Xenophon’s Anabasis: The Persian Expedition, an Ancient Adventure Story

What can we learn by reflecting on Xenophon’s Anabasis, the Persian
Expedition?
The Anabasis is Xenophon’s remarkable eyewitness account of the Greek
mercenary army hired by Cyrus the Younger. Cyrus was challenging his
brother Artaxerxes for the throne of Persia.
Although the Ten Thousand Greek hoplites won the battle militarily, this
win was wasted when a spear ran through their patron Cyrus, killing him
in battle.
Stranded behind enemy lines, the Greek army of Ten Thousand had to
march for many miles and many months through enemy territory before
they reached the Greek colonies on the shores of the Black Sea.

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint
script we uploaded to SlideShare.

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The historian Will Durant summarizes this
March of the Ten Thousand, led by Xenophon,
“was one of the greatest adventures in human
history. We are amazed at the inexhaustible
courage of these Greeks, fighting their way on
foot, day by day for five months, thorough two
thousand miles of enemy country, across hot
and foodless plains, and over perilous mountain
passes covered with eight feet of snow, while
armies and guerrilla bands attacked them in the
rear and in front and on either flank, and
hostile natives used every device to kill them,
or mislead them, or bar their way.”
Xenophon and the 10,000 hail the sea,
The story of the greatest nations, 1900

Cyrus the Younger and Peloponnesian Wars
https://youtu.be/b7QLp1HrOMs

We first meet Prince Cyrus the Younger, second in
line for the throne, and the Persian satraps
Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus during Xenophon’s
account of the latter stages of the Peloponnesian
Wars. After Alcibiades burned his bridges at Athens
and Sparta, he befriended Tissaphernes, the Persian
satrap.

Cyrus the Younger and Peloponnesian Wars
https://youtu.be/b7QLp1HrOMs
Plutarch tells us how Alcibiades “set
about maligning and defaming the
Spartans to Tissaphernes. He did not
want the Persians to be too ready to
help the Spartans and thereby destroy
the Athenians but preferred to let
them have a miserly amount of
support,” so “both sides would exhaust
each other and fall into the Persian
king’s hands. Tissaphernes was easily
convinced by this.”

This Persian policy changed when the King of Persia, King
Darius II, sent his younger son, Cyrus the Younger, to
administer the Ionian provinces of Lydia, Greater Phrygia,
and Cappadocia; and to assist the Spartans in their war
efforts. Professor Kenneth Harl of the Teaching Company
comments that the Spartan commander Lysander and
Cyrus had an excellent working relationship, that Cyrus
respected the competency of Lysander, and saw in
Lysander a Spartan leader who could win battles when
fighting the Athenians.

-
Xenophon remembers,
“Lysander went inland to
visit Cyrus, and took with
him the ambassadors from
Sparta. They lost no time
in telling Cyrus how badly,
in their opinion,
Tissaphernes had behaved,
and they begged him to
take a really serious and
energetic part in the war.”
Encounter between, L-R, Cyrus the Younger, a satrap, and Spartan
general Lysander in Sardis, by Francesco Antonio Grue, 1600's

-
Xenophon continues, “‘That,’
said Cyrus, ‘is exactly what my
father, the king, has asked me
to do and that is what I mean
to do myself. I shall do all that
I can.’ He told them that he
had brought five hundred
talents with him. If that was
not enough, he said, he would
use his own money,” “and if
that also ran out, he would
break up his throne of silver
and gold on which he sat.”
Encounter between, L-R, Cyrus the Younger, a satrap, and Spartan
general Lysander in Sardis, by Francesco Antonio Grue, 1600's

In return for his funding that enabled the Spartans to win
the Peloponnesian Wars, Prince Cyrus asked for Sparta’s
assistance in challenging his brother Artaxerxes for the
throne on the death of their father, King Xerxes. Plutarch
tells us that “Cyrus wrote to the Lacedaemonians, or
Spartans, bidding them to assist him with men,” he would
supply horses and chariots. Although most of the hoplites
were from Sparta, many Greeks from other city-states
joined the mercenary army also, including the Athenian
Xenophon.

King Artaxerxes is Suspicious of Cyrus
Plutarch states that
“Cyrus, from his earliest
youth, showed
something of a
headstrong and
vehement character;
Artaxerxes, on the other
hand, was gentler in
everything, and was
more yielding.”
Artaxerxes was the
eldest son of King Darius
II and Queen Parysatis.
Although Cyrus was the
second born, he was the
favorite of the queen.

Xenophon tells us, “After Darius’ death and
Artaxerxes’ ascension to the throne,
Tissaphernes accused Cyrus, to his brother’s
face, of plotting to kill Artaxerxes. The king
believed this lie, arrested Cyrus, intending to
kill him, but his mother Parysatis interceded
and got him sent back to his province. Cyrus
had been humiliated and had come close to
losing his life, so, once he was back in his
province, he began to make plans; he wanted
never again to be in his brother’s power, and
he wanted, if he could, to rule in his place.”
Perhaps Cyrus had no choice but fight for the
throne as he would likely lose his life after
their mother died.

-
Plutarch tells us that there were
leading Persians who favored
Cyrus, believing that “the times
needed a man of great spirit, an
excellent warrior, and a lover of
his friends, and that the largeness
of their empire absolutely
required a bold and enterprising
prince.” Cyrus felt that his brother
Artaxerxes “was such a coward
and so little like a man, that he
could neither sit on his horse
while hunting, nor sit on his
throne in time of danger.”
Cyrus the Great of Persia, by William Caxton, Polychronicon, 1480

Cyrus and His Army Marches to Babylon
Cyrus the Geat of Persia, from Four Illustrious Rulers of Antiquity, 1590’s

Cyrus started gathering a large army near the west
coast of Asia Minor, raising the suspicions of
Tissaphernes. Although he was quite wealthy,
paying such a large army would challenge any
usurper to the throne. At the beginning of their
journey, Xenophon tells us about Cyrus reviewing
the troops with the Queen of Cilicia.

Route of
Xenophon
and the Ten
Thousand
(red) in the
Achaemenid
Empire. The
satrapy of
Cyrus the
Younger is
delineated in
green.

To impress the Cilician queen, Cyrus asked
that the Greeks hoplite infantry form a
phalanx and march as they would for
battle. “When the trumpet sounded, they
advanced with their weapons leveled.
Soon they were moving faster and faster,
until with a shout the soldiers
spontaneously broke into a run and
charged towards the camp. This terrified
the barbarians,” as Xenophon describes
the Persians. “The Cilician queen fled in
her carriage,” “while the Greeks, hugely
amused, dispersed to their tents.” “Cyrus
was delighted to see how frightened the
barbarians were by the Greeks.”

The further and further the Greeks, and in particular the
Spartans, marched into the interior of Asia, the more
nervous they became. They had thought that they would
be serving in battles in the western provinces controlled by
Cyrus, only the Greek commander knew the true
destination. Cyrus deceived his troops, saying that his
enemy was a fellow satrap, Abrocomas, at the Euphrates
River. Plus, it was clear that Cyrus would not pay for ships
to return any unhappy soldiers back to Greece.

When they reached the Euphrates River, close to
Babylon, the capitol of the Achaemenid Empire,
Cyprus finally disclosed to the Greek generals his true
objective, to overthrow the Great King of Persian, his
brother Artaxerxes II. Cyrus promised a bonus to the
soldiers when they reached Babylon, plus he would
pay them full wages during their travel time back to
Greece, a truly generous offer he could never fulfill.

-
Xenophon discusses military strategy, saying that
“Cyrus’ thinking was that the faster he went, the less
prepared the king would be for battle, and that every
delay would allow the king to assemble a larger
force.”
After a hard three-day march, Cyrus called a meeting
of the Greek generals and commanders, saying, “Men
of Greece, it is not because I am short of barbarian
troops that I have brought you here to fight on my
side, it is because you are, in my opinion, braver and
better than hordes of barbarians.” “Prove yourself
worthy of the freedom you possess. I envy you this
freedom. Why?? I assure you that I would choose
freedom over all my wealth.”
Cyrus the Great, we found only one
painting depicting Cyrus the Younger.

Retreat of the Ten Thousand at the Battle of Cunaxa, by Jean-Adrien Guignet, Louvre, 1854
Cyrus Battles Artaxerxes for Persian Throne
Forces under Cyrus the Younger:
10,400 Greek Hoplite Infantry
2,500 Peltasts, or light Infantry
10,000 Persian soldiers
Persian Forces:
Per Xenophon, 1,2000,000 soldiers
Per scholars: 60,000 Persian soldiers

Xenophon says that before the battle, Cyrus’ army
included 10,400 Greek hoplite infantry, plus 2,500 peltasts,
or Greek light infantry, plus 10,000 Persian troops under
General Ariaeus. Xenophon estimates the Great King’s
army to number 1,200,000 with 200 scythe-bearing
chariots, though scholars estimate in a footnote that there
were 60,000 opposing troops. Alexander the Great would
later win many battles when similarly outnumbered by the
Persians. The satrap Tissaphernes was among the
opposing Persian generals.

Where was the army of the Great King? Xenophon tells us, “Early in the afternoon a
cloud of dust appeared, looking at first like a white cloud in the sky.” “Before long, as the
enemy drew near, there were flashes of bronze and the tips of their spears.”

Heated fighting in Battle of Cunaxa, LIFE, 1901
But although Clearchus had
seen how compact the
enemy’s center was, and
although he had been
informed that the king was
beyond Cyrus’ left wing, for
the king’s troops far
outnumbered Cyrus’
troops.”
Xenophon remembered, “Cyrus ordered Clearchus, the Greek commander, to lead
his men against the center of the enemy formation, because that was where the
king was. ‘If we win there,’ Cyrus said, ‘we’ll have accomplished all we came for.’

Heated fighting in Battle of Cunaxa, LIFE, 1901
“Nevertheless,
Clearchus was
reluctant to open
a gap between the
right wing and the
river, which would
have made him
vulnerable to
being outflanked
on both sides, and
so he told Cyrus
that he would
make sure that
things went well.”

-
Then the Greeks “began to
advance against the enemy” “All
the soldiers cried out their
usual war-cry to Enyalius, god of
war, and began to run,”
“clashing the shafts of their
spears against their shields to
scare the enemy horses. Before
they were within bow-shot, the
barbarians caved in and fled.”
So far, so good, “Cyrus saw that
the Greeks had defeated the
unit opposite them and had set
out in pursuit.”
Battle of Marathon, Georges Rochegrosse 1859

Plutarch tells us, “Clearchus pleaded
with Cyrus before the fight to retire
behind the combatants.” Cyrus replied,
“Would you have me, who aspire to
empire, show myself unworthy of it?”
“But if Cyrus erred in plunging
headlong into battle, ignoring his own
safety, Clearchus was as much to
blame, if not more, in refusing to lead
the Greeks against the main body of
the enemy, where the king stood, and
in keeping his right wing close to the
river, for fear of being surrounded.” “If
he wanted to be safe,” “it would have
been best for him to stay home.”

But this impetuousness in battle helped Alexander
the Great, and Cyrus the Great before him, win the
major battles against their foes. In two major battles,
when Alexander the Great’s contingent charged the
line at King Darius, the Great King fled, breaking the
morale of his troops, leading to his defeats.

A history of the ancient world, for high schools and academies, Alexander the Great is charging at the left, 1904

-
Plutarch relates how this
personal battle between
Cyrus and Artaxerxes could
have gone either way. “Cyrus,
mounted on a noble and
headstrong horse,” charged
with his bodyguards his
brother King Artaxerxes and
his retinue. A javelin was
thrown at Cyrus, “but his coat
of mail stoutly repelled it, and
Cyrus was not wounded;” but
he reeled from the blow.
House of Faun, Battle between Greeks and Persians, Pompeii

