercenaries, backed the loser in a Persian succession struggle and, rather than folding their hand when they found themselves friendless in the heart of the mighty Persian empire, cut their way out with spear and sword. The Persian king Darius II died in 405 B.C.; he had two legitimate sons. The elder, Artaxerxes, inherited the throne; the younger, Cyrus, was the favorite of their mother, Parysatis. Artaxerxes, given advice by evil councilors, notably one of his satraps, Tissaphernes, accused Cyrus of plotting to overthrow him. Yet Cyrus avoided execution through the intervention of Parysatis, and Artaxerxes then unwisely allowed Cyrus to return to Anatolia (roughly today’s Turkey, and the western end of the Persian empire), much of which he had been administering while Darius was alive.
“Anabasis” means “the march up-country”; though that march, from Greece to Babylon, was only the beginning of the Greeks’ travels. The author was one of the Ten Thousand, an Athenian: Xenophon, famous for this and for several other books. But he was an Athenian on the outs; he had served the Thirty, the ruthless Athenian oligarchy installed by Sparta after it defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War (ended 404 B.C.), making Sparta for a brief period the hegemon of Greece. The Athenians quickly overthrew the Thirty (though not Spartan domination), and Xenophon was in bad odor in Athens. His being unwelcome in Athens was probably why Xenophon turned mercenary. We should be clear that by writing this work, thirty years after the facts it relates, Xenophon was pushing himself. Why, exactly, is not so clear—maybe some political reason, maybe just egotism. It is lost to us now, as are, for the most part, other narratives about the Ten Thousand known to have existed, which might have given us a different picture.
Xenophon saw himself, it seems, as an applied philosopher. Socrates appears in Anabasis as his advisor; there is debate about their precise relationship, but they knew each other. Xenophon was keenly interested in how a man should rule—one of his other works is the Cyropedia, the Education of Cyrus, an entire book not really about the earlier Cyrus who founded the Persian Empire, but about an idealized ruler using that Cyrus as the frame—generous, wise, brave, and so forth. For example, that Cyrus was said to have slain a bear in single combat; as Michel Pastoureau relates in The Bear, this was a very common trope about rulers in the ancient world, not something that probably actually happened. Regardless, Xenophon’s interest in how men can and should best lead and rule is on full display in Anabasis.
Many Greeks were mercenaries in this period, of Greek empire and no longer under threat from abroad. This was not so long after, but in very different political times from, Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae. In John Hale’s Lords of the Sea, he discusses how, around 450 B.C., Greek mercenaries were hired to fight in an Egyptian civil war (which also involved the Persians). That, in itself, is not surprising or particularly interesting. What caught my imagination was the aside that as the hired hoplites rowed up the Nile, they passed the Pyramids—which were already two thousand years old. That’ll give you a sense of deep history. Along similar lines, the editor of this edition of Anabasis, Shane Brennan, notes how twenty years ago (before George W. Bush, God rot him, arbitrarily and stupidly plunged the Middle East into chaos and death), he traveled the entire path of the Ten Thousand. “Striking features, such as a booming fountain by the roadside in western Turkey, plains as flat as the sea in Syria, and deserted ancient ruins on the banks of the Tigris in Iraq, remained almost exactly as Xenophon saw them 2,500 years ago.” For Americans, for whom anything remaining from two hundred years ago is viewed as very old, this is a hard feeling to capture—but worth trying, because it explains in part how differently other peoples often view the world.
Speaking of the editor, this edition of Anabasis is part of Random House’s Landmark series, which has offered in the past few years several new editions of classic works: Thucydides, Julius Caesar, and so forth. I can’t speak to the quality of the translations, although they seem fine to me, but what really makes these books valuable is the enormous amount of supporting material. This includes copious footnotes, excellent maps, and numerous short essays on related matters. I had, ten years ago, read the Loeb edition of Anabasis; it got the story across, to be sure, but reading a Landmark book takes it to a whole new level—particularly in these uneducated days, when few learn about the Classical world in school, much less read these books, and no mention is made of history in regular conversation.
Back to the main story. Trying to overthrow Artaxerxes was probably the right call for Cyrus. His position would have been forever precarious otherwise. But he needed men; he had some Persian forces, but what he really needed was hardcore professionals—Greek heavy infantry. Persian soldiers may not have been quite as worthless as the Greeks liked to say and think, but the Greeks, armed, trained, and fighting of their own free will, were unparalleled in their effectiveness. Thus, in 401, roughly 10,000 Greeks, from all over Greece, captained by four different generals, were gathered by Cyrus at Sardis, a Greek city somewhat inland of the western coast of Anatolia (not too far from Ephesus, later made permanently famous by Saint Paul). Tissaphernes, still floating around Anatolia, no doubt to keep an eye on Cyrus, immediately ran to Artaxerxes to report that Cyrus had built an army to overthrow him. Nothing daunted, Cyrus began his march up to Babylon. But he did not tell the Greeks what his plan was, and after a few weeks of marching, the men mutinied, saying they had not signed up for what Cyrus was clearly planning (he had told them they would be used in local campaigns).
It is at this point that one of the main themes of Anabasis shows up��that the men of the army had to be repeatedly convinced, in open debate, by their leaders to undertake one course of action or another. “Mutiny” here does not have the same freight or wholly negative connotation it does in a modern army. These were free men—bound, to a large degree, by the collective will of their peers, but free in a way very hard for us, bombarded by decades of Left propaganda, to grasp. These were free men in the sense always recognized before modernity—they had the freedom not of license, but of not being slaves, dependent on the whim of another. This was, to them, the crucial distinction between themselves and the Persians who served the Great King. Thus, if the leaders at any given time were seen as not transparent with the men, or putting their own interests before those of the men, they risked mutiny and either being stoned or put on trial for their life, as happened later more than once to Xenophon.
While certainly democracy is a very stupid political system, it is also true that in relatively small groups, as here, it can work. For it to work, I imagine, the group must be homogenous and share a strong common culture; it probably also helps if there are significant external threats, and it likely only works with men, given the known tendency for women to strive far too much for agreeableness and consensus, fatal flaws in a democratic decision-making process. We have no examples of such democracy today, however; it is probably impossible in the modern world to organize a successful polity with anything remotely approaching actual democracy. Anabasis is sometimes ludicrously recommended as a guide to leadership and management of businesses in the modern world; the idea being, I suppose, that business leaders are running a type of democracy. Aside from that leadership cannot, in any way whatsoever, be taught (rather, inherent leadership talent can be developed, but never created where it does not already exist, and it does not exist in most people), the raw material of most modern businesses is not free men, but atomized serfs, from top to bottom, and Anabasis has nothing to say about how to lead and motivate slaves. In a free country, this book might have lessons beyond war; not in the America of 2022. Perhaps in the America of 2025.
Anyway, in response to the Greeks’ demands, Cyrus dissembled, but promised to pay the men more. The men accepted this; they were there for money, not principle, and throughout the story promises of money were the most effective inducement to action, although the soldiers also responded to more abstract appeals to their pride as free men and Greeks. The men pushed through Anatolia and into Syria, through the Syrian Gates. Then they crossed much of Mesopotamia, around 1,500 miles in total. And then, at the climactic Battle of Cunaxa, near Babylon, Cyrus was killed when he recklessly, or splendidly, charged Artaxerxes.
After the battle, Artaxerxes mopped up and reformed his forces, but the Greeks had actually won all their portion of the fight, and were in perfect order. Thus, Artaxerxes had a problem. He could not defeat the heavily armed and very experienced Greek soldiers in a frontal assault. The Greeks had a problem too—they had no patron, or even friends, and were well over a thousand miles from any Greek city, or anybody likely to support them. Thus, like scorpions in a bottle, the two sides eyed each other for a few days. When the King sent heralds to demand the Greeks surrender their weapons, and thereby gain the good will of the King, Klearchos, the preeminent general, responded: “Well, that’s what you say. What you are to report back for us is that we think that, should it be necessary to be friends with the King, we would be more valuable friends if we had our weapons than if we had surrendered them to someone else; and we think that, should it be necessary to fight a war, we would likewise fight it better if we had our weapons than if we had surrendered them to someone else.” Ha ha. The Greeks had a wry sense of humor; the whole book is full of such pithy, sarcastic responses.
