The Persian Expedition

1949

Brasch PA4495 A6 W872

Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin

In the introduction to his translation, Rex Warner describes Xenophon (c. 431-355 BC) as ‘cool, calculating, brilliant and intensely pious…one of the most fascinating characters of history’. At the beginning of the 4th century Xenophon served as a mercenary for the Persian prince, Cyrus, and along with 10,000 other soldiers, was defeated and stranded far from home. Xenophon’s Anabasis or The Persian Expedition is an account of the journey made by the 10,000, with Xenophon as one of its leaders, across mountains and desert plains back into Greek territory. Writing in a clear and concise style, Xenophon chronicles the daily life and struggles of the ordinary soldier and provided future generations with not only an historical account of ‘one of the most famous marches in history’ but an insight into the mind of a Greek.