Plutarch continues, “Cyrus furiously attacked the
guard of Artaxerxes, wounded the king’s horse,
dismounting him,” he quickly mounted another
horse. “Cyrus, again spurring his horse, struck down
Artaxerxes.” Recovering, the “king struck Cyrus with a
javelin.” This was not fatal, Cyrus pierced with a lance
the breast of the king, penetrating two inches past
his armor, causing Artaxerxes to fall from his horse.
But “Cyrus’ tiara fell from his head, and a young
Persian” “struck a dart into one of his temples near
his eye, so that Cyrus, swooning and senseless, fell
off his horse.” Cyrus was led off the battlefield, but
he soon died.” The head and hand of Cyrus were
paraded through the field at the
Battle of Cunaxa, LIFE, 1901

Eulogy: Comparing Cyrus to Cyrus the Great
Cyrus Hunting Wild Boar by Claude
Audran the Younger, Palace of Versailles

After Cyrus the Younger dies in Xenophon’s Anabasis,
he delivers a eulogy, comparing him to a prior mighty
king, Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire.
Xenophon had written a famous biography of Cyrus
the Great, the Cyropaedia. The two Cyruses were not
direct blood relatives, as King Darius I was not a
direct descendant of Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus Hunting Wild Boar by Claude Audran the Younger, Palace of Versailles
Xenophon lists the many similarities between the two Cyruses. “Of all the
successors of Cyrus the Great, no Persian was a more natural ruler and none
more deserved to rule.” “First, at school he was the best of his generation at
everything. All the sons of Persian noblemen are educated at court.”

Cyrus Hunting Wild Boar by Claude Audran the Younger, Palace of Versailles
Furthermore, “Cyrus was more respectful than any of his peers
and more obedient to his elders, even then his inferiors in rank.”
Obedience is an important martial virtue for Xenophon.

Parthian horseman on display at the Palazzo
Madama, Turin
“Second, Cyrus adored horses
and was particularly good at
handling them.
Third, there was no one who
was keener to learn the
military skills of archery and
javelin, and no one who
practiced them more
assiduously.”

Bear Hunt, by Frans Snyders and Peter Paul Rubens, 1640
Like Cyrus the Great,
“he was not only
fond of hunting,
Cyrus the Younger
also relished the risks
when facing wild
creatures. A she-bear
once charged him,
but he engaged the
creature without
flinching and was
dragged from his
horse,” “in the end
killing the beast.”

(REPEAT) Xenophon says that when he was appointed
satrap of some western provinces, “Cyrus
demonstrated how he valued his personal integrity
when making a treaty or entering into a contract.”
Admittedly, Cyrus’ personal integrity was damaged
when he deceived the Greeks about the reason why
he hired them, not telling them their job was to
overthrow the Great King until they reached the
Euphrates River near Babylon.

Xenophon says that when he was appointed
satrap of some western provinces, “Cyrus
demonstrated how he valued his personal
integrity when making a treaty or entering
into a contract.”
Xenophon says there “was a story of how
Cyrus used to pray to live long enough to
repay with interest both those who had done
him good and those who had injured him.”
But he would also “punish criminals with
unstinting severity, and one could often see,
by the side of the busy roads, people who had
lost feet, hands, or eyes.” Statue of Cyrus the Great in the garden of
the National Museum of Tajikistan

-
Xenophon lists the other qualities of Cyrus that
good monarchs should possess. “Cyrus thought it
essential to make those who wanted to stand out
for their justice wealthier than those who sought
to profit from injustice.” Cyrus was not eager to
plunder, “he never took land away from people
who managed their estates with sufficient
expertise and justice to improve the land and
generate an income from it, but he always added
to what they had.”
Cyrus possessed another virtue valuable for a king.
“There was no one better than Cyrus at looking
after all his friends, as long as they were loyal and
helped him achieve whatever goal he sought.”
Cyrus the Great of Persia

The Greeks Won the Battle, But Cyrus Died
Retreat at the Battle of Cunaxa, by Jean-Adrien Guignet, Louvre, 1854
The Greeks were winning,
Xenophon remembers, “the
enemy was in full flight as
the sun was setting.” “The
Greeks were surprised the
king was nowhere to be
seen.” “They had no idea he
was dead; their best guess
was that either he was
chasing the enemy, or he
had ridden on ahead in
order to occupy some
strategic point.”

