The year is 403 B.C. The Athenian philosopher Xenophon finds himself with an army of Greeks marching to what is now Turkey. Their mission: to aid the Persian pretender Cyrus in a war against his brother Artaxerxes. At a great battle, Cyrus is killed and his army destroyed—except for the Greeks holding his right flank. Xenophon and the Greeks are now stranded in the heart of the Persian Empire, outnumbered a hundred to one. The story of Xenophon's march to escape the Persian noose is an intensely personal and human tale, replete with clashes of arms and desperate hardships. It is also the tale of two civilizations at mortal odds with each other. With their turbulent mix of anarchy and democracy, Xenophon's men resembled a mobile Greek city, cutting both a military and a cultural slash through the Persian Empire. Though Xenophon's journey would end badly, his experience in the East would prove invaluable for those who followed, for sixty years later, the Greeks would return to Persia under Alexander. John Prevas brings this epoch-shaping story to life with a compelling narrative vivified by his personal retracing of much of the route trod by Xenophon and his men in one of history's great adventures.

The famous chronicle of the wealthy Athenian leader Xenophon, brought to life for the modern reader

The Landmark Xenophon’s Anabasis is the definitive edition of the ancient classic—also known as The March of the Ten Thousand or The March Up-Country—which chronicles one of the greatest true-life adventures ever recorded. As Xenophon’s narrative opens, the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger is marshaling an army to usurp the throne from his brother Artaxerxes the King. When Cyrus is killed in battle, ten thousand Greek soldiers he had hired find themselves stranded deep in enemy territory, surrounded by forces of a hostile Persian king. When their top generals are arrested, the Greeks have to elect new leaders, one of whom is Xenophon, a resourceful and courageous Athenian who leads by persuasion and vote. What follows is his vivid account of the Greeks’ harrowing journey through extremes of territory and climate, inhabited by unfriendly tribes who often oppose their passage. Despite formidable obstacles, they navigate their way to the Black Sea coast and make their way back to Greece. This masterful new translation by David Thomas gives color and depth to a story long studied as a classic of military history and practical philosophy. Edited by Shane Brennan and David Thomas, the text is supported with numerous detailed maps, annotations, appendices, and illustrations. The Landmark Xenophon’s Anabasis offers one of the classical Greek world’s seminal tales to readers of all levels.

"With this first masterpiece of Western military history forming the backbone of his book, Robin Waterfield explores what remains unsaid and assumed in Xenophon's account - much about the gruesome nature of ancient battle and logistics, the lives of Greek and Persian soldiers, and questions of historical, political, and personal context, motivation, and conflicting agendas. The result is a rounded version of the story of Cyrus's ill-fated march and the Greeks' perilous retreat - a nuanced and dramatic perspective on a critical moment in history that may tell us as much about our present-day adventures in the Middle East, site of Cyrus's debacle and the last act of the Golden Age, as it does about the great powers of antiquity in a volatile period of transition."--BOOK JACKET.

"First published as an Oxford World's Classics paperback 2005"--Title page verso.

Cyrus, a great Persian leader, was so widely and memorably respected that a hundred years later, Xenophon of Athens wrote this admiring book about the greatest leader of his era. Larry Hedrick's Introduction describes Cyrus and his times. Among his many achievements, this great leader of wisdom and virtue founded and extended the Persian Empire; conquered Babylon; freed 40,000 Jews from captivity; wrote mankind's first human rights charter; and ruled over those he had conquered with respect and benevolence. According to historian Will Durant, Cyrus the Great's military enemies knew that he was lenient, and they did not fight him with that desperate courage which men show when their only choice is "to kill or die." As a result the Iranians regarded him as "The Father," the Babylonians as "The Liberator," the Greeks as the "Law-Giver," and the Jews as the "Anointed of the Lord." By freshening the voice, style and diction of Cyrus, Larry Hedrick has created a more contemporary Cyrus. A new generation of readers, including business executives and managers, military officers, and government officials, can now learn about and benefit from Cyrus the Great's extraordinary achievements, which exceeded all other leaders' throughout antiquity.

This wide-ranging and imaginative book tells the story of how American armies have followed figuratively in the footsteps of the original Anabasis, the Greek march into the interior of Asia made by Xenophon and the Ten Thousand in 400 BC.