And another one: Xenophon's Expedition of Cyrus

The Expedition of Cyrus

Xenophon

I decided to pick this one up for two reasons - first, I was told by my friend Kevin that Greek writer Xenophon wrote about the times of the book of Daniel (actually another Xenophon book - Cyropaedia); then I was told that another book I was reading (the Lost Fleet series) was based on the ‘expedition of the 10,000’ - which is this one, The Expedition of Cyrus… so I just had to read it…

This is the story of a group of Greek mercenaries that agreed to help a Persian prince, named Cyrus to overthrow his older brother - King Artaxerxes II - the current king of the Persian empire, around 400 BC. This is the vast and powerful empire that came to prominence after swallowing up the Babylonian empire under a previous Cyrus, Cyrus the Great, about 140 years earlier. (Well, they were a pretty big deal before that, but became a really big deal then…)

The story starts with Cyrus misleading the Greeks about the true objective - first, he tells them that they’ll be putting down a revolt in Anatolia, but he pays them well, and promises more. By the time Cyrus and the Greeks advance into the middle east, everyone in the army knows that the goal is to fight the Persian king’s army at Babylon. But they all agree, based on Cyrus’ promise of more riches. His reputation and record showed that he was reliable, so that’s why they agreed.

The Persian army was vast, and much larger than Cyrus’ army. Cyrus commanded the 10,000 Greeks (all infantry), as well as a larger number of Persians loyal to Cyrus (20,000+). Artaxerxes’ army numbered about 40,000, but may have been much larger. So they fought at the battle of Cunaxa.

The Greeks on the left put the Persians to flight, which opened up the center somewhat. Cyrus, seeing his brother directly in front of him, brashly attacked and wounded him, but in his reckless eagerness, took a spear to the head, and the battle was over. There was ambiguity concerning the results, though; Artaxerxes insisting that he was the victor, having killed Cyrus, and the Greeks insisting that they won because they dominated the battlefield.

In the end, refusing to surrender, the Greeks marched north to retreat, realizing that they could not go back the way they came (the southern route), because they would starve. They also realized that they would have to endure a fighting retreat no matter which way they went. All this is covered in the first chapter of seven, so the story is really about the retreat.

Artaxerxes’ army hounded the Greeks as they marched north - they had to manage a fighting retreat, while looking for provisions, for a marching army in 400 BC couldn’t carry much food and water (for 10,000 mouths…). The Greek army found that they were at a disadvantage - the enemy always had cavalry, and they didn’t; the enemy always had archers and sling throwers, and they didn’t. So early on in the retreat, they had to muster horses and weapons for archers, and to convert some small amount of infantry to cavalry (about 50) and archers and slingers (about 200). Those numbers couldn’t compare to the enemy, but could and did make a difference in their fighting abilities.

At one point, Artaxerxes asked the Greeks for a truce for the purposes of a conference, inviting the Greek leaders and company commanders. It was a ruse, they were all killed, leaving the Greek army with no leadership. However, the Greeks quickly elected new leaders, and Xenophon became a major player at this time. Before this, he was just along for the ride.

After out-running the Persian army in their northern retreat, the Greeks came upon many different areas with their own armies, loyal to the Persian king. As soon as they were able to win a battle and get on the move, another group would be ready to fight them. No group wanted an army of 10,000 to go through their territory, as that army would have to feed itself on local resources. So the locals always fought. (almost always)

The Greeks suffered from a lack of provisions, hazardous, often mountainous terrain, and winter snows, all while fighting their way north. Attrition played a role, slowly whittling away from the initial 10,000. Making matters worse, internal squabbling always threatened the discipline of the Greek army (an army like the Greeks could fight effectively, and indeed survive only with discipline).

Eventually the Greeks were able to fight their way to the coast of the Black Sea (a.k.a. the Euxine), where there were many Greek colony cities. They shouted “The sea! The sea!!” - thinking that their troubles were over. Alas, they weren’t. It all comes down to the cost of provisioning an army of 10,000 (maybe 8,000 at this point) - whether in enemy territory or in friendly territory.

The journey along the south coast of the Black Sea was no less arduous than the march north - in some ways worse, since discipline started to break down, which affected their ability to get help (in the form of provisions) from what should have been friendly coastal cities. So, often they were forced to march south from the sea to forage (steal) food, which resulted in more fighting, and more attrition - some of it unnecessary. 

In the end, Xenophon gets the army back to where it started in western Anatolia, where a Spartan commander took it over, adding it to his Greek army, to make war on the Persian allies in that region.

While the reader is meant to feel that the Greek army were the protagonists in the narrative (for the most part), one must keep in mind that this was a mercenary army that needed to sustain itself along its whole journey. They were pretty much unwelcome everywhere they went. If you’re interested in ancient history, I would definitely recommend this book.

7/10