After some discussion, they decided to return to camp, only to find the
enemy had stolen their possessions, including their provisions, and food
and drink. They had not time to eat their midday meal, and they would
also do without supper, after fighting all day under the hot sun.
The Greeks did not learn that Cyrus had died until the next morning. But
the immediate concern was simply, What is for breakfast? This was not a
trivial question, yesterday’s breakfast was their last meal, and they had
been engaged in hand-to-hand combat for many hours since then.
Xenophon’s Anabasis discusses two important topics on their trek to the
Greek colonies on the Black Sea. Where will we find our next meals? The
Greeks had ten thousand hungry soldiers. How can we defend ourselves
against the enemies who follow us and whom we meet on the way?

This is perhaps why, in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, Cyrus
the Great never forgot that logistics was key to
winning battles. His soldiers needed ample meals
more than courageous pep-talks to fight well.

https://youtu.be/Y3ULbvPEmik
Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great said, “Bear this maxim before all others,
never put off the collecting of supplies until the day of need.” Then
“you will be free from blame from your soldiers, you will be more
respected,” “your troops will then follow you with greater readiness.”

For breakfast, the men “slaughtered the oxen
and asses they were using as yoke-animals.”
From the battlefield they “collected a great
many light shields and abandoned carts.”
These were fuel for the fires “to boil meat so
they had food for that day.”
The Greeks, at this point, only wanted to
return to Greece. The Persians were reluctant
to attack the Greeks. The Persians sent a
delegation to the Greeks asking them to
“surrender their weapons and go to the
king’s court to see if they might meet with
good fortune there.” After all, the new
Persian king often hired mercenary troops.

-
There was discussion among the
Greeks, but Clearchus told the
Persians, “If we are to be king’s
friends, we’d be worth more as
friends with our weapons in our
hands rather than in someone else’s,
and if we’re to be his enemies, we’d
be more effective enemies with our
weapons in our hands rather than in
someone else’s.” Which is also good
life advice.

In these discussions, the Greeks chose the longer
route home going north, since that route had more
villages and fewer deserts, which meant more
provisions along the way.

Xenophon remembers, “At dawn the next
day, Clearchus ordered the Greeks to arm
themselves and take up the same
positions they had held during the
battle.”
The king’s delegates approached them
about a truce. The Greeks responded, no
breakfast, no truce. “Tell the king,”
Clearchus said, “that we must first fight.
For there is no food for our morning
meal and it would be a bold man indeed
who would negotiate with Greeks about
a truce without having supplied them
with their morning meal.”

The truce was concluded, the Greeks were permitted
to buy supplies to feed their troops, and to take
provisions from villages, if need be, but they agreed
not to molest the villages and to refrain from burning
them. But the Greeks still marched in battle order.
The satrap Tissaphernes then graciously offered to
guide them on their way home, providing them with
continued provisions. The Greeks were in a bind.

Tissaphernes
was Satrap of
Lydia, including
Ionia, under the
Achaemenid
Empire.
Portrait of Tissaphernes (445
BC–395 BC), from his coinage

- The Greeks told the Persians:
“We would rather make our
way home without
harassment, but if anyone
initiates hostilities against us,
we will defend ourselves, with
the help of the gods, to the
best of our ability. However, we
will also do our best to surpass
the generosity of anyone who
takes the lead in helping us.”
Greek hoplite and Persian warrior fighting, on ancient kylix, 400’s BC

The Greeks and Persians traveled north, setting up
separate camps for many weeks. When they crossed
the home province of the queen, Tissaphernes let
them take anything they liked except for slaves out of
spite. Provisions were plentiful.

Tissaphernes Double Crosses the Greeks
Achaemenid satrap Tissaphernes from his coinage.
Clearchus unwisely decides to ease
tensions with Tissaphernes, telling
him, “We Greeks find no evidence
that you are trying to injure us,”
neither do we. Clearchus asks, “Could
we banish this mistrust?” Clearchus
stayed at the Persian camp for the
evening meal, and safely returned to
the Greek camp in the morning with
Tissaphernes’ invitations for a friendly
meal with all the generals.

-
Xenophon remembers, “Some of the
soldiers argued that the commanders and
generals should not all go, and that
Tissaphernes was not to be trusted; but
Clearchus was strongly insistent and
eventually got them to agree that five
generals and twenty company
commanders could go,” with two hundred
soldiers who would buy provisions.
The Persians quickly slaughtered the
soldiers, Xenophon says the generals were
“taken to the king and beheaded,” other
sources say this happened later.
Xenophon, Berlin Museum

Alone, Nicharchus
escaped. “He reached the
Greek camp, holding his
entrails in his hands from
a wound to the guts, and
told them what happened.
The Greeks were terrified,
and they ran to get their
weapons, thinking an
attack on the camp was
imminent.”
But no, Tissaphernes sent
an armed delegation to
argue who was at fault for
the incident!

Socrates Address by Belgian artist Louis Joseph Lebrun, 1867
Socrates Previously Had Warned Xenophon

At this moment of treachery, far behind enemy lines,
Xenophon reflects on how Socrates sought to
dissuade him from embarking on this mercenary
adventure.

-
Xenophon remember that “Socrates thought that
friendship with Cyrus” might be unwise, as the
Athenian officials “believed that Cyrus
wholeheartedly supported the Spartans against the
Athenians” in the last phase of the Peloponnesian
Wars, where Athens was defeated. “Socrates advised
Xenophon to go to Delphi and consult the god about
whether or not he should go.”
Instead, “Xenophon asked Apollo which of the gods
should receive his sacrifices and prayers to ensure
that the journey he had in mind would go honorably
and well, and to guarantee a safe return after a
successfully completed endeavor, and in his response,
Apollo named the gods to who he should sacrifice.”
Priestess
of Delphi
(1891) by
John
Collier,
showing
the Pythia
sitting on a
tripod with
vapor
rising from
a crack in
the earth
beneath
her

It was common practice for a seer to slaughter a
sacrificial animal before an important battle to see if
the entrails revealed whether the gods would send a
good omen. Xenophon, if he received a bad omen
before a battle, would order the slaughter of another
animal, then another one, then another one, until
the gods gave him a good omen.

Sacrifice of pig in ancient Greece, 500 BC, by the Epidromos Painter, Louvre / Bull is led to altar of Athena, 545 BC

Greeks Elect Xenophon To Be Main General

It was evening, Xenophon fell asleep briefly,
“dreaming that the thunder rumbled, and lighting
struck his family home and brilliantly illuminated it
all.” Awakening, he gathered the remaining
commanders, urging them that they must act to
defend themselves. As dire as the circumstances
were, there was a silver lining.

Xenophon exclaimed that when the
“Persians dissolved the truce, they
also dissolved their advantages and
our helplessness. Now these goods
of theirs can be won by whoever
proves themselves braver.” The
Greeks are “hardier and more
courageous.” “If the gods grant us
victory as before, our opponents will
be easier to wound and kill.”
Statue of Xenophon at the Austrian Parliament

-
Xenophon urges them to elect generals and
commanders, because leaders instill discipline, and
“discipline makes for survival, whereas lack of
discipline leads to loss of life.” Xenophon repeats
what he attributed to Cyrus the Great in his
Cyropaedia. “Wars are not won by numbers or
strength. When one side, thanks to the gods,
attacks with more confidence, their foes invariably
give way before them.”
Xenophon continues, “In warfare, those who seek
to stay alive often die cowardly and ignominious
deaths,” “while those who strive for noble deaths in
battle are those who often reach old age.” We must
realize these truths “to instill courage in our men.”

Like Winston Churchill, Chirisophus of
Sparta speaks, “The situation demands
that we show ourselves to be men of
valor. We must not give in, but we must
endeavor to win a glorious victory and
save ourselves if we can; if we cannot, let
us at least meet death with honor, and as
long as we are alive, let us never fall into
the hands of the enemy.” “You see that
our enemies didn’t dare to open
hostilities against us until they had made
prisoners of our generals.”

-
Xenophon then spoke, We must
“be optimistic about our survival.
We have stayed true to the oaths
we swore before the gods, while
our enemies have lied and broken
the truce, in violation of their
oaths.” Thus, “the gods are like to
line up against our enemies and
fight on our side, and the gods are
capable of humbling the strong in
an instant.”
Xenophon, LIFE magazine

Battle of
Marathon,
Georges
Rochegrosse
1859

https://youtu.be/JjNcyLo54ko
Xenophon reminded them of the Battle of Marathon, “when the Persians
invaded in enormous numbers with the intention of obliterating Athens, the
Athenians heroically stood up to them all by themselves and beat them.”

https://youtu.be/cabAkQwHnlk
Xenophon also reminded them how the Greeks defeated the massive
army and naval armada sent by the Persian King Xerxes some years later.

Xenophon, their newly elected
general, concluded, “If you
want to see your families
again, summon up your
courage.” “If you want to
survive, do your best to win,
because it is the winners who
kill and the losers who die;
and if you want to get rich, do
your best to conquer, because
victors not only keep what is
theirs, but also take what
belongs to the losers.”
Xenophon dictating his history, illustration from 'Hutchinson's
History of the Nations', 1915

Xenophon advised, and all agreed, that they travel lighter and
nimbler. The carts and tents were burned, all horses would be
fitted for battle, and all excess baggage was discarded, so they
would have as many men under arms and as few men carrying
baggage as possible.
The Greeks marched in battle formation, in company columns
rather than phalanx squares, defending themselves from attacks
by the Persians, outflanking mountain passes, finding provisions
in the towns they encountered, carrying the wounded with them,
for many miles and many days.

Athenian
mercenary
peltast
supporting an
Achaemenid
knight of
Hellespontine
Phrygia
attacking a
Greek psilos,
Altıkulaç
Sarcophagus,
300's BC

Cyrus Deals With the Reluctant Armenians

The Greeks left the Persians behind them as they
encountered the mountains south of Armenia, where
they encountered the “Carduchians, a belligerent,
mountain-dwelling people who had never submitted
to the Persian King.” Once a large Persian expedition
was wiped out when they invaded their lands.

-
Xenophon remembers, “the Greeks
spent seven days marching through
Carducian territory, there were battles
every single day, and they suffered more
losses than on all the occasions they had
clashed with the king and Tissaphernes
put together.” But then, on the other
side of the river, they saw Armenian
armed horsemen and infantry lined up to
stop them from crossing.
The Anabasis, by Johannes Frederik Engelbert Klooster, 1920

The Greeks stayed in their camp that night, not knowing
what to do. The next morning, a young man came to
Xenophon and told him he saw a forested spot in the river
downstream where locals were able to cross on foot. The
army started crossing, while Xenophon had some forces
feint towards the protected spot of the river. When
sufficient horsemen crossed, they took the high ground
and attacked, and the Armenians pulled back, fearful of
being flanked. There were few casualties during this
crossing.

Views of Botan River, in vicinity of Armenian border

The governor of Western Armenia, Tiribazus, offered a truce to
the Greeks, the Greeks could take whatever provisions they
needed, but they agreed not to burn any houses. Provisions were
plentiful, but after traveling for three days, it started to snow, and
then it snowed heavily. For many days, the Greeks trudged on,
hungry, freezing, with frostbite, with men succumbing to the
cold, with some men finding it difficult to walk. They had to fight
and outflank more enemies on more snowy mountain passes;
luckily, they found provisions in villages, as many in the army
were starving.

King Cyrus the Great interrogating King of Armenia, by Noël Coypel, 1600's.

