Persian Expedition

Great story !!

What a Story! And and adventure!

Awesome to read and experience the thrill of survival while on the run.Great book, must by military readers!

Am still working my way through this book but enjoying it as author has made this historical book readable.

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 the heck 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 mercenaries who were, perhaps not too wisely, allowing themselves to become incorporated into the power politics of the Persian Empire. The 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 – his army won the battle; the bad news – Cyrus himself was killed. The 29-year-old Xenophon was left among the leaders of an army of mercenaries, with hundreds of miles of hostile territory to cross before they could get home to Greece. After dealing with the treachery of 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 schoolboy. In classrooms from Exeter to London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, young lads looked ahead 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). Θαλάσσα! Θαλάσσα! Thalassa! Thalassa! The sea! The sea! One would think that 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 largely 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), with its New York City street gang having to fight its way through hostile 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 their Coney Island turf, 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.