Klearchos then became acknowledged as supreme commander of the Greeks. Xenophon deftly sketches his character—a Spartan, prone to action, often gloomy and harsh, who loved war, but because he was honest and successful was popular with the men. (Such character sketches occur throughout Anabasis, especially as eulogies for the dead, and are alone worth reading the book.) Artaxerxes offered a truce, and to let the Greeks move a little north, to a location with provisions, which the Greeks accepted. Tissaphernes pretended to befriend the Greeks, to act as a go-between, and marched with them. In Xenophon’s telling, Klearchos was hoodwinked by Tissaphernes, in part because he saw no other options for the Greeks, though nor did he trust the Persians. Then Tissaphernes called a meeting of the Greek and Persian leaders—whereupon he seized, and Artaxerxes had executed, all the Greek generals, including Klearchos, and several Greek second-rank leaders.
This would have caused chaos and despair among lesser men, and no doubt there was a lot of uncertainty and fear. At this point, Xenophon, who had been serving apparently as a mid-level officer (probably he was in his late twenties), places himself at the center of the narrative. The men assembled, discussed, debated, and elected new generals, among them Xenophon. He portrays himself as coming to the fore (though he was never the sole leader) largely because he was decisive when the men were uncertain. Waking after a dream (obtaining messages from the gods, whether through dreams or sacrificial divinization, was of supreme importance to the Greeks) he demanded of himself, “From what city am I expecting the general to come to take action here? What age am I waiting to reach? For I shall not grow any older if I hand myself over to the enemy today!”
Xenophon and the other new generals presented plans to the men, and multiple votes were held, both on the overall plan, and on administration and discipline. And off they marched, not back the way they came but north, toward the Black Sea, harassed on all sides by the Persians. Anabasis is remembered not only for its detailed historical narrative, but also for its descriptions of the land and peoples through which the Ten Thousand passed. Xenophon’s keen eye discusses animals, plants, sights, local tribesmen, and much more, making the narrative far more compelling than a simple recitation of facts would be. These descriptions are interlinked with continual battles and skirmishes, where Xenophon relates how the Greeks adopted new tactics, from slingers to the hollow square, in response to attacks. Adaptability was key, and risk taking was necessary every day.
The march wasn’t just a group of men in formation. Glimpses of a variety of camp followers, such as shield bearers and merchants, and including women as paid and unpaid companionship for the men, appear in the narrative. A central concern of the generals was that a market was available for the men to buy food. Sometimes this was provided by locals, usually by arrangement with whoever was in charge, and merchants in the camp acted as middlemen to some degree. Absent a market, the men had to live off the land, which was dangerous and difficult. Thus, it was not merely tactics that mattered, but the broader strategy of how to successfully pass through an area with a non-trivial amount of human baggage.
What most of all got them through was boldness—especially in mountain fighting, which became most of the fighting as they forged their way north. They reached the sea, viewing it from afar, evoking the once-famous cry “Thalassa! Thalassa!” (“The Sea! The Sea!”) It wasn’t over yet; various fights and debates continued, and arrangements were made with Spartan harmosts (powerful agents of the Spartan government tasked with administering Greek colonies) to be paid to fight for Sparta. The survivors (maybe a third had died) fought in a complex struggle near the Greek colony of Byzantium, with and against the Thracians (on the European side of Byzantium)—where, as it happens, the famous Alcibiades had spent time not very long before. And, finally, before they dispersed, most of the Greeks ended up in Pergamum, where Xenophon tells us he made his fortune looting a rich man in a local war.
A fascinating story, and glimpse of a time where everything was different on the surface, yet the core essence of men was much the same. We have largely forgotten this time, and its lessons, because none of this is taught in schools, and nowhere in the popular media or popular entertainment can it be seen, except occasionally in ludicrous distortions. Nor, as I say, are most men free. Still, history is full of men of power who come to the fore as spectacular military leaders in difficult situations—even if sometimes they ultimately are defeated. Aside from obvious examples, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte, we can place George Washington in this category; another, more recent, was Pyotr Wrangel, White leader in the Russian Civil War. It is not fashionable to point out that history is made, very often, by the reified will of unbreakable individual men. But the recurrence of this pattern is inevitable because average men, while they remain men (instead of mutating into soyboys or bugmen) recognize they need leaders. And while they are very loath to serve bad leaders, men are willing to risk all in the service of a certain kind of leader, who can inspire them to accomplish that which they did not know they could accomplish—with, today, the added benefit of making them free men.
Let’s feed this truth into our situation today, and see what our Future Projection Machine tells us. The necessary consequence of this truth is that in any military organization that lacks such a preeminent leader of power, and even worse, lacks any leaders at all who are respected and honored by the men, is incompetent to fight and achieve. This remains true when the odds, on paper, whether by number of soldiers or possession of weapons and technology, appear wildly tilted in favor of such a defective organization. Thus, today’s American military, whose upper ranks are nearly universally regime toadies, effete homosexuals and women and those dominated by them, holding far less than zero respect from nearly all members of the fighting military (as opposed to the email military), is going to lose any actual conflict, just as they lost in Afghanistan, only much worse. That’s bad. But when that happens, what is also the case, but less obvious, and probably good in the long run, is that the result is going to be fracture among the military, because men who actually fight aren’t going to obey orders from those they despise, if there is any other choice—and events will create a choice. Maybe not immediately in the next war, but once we lose, fissures will open that will result in the current wholly illegitimate American regime directing the military to attack Americans. That’s not going to go so well when the men who actually fight have nothing but contempt for those giving the orders. They’ll find someone they don’t have contempt for, and they also won’t have any problem recruiting additional forces, regular and irregular.
This is heartening, but not surprising . . . [review completes as first comment].
"Anabasis" is the story of how the Ten Thousand, Greek mercenaries, backed the loser in a Persian succession struggle and, rather than folding their hand when they found themselves friendless in the heart of the mighty Persian empire, cut their way out with spear and sword. The Persian king Darius II died in 405 B.C.; he had two legitimate sons. The elder, Artaxerxes, inherited the throne; the younger, Cyrus, was the favorite of their mother, Parysatis. Artaxerxes, given advice by evil councilors, notably one of his satraps, Tissaphernes, accused Cyrus of plotting to overthrow him. Yet Cyrus avoided execution through the intervention of Parysatis, and Artaxerxes then unwisely allowed Cyrus to return to Anatolia (roughly today’s Turkey, and the western end of the Persian empire), much of which he had been administering while Darius was alive.
“Anabasis” means “the march up-country”; though that march, from Greece to Babylon, was only the beginning of the Greeks’ travels. The author was one of the Ten Thousand, an Athenian: Xenophon, famous for this and for several other books. But he was an Athenian on the outs; he had served the Thirty, the ruthless Athenian oligarchy installed by Sparta after it defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War (ended 404 B.C.), making Sparta for a brief period the hegemon of Greece. The Athenians quickly overthrew the Thirty (though not Spartan domination), and Xenophon was in bad odor in Athens. His being unwelcome in Athens was probably why Xenophon turned mercenary. We should be clear that by writing this work, thirty years after the facts it relates, Xenophon was pushing himself. Why, exactly, is not so clear—maybe some political reason, maybe just egotism. It is lost to us now, as are, for the most part, other narratives about the Ten Thousand known to have existed, which might have given us a different picture.
Xenophon saw himself, it seems, as an applied philosopher. Socrates appears in Anabasis as his advisor; there is debate about their precise relationship, but they knew each other. Xenophon was keenly interested in how a man should rule—one of his other works is the Cyropedia, the Education of Cyrus, an entire book not really about the earlier Cyrus who founded the Persian Empire, but about an idealized ruler using that Cyrus as the frame—generous, wise, brave, and so forth. For example, that Cyrus was said to have slain a bear in single combat; as Michel Pastoureau relates in The Bear, this was a very common trope about rulers in the ancient world, not something that probably actually happened. Regardless, Xenophon’s interest in how men can and should best lead and rule is on full display in Anabasis.