Finally, when the
Greeks reached a
mountain called
Theches, “a huge cry
went up.” Xenophon
was bringing up the
rear, he remembered
he feared they were
under attack. “The
more men who reached
the front, the louder
the cry became.”
The Greeks Finally Reach the Black Sea
"The Sea! The Sea!” by Bernard Granville Baker, 1901

Xenophon and some cavalry rode up to
the front, “before long they heard the
soldiers shouting:
‘Thalatta! Thalatta! The sea! The sea!”
“When everyone reached the top of
the mountain, they immediately fell
into one another’s arms, even the
generals and the company
commanders, with tears in their eyes.”
Xenophon and the 10,000 hail the sea,
The story of the greatest nations, 1900

The Greeks were not yet halfway to their destination, and the Bosporus
straits were far away, but they were on friendlier territory. Many of the
cities on the shores of the Black Sea were autonomous Greek colonies,
though some regions were barbarian and hostile, but nobody wanted a
force of eight thousand soldiers to linger, as several thousand had
perished in battle or succumbed to the elements. One Spartan
commander sailed home to request cargo ships to ferry them home, but
Xenophon said they could not wait, they were able to find ships for part
of the way, particularly for the wounded and sick, and in some stretches
they marched as before.

Thálatta!
Thálatta!
(Θάλαττα!
θάλαττα!,
"The Sea!
The Sea!").
Trebizond
was the first
Greek city
the Ten
Thousand
reached on
their retreat
from inland
Persia, by
Herman
Vogel,1884

Xenophon urged the army to stick together so they
could all survive. At times they allied themselves with
friendly cities in their disputes with their neighbors.
Halfway across the Black Sea shores, the Greeks had
to battle the army of the Persian satrap Pharnabazus,
whom they defeated.

Battle of Pelusium Between Persians and Egyptians, 343 BC

Agesilaus and
Pharnabazus, by
Edmund Ollier,
1882
Agesilaus is a
Spartan King
after the
Peloponnesian
Wars, as
remembered by
Xenophon in his
History of My
Times.

At Byzantium, then a trading city aligned with Sparta, the Greeks
burst into the city walls. Xenophon convinced them to stand
down and not sack the city regardless of the injustices they had
faced, as it would be foolish to antagonize the Spartans.
Xenophon recalls the many challenges the Greeks faced, the
Greeks’ adventures traveling along the shore of the Black Sea
cover three of the seven books of the Anabasis. Finally, at
Pergamum the remaining Greeks meet the Spartans. Many of the
men join the Spartan army to help fight for the Greeks in Ionia,
while some, including Xenophon, return home to Greece.

When students were taught Greek in high school, the crisp
Greek of Xenophon’s Anabasis, his eyewitness account of
the Persian Expedition, was often one of the first Greek
works they studied. This is one of the ancient world’s most
beloved adventure stories. The Anabasis inspired
Alexander the Great to invade Persia, for if these Ten
Thousand Greek mercenaries could stand down the
Persian Army, marching thousands of miles to the
friendlier Greek colonies of the Black Sea, wasn’t the
Persian Empire ripe for the taking?

Alexander the Great, victorious over Darius at the battle of Gaugamela, by Jacques Courtois, late 1600's

We recommend that you first read Xenophon’s
Cyropaedia, a biography of Cyrus the Great, there are
many parallels between Cyrus the Great and Cyrus
the Younger. Much of the advice that Cyrus offers in
the Cyropaedia was learned by Xenophon when he
led the Greek forces out of the Persian heartland
back to the Greek world.

In our other videos on Xenophon’s, The History of My Times, tells us the
history of the latter Peloponnesian Wars and the history leading up to the
Anabasis.
Why did the Greeks survive this march through the heart of Persia and
beyond? Xenophon was both an excellent leader, and an imaginative
tactician, willing to experiment and adapt standard military strategy, both
offensive and defensive, to the unique situation where a military force
simply needed to survive with minimal casualties while crossing hostile
terrain. We mentioned some of his innovative tactics, if you are
interested in learning more about them, consult Dr Wikipedia, he quotes
many scholars interested in Xenophon’s clever tactics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon)

We also discuss Herodotus and the other Greek
historians in our Book Reviews on Greek History and
Philosophy.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
YouTube Description has links for:
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Xenophon’s Anabasis: The Persian Expedition, an Ancient Adventure Story

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