Robin Waterfield Reflects on Xenophon’s Anabasis in Persia, and Other Greco-Persian Conflicts

"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, and with many of their generals murdered by the treacherous Persians at a banquet, the Greek army of Ten Thousand elected Xenophon as the main general to lead them on their march for many miles and many months through enemy territory before they reached the Greek colonies on the shores of the Black Sea.

The modern historian and translator Robin Waterfield has many interesting insights on this adventure story and the Greco-Persian conflicts that preceded it."