Many Greeks were mercenaries in this period, of Greek empire and no longer under threat from abroad. This was not so long after, but in very different political times from, Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae. In John Hale’s Lords of the Sea, he discusses how, around 450 B.C., Greek mercenaries were hired to fight in an Egyptian civil war (which also involved the Persians). That, in itself, is not surprising or particularly interesting. What caught my imagination was the aside that as the hired hoplites rowed up the Nile, they passed the Pyramids—which were already two thousand years old. That’ll give you a sense of deep history. Along similar lines, the editor of this edition of Anabasis, Shane Brennan, notes how twenty years ago (before George W. Bush, God rot him, arbitrarily and stupidly plunged the Middle East into chaos and death), he traveled the entire path of the Ten Thousand. “Striking features, such as a booming fountain by the roadside in western Turkey, plains as flat as the sea in Syria, and deserted ancient ruins on the banks of the Tigris in Iraq, remained almost exactly as Xenophon saw them 2,500 years ago.” For Americans, for whom anything remaining from two hundred years ago is viewed as very old, this is a hard feeling to capture—but worth trying, because it explains in part how differently other peoples often view the world.
Speaking of the editor, this edition of Anabasis is part of Random House’s Landmark series, which has offered in the past few years several new editions of classic works: Thucydides, Julius Caesar, and so forth. I can’t speak to the quality of the translations, although they seem fine to me, but what really makes these books valuable is the enormous amount of supporting material. This includes copious footnotes, excellent maps, and numerous short essays on related matters. I had, ten years ago, read the Loeb edition of Anabasis; it got the story across, to be sure, but reading a Landmark book takes it to a whole new level—particularly in these uneducated days, when few learn about the Classical world in school, much less read these books, and no mention is made of history in regular conversation.
Back to the main story. Trying to overthrow Artaxerxes was probably the right call for Cyrus. His position would have been forever precarious otherwise. But he needed men; he had some Persian forces, but what he really needed was hardcore professionals—Greek heavy infantry. Persian soldiers may not have been quite as worthless as the Greeks liked to say and think, but the Greeks, armed, trained, and fighting of their own free will, were unparalleled in their effectiveness. Thus, in 401, roughly 10,000 Greeks, from all over Greece, captained by four different generals, were gathered by Cyrus at Sardis, a Greek city somewhat inland of the western coast of Anatolia (not too far from Ephesus, later made permanently famous by Saint Paul). Tissaphernes, still floating around Anatolia, no doubt to keep an eye on Cyrus, immediately ran to Artaxerxes to report that Cyrus had built an army to overthrow him. Nothing daunted, Cyrus began his march up to Babylon. But he did not tell the Greeks what his plan was, and after a few weeks of marching, the men mutinied, saying they had not signed up for what Cyrus was clearly planning (he had told them they would be used in local campaigns).
It is at this point that one of the main themes of Anabasis shows up��that the men of the army had to be repeatedly convinced, in open debate, by their leaders to undertake one course of action or another. “Mutiny” here does not have the same freight or wholly negative connotation it does in a modern army. These were free men—bound, to a large degree, by the collective will of their peers, but free in a way very hard for us, bombarded by decades of Left propaganda, to grasp. These were free men in the sense always recognized before modernity—they had the freedom not of license, but of not being slaves, dependent on the whim of another. This was, to them, the crucial distinction between themselves and the Persians who served the Great King. Thus, if the leaders at any given time were seen as not transparent with the men, or putting their own interests before those of the men, they risked mutiny and either being stoned or put on trial for their life, as happened later more than once to Xenophon.
