Xenophon of Athens was an Athenian military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies of the Achaemenid Empire, the Ten Thousand, that marched on and came close to capturing Babylon in 401 BC. As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior". Xenophon established precedents for many logistical operations, and was among the first to describe flanking maneuvers and feints. Xenophon's Anabasis recounts his adventures with the Ