Anabasis

Sometimes called The Persian Expedition; a book by Xenophon describing the plight of ten thousand Greek mercenaries who were forced to fight their way from central Persia back to Greek-controlled territory.

After the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) had ended, Greece was awash with career soldiers who became mercenaries for lack of any other marketable skills.

Xenophon was not a soldier but became involved with the army of mercenaries who had been hired by Kyrus (Cyrus) the Younger, the brother of the Persian king, Artaxerxes II.

Kyrus hired the Greek soldiers to augment his army in an attempt to put himself on the throne and depose Artaxerxes; the Greeks fought valiantly and, compared to their Persian counterparts, were superior in all matters of warfare.

After the army had penetrated deep into Persia, Kyrus was killed and the Persian segment of the army was utterly defeated; the Greeks were victorious but, after the death of Kyrus, they had no sponsor, i.e. paymaster, and thus, no incentive to continue the fight.

The victorious Persians demanded that the Greeks disarm and become soldiers of Artaxerxes; the Greeks reasoned that in order to be soldiers, for Artaxerxes or anyone else, they could not surrender their arms; after fruitless negotiations to disarm the Greeks, the Persians agreed to let the Greeks return to the Aegean coast, i.e. Greek territory, unhindered.

The Persians requested that all the high ranking Greek commanders attend the signing of a peace accord and, in an act of unmitigated barbarity, the Persians murdered many of the Greek officers; the remnants of the Greek command staff were mostly officers of mid-rank and not qualified to lead an army but necessity dictated that the Greeks either die fighting or die like sheep.

Xenophon was not a soldier but his rational and successful suggestions soon made him the commander of the Greeks; he earned the respect of the soldiers and officers because he conducted his affairs in an honest and democratic way and was willing to undertake any plan or maneuver that would work, regardless of the source of the idea.

The ten thousand soldiers were reduced to six thousand as fought their way back to Greek territory; the story is true and inspiring and a “must read” for all students of history or anyone with a fascination for the origins of military strategy and the triumph of the human spirit.

The name Anabasis means “up-country” or “going up”; the Greeks used the term as an idiom in the same way we might say “downtown;” Anabasis was the common term for anyone traveling from the Aegean Sea to the center of the Persian Empire.

I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 90 (ISBN 0674991001) translated by Carleton L. Brownson; you can find this book at your local library or it can be ordered through the Book Shop on this site which is linked to Amazon.com.