While certainly democracy is a very stupid political system, it is also true that in relatively small groups, as here, it can work. For it to work, I imagine, the group must be homogenous and share a strong common culture; it probably also helps if there are significant external threats, and it likely only works with men, given the known tendency for women to strive far too much for agreeableness and consensus, fatal flaws in a democratic decision-making process. We have no examples of such democracy today, however; it is probably impossible in the modern world to organize a successful polity with anything remotely approaching actual democracy. Anabasis is sometimes ludicrously recommended as a guide to leadership and management of businesses in the modern world; the idea being, I suppose, that business leaders are running a type of democracy. Aside from that leadership cannot, in any way whatsoever, be taught (rather, inherent leadership talent can be developed, but never created where it does not already exist, and it does not exist in most people), the raw material of most modern businesses is not free men, but atomized serfs, from top to bottom, and Anabasis has nothing to say about how to lead and motivate slaves. In a free country, this book might have lessons beyond war; not in the America of 2022. Perhaps in the America of 2025.
Anyway, in response to the Greeks’ demands, Cyrus dissembled, but promised to pay the men more. The men accepted this; they were there for money, not principle, and throughout the story promises of money were the most effective inducement to action, although the soldiers also responded to more abstract appeals to their pride as free men and Greeks. The men pushed through Anatolia and into Syria, through the Syrian Gates. Then they crossed much of Mesopotamia, around 1,500 miles in total. And then, at the climactic Battle of Cunaxa, near Babylon, Cyrus was killed when he recklessly, or splendidly, charged Artaxerxes.
After the battle, Artaxerxes mopped up and reformed his forces, but the Greeks had actually won all their portion of the fight, and were in perfect order. Thus, Artaxerxes had a problem. He could not defeat the heavily armed and very experienced Greek soldiers in a frontal assault. The Greeks had a problem too—they had no patron, or even friends, and were well over a thousand miles from any Greek city, or anybody likely to support them. Thus, like scorpions in a bottle, the two sides eyed each other for a few days. When the King sent heralds to demand the Greeks surrender their weapons, and thereby gain the good will of the King, Klearchos, the preeminent general, responded: “Well, that’s what you say. What you are to report back for us is that we think that, should it be necessary to be friends with the King, we would be more valuable friends if we had our weapons than if we had surrendered them to someone else; and we think that, should it be necessary to fight a war, we would likewise fight it better if we had our weapons than if we had surrendered them to someone else.” Ha ha. The Greeks had a wry sense of humor; the whole book is full of such pithy, sarcastic responses.
Klearchos then became acknowledged as supreme commander of the Greeks. Xenophon deftly sketches his character—a Spartan, prone to action, often gloomy and harsh, who loved war, but because he was honest and successful was popular with the men. (Such character sketches occur throughout Anabasis, especially as eulogies for the dead, and are alone worth reading the book.) Artaxerxes offered a truce, and to let the Greeks move a little north, to a location with provisions, which the Greeks accepted. Tissaphernes pretended to befriend the Greeks, to act as a go-between, and marched with them. In Xenophon’s telling, Klearchos was hoodwinked by Tissaphernes, in part because he saw no other options for the Greeks, though nor did he trust the Persians. Then Tissaphernes called a meeting of the Greek and Persian leaders—whereupon he seized, and Artaxerxes had executed, all the Greek generals, including Klearchos, and several Greek second-rank leaders.
This would have caused chaos and despair among lesser men, and no doubt there was a lot of uncertainty and fear. At this point, Xenophon, who had been serving apparently as a mid-level officer (probably he was in his late twenties), places himself at the center of the narrative. The men assembled, discussed, debated, and elected new generals, among them Xenophon. He portrays himself as coming to the fore (though he was never the sole leader) largely because he was decisive when the men were uncertain. Waking after a dream (obtaining messages from the gods, whether through dreams or sacrificial divinization, was of supreme importance to the Greeks) he demanded of himself, “From what city am I expecting the general to come to take action here? What age am I waiting to reach? For I shall not grow any older if I hand myself over to the enemy today!”
