The story
of the Ten Thousand, as told in this book (aka the Anabasis), used to
be one of the most commonly taught in British schools, and it’s not
hard to see why. Ten thousand Greek mercenaries are hired by Cyrus,
younger brother of the Persian king Artaxerxes, to defeat his brother
and put Cyrus on the throne. Although the battle of Cunaxa is won by
Cyrus’ forces, Cyrus himself ends up dead.
The
Greeks are a thousand miles from home and surrounded by enemy troops
who vastly outnumber them. Going back the way they came is impossible
because the supply situation, even with Cyrus helping, was
dangerously difficult.
The
Persian Expedition, written by Xenophon (one of the army’s
leaders), is the story of how the army got back to safety. It’s
thought (perhaps along with no longer extant versions by other
writers) to have been the geographical and moral inspiration behind
dreams of invading Persia, which eventually bloomed under Philip II
and Alexander of Macedon.
As well
as fending off some Persian attacks, the army grapples with
unfamiliar territories and peoples, keeping itself fed and watered,
and, perhaps most dangerously, internal political wrangling and the
threat of disintegrating obedience once safety seems to have been
reached.
It is not
in the top rank of classical history. Xenophon lacks the rigour of a
Polybius or Thucydides (although he also tends to avoid eight clause
sentences...), and has a bias similar to Josephus, but not balanced
by the same level of detail and insight. This may be because Xenophon
wrote of the journey decades after it happened.
However,
it is an interesting book. The failure of Persia (to be fair, they
didn’t try as hard as they could’ve) to prevent the Greeks from
leaving led those across the Aegean to believe that moral decay had
made the orientals weak as well as decadent. The army hung together
very well so long as it felt in danger, but as safety seemed at hand,
things started to splinter and there was seemingly little gratitude
to those who had helped lead the men out of the fire.
The innkeeper considers this to be three and a half out of five
pints.
Thaddeus
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