Anabasis (Xenophon)


Anabasis is the most famous book of the Ancient Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The seven books making up the Anabasis were composed circa 370 BC. Anabasis is rendered in translation as The March of the Ten Thousand and as The March Up Country. The narration of the journey is Xenophon's best known work, and "one of the great adventures in human history".

Authorship

Xenophon, in his Hellenica, did not cover the retreat of Cyrus but instead referred the reader to the Anabasis by "Themistogenes of Syracuse"—the tenth-century Suda also describes Anabasis as being the work of Themistogenes, "preserved among the works of Xenophon", in the entry Θεμιστογένεης. Aside from these two references, there is no authority for there being a contemporary Anabasis written by "Themistogenes of Syracuse", and indeed no mention of such a person in any other context.
By the end of the first century, Plutarch had said, in his Glory of the Athenians, that Xenophon had attributed Anabasis to a third party in order to distance himself as a subject, from himself as a writer. While the attribution to Themistogenes has been raised many times, the view of most scholars aligns substantially with that of Plutarch, and certainly that all the volumes are written by Xenophon.

Content

Xenophon accompanied the Ten Thousand, a large army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger, who intended to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at Cunaxa in Babylon, Cyrus was killed, rendering the actions of the Greeks irrelevant and the expedition a failure.
Stranded deep in Persia, the Spartan general Clearchus and the other Greek senior officers were then killed or captured by treachery on the part of the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. Xenophon, one of three remaining leaders elected by the soldiers, played an instrumental role in encouraging the 10,000 to march north across foodless deserts and snow-filled mountain passes, towards the Black Sea and the comparative security of its Greek shoreline cities. Now abandoned in northern Mesopotamia, without supplies other than what they could obtain by force or diplomacy, the 10,000 had to fight their way northwards through Corduene and Armenia, making ad hoc decisions about their leadership, tactics, provender and destiny, while the King's army and hostile natives barred their way and attacked their flanks.
Ultimately this "marching republic" managed to reach the shores of the Black Sea at Trabzon, a destination they greeted with their famous cry of exultation on the mountain of Theches in Hyssos : "Thálatta, thálatta, "The sea, the sea!". "The sea" meant that they were at last among Greek cities but it was not the end of their journey, which included a period fighting for Seuthes II of Thrace and ended with their recruitment into the army of the Spartan general Thibron. Xenophon related this story in Anabasis in a simple and direct manner.
The Greek term referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. While the journey of Cyrus is an anabasis from Ionia on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, to the interior of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, most of Xenophon's narrative is taken up with the return march of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand, from the interior of Babylon to the coast of the Black Sea. Socrates makes a cameo appearance, when Xenophon asks whether he ought to accompany the expedition. The short episode demonstrates the reverence of Socrates for the Oracle of Delphi.
Xenophon's account of the exploit resounded through Greece, where, two generations later, some surmise, it may have inspired Philip of Macedon to believe that a lean and disciplined Hellene army might be relied upon to defeat a Persian army many times its size.
Besides military history, the Anabasis has found use as a tool for the teaching of classical philosophy; the principles of leadership and government exhibited by the army can be seen as exemplifying Socratic philosophy.

Chapter summaries

Book I

Educational use

Traditionally Anabasis is one of the first unabridged texts studied by students of classical Greek, because of its clear and unadorned style; similar to Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico for Latin students. Perhaps not coincidentally, they are both autobiographical tales of military adventure, told in the third person.

Films and literature

Xenophon's book inspired multiple literary and audio-visual works, both non-fiction and fiction.

Non-fiction

Non-fiction books inspired by Anabasis include:
The Anabasis of Alexander, by the Greek historian Arrian, is a history of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, specifically his conquest of the Persian Empire between 334 and 323 BC.
Shane Brennan's memoir In the Tracks of the Ten Thousand: A Journey on Foot through Turkey, Syria and Iraq recounts his 2000 journey to re-trace the steps of the Ten Thousand.

Fiction

The cry of Xenophon's soldiers when they meet the sea is mentioned by the narrator of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, when their expedition discovers an underground ocean. The famous cry also provides the title of Iris Murdoch's Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea, the Sea.
Other fictional works inspired by Anabasis include:
Harold Coyle's novel The Ten Thousand shows the bulk of the US Forces in modern Europe fighting their way across and out of Germany, instead of laying down their weapons, after the Germans steal nuclear weapons that are being removed from Ukraine. The operational concept for the novel was based on Xenophon's account of the Ten Thousand.
Paul Davies' novella Grace: A Story is a fantasy that details the progress of Xenophon's army through Armenia to Trabzon.
Michael Curtis Ford's novel The Ten Thousand is a fictional account of this group's exploits.
Jaroslav Hašek's dark comedy novel, The Good Soldier Švejk, uses the term in describing Švejk's efforts to find his way back to his regiment.
John G. Hemry's The Lost Fleet series is partially inspired by Xenophon's Anabasis.
Paul Kearney's novel The Ten Thousand is loosely based on the historical events, taking place in a fantasy world named Kuf, where 10,000 Macht mercenaries are hired to fight on the behalf of a prince trying to usurp the throne of the Assurian Empire. When he dies in battle, the Macht have to march home overland through hostile territory.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's novel The Lost Army is a fictional account of Xenophon's march with the Ten Thousand.
Michael G. Thomas' series Star Legions is closely based on the work, with the series set far in the future.
Sol Yurick's novel The Warriors borrows characters and events from Anabasis. It was adapted as a 1979 cult film, directed by Walter Hill.
The first three novels of David Weber and John Ringo's science fiction series Empire of Man—March Upcountry, March to the Sea, and March to the Stars —are modeled after Anabasis. In Ringo's stand-alone novel The Last Centurion a Stryker company repeats the March of the Ten Thousand from Iran to the sea.
Conn Iggulden's historic novel The Falcon of Sparta is based extensively on the work.
Historie reveals that Eumenes wanted a copy of the story, but when he got it, it is in ruined library, and easily destroyed.

Editions and translations