Xenophon and the other new generals presented plans to the men, and multiple votes were held, both on the overall plan, and on administration and discipline. And off they marched, not back the way they came but north, toward the Black Sea, harassed on all sides by the Persians. Anabasis is remembered not only for its detailed historical narrative, but also for its descriptions of the land and peoples through which the Ten Thousand passed. Xenophon’s keen eye discusses animals, plants, sights, local tribesmen, and much more, making the narrative far more compelling than a simple recitation of facts would be. These descriptions are interlinked with continual battles and skirmishes, where Xenophon relates how the Greeks adopted new tactics, from slingers to the hollow square, in response to attacks. Adaptability was key, and risk taking was necessary every day.
The march wasn’t just a group of men in formation. Glimpses of a variety of camp followers, such as shield bearers and merchants, and including women as paid and unpaid companionship for the men, appear in the narrative. A central concern of the generals was that a market was available for the men to buy food. Sometimes this was provided by locals, usually by arrangement with whoever was in charge, and merchants in the camp acted as middlemen to some degree. Absent a market, the men had to live off the land, which was dangerous and difficult. Thus, it was not merely tactics that mattered, but the broader strategy of how to successfully pass through an area with a non-trivial amount of human baggage.
What most of all got them through was boldness—especially in mountain fighting, which became most of the fighting as they forged their way north. They reached the sea, viewing it from afar, evoking the once-famous cry “Thalassa! Thalassa!” (“The Sea! The Sea!”) It wasn’t over yet; various fights and debates continued, and arrangements were made with Spartan harmosts (powerful agents of the Spartan government tasked with administering Greek colonies) to be paid to fight for Sparta. The survivors (maybe a third had died) fought in a complex struggle near the Greek colony of Byzantium, with and against the Thracians (on the European side of Byzantium)—where, as it happens, the famous Alcibiades had spent time not very long before. And, finally, before they dispersed, most of the Greeks ended up in Pergamum, where Xenophon tells us he made his fortune looting a rich man in a local war.
A fascinating story, and glimpse of a time where everything was different on the surface, yet the core essence of men was much the same. We have largely forgotten this time, and its lessons, because none of this is taught in schools, and nowhere in the popular media or popular entertainment can it be seen, except occasionally in ludicrous distortions. Nor, as I say, are most men free. Still, history is full of men of power who come to the fore as spectacular military leaders in difficult situations—even if sometimes they ultimately are defeated. Aside from obvious examples, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte, we can place George Washington in this category; another, more recent, was Pyotr Wrangel, White leader in the Russian Civil War. It is not fashionable to point out that history is made, very often, by the reified will of unbreakable individual men. But the recurrence of this pattern is inevitable because average men, while they remain men (instead of mutating into soyboys or bugmen) recognize they need leaders. And while they are very loath to serve bad leaders, men are willing to risk all in the service of a certain kind of leader, who can inspire them to accomplish that which they did not know they could accomplish—with, today, the added benefit of making them free men.
Let’s feed this truth into our situation today, and see what our Future Projection Machine tells us. The necessary consequence of this truth is that in any military organization that lacks such a preeminent leader of power, and even worse, lacks any leaders at all who are respected and honored by the men, is incompetent to fight and achieve. This remains true when the odds, on paper, whether by number of soldiers or possession of weapons and technology, appear wildly tilted in favor of such a defective organization. Thus, today’s American military, whose upper ranks are nearly universally regime toadies, effete homosexuals and women and those dominated by them, holding far less than zero respect from nearly all members of the fighting military (as opposed to the email military), is going to lose any actual conflict, just as they lost in Afghanistan, only much worse. That’s bad. But when that happens, what is also the case, but less obvious, and probably good in the long run, is that the result is going to be fracture among the military, because men who actually fight aren’t going to obey orders from those they despise, if there is any other choice—and events will create a choice. Maybe not immediately in the next war, but once we lose, fissures will open that will result in the current wholly illegitimate American regime directing the military to attack Americans. That’s not going to go so well when the men who actually fight have nothing but contempt for those giving the orders. They’ll find someone they don’t have contempt for, and they also won’t have any problem recruiting additional forces, regular and irregular.
This is heartening, but not surprising . . . [review completes as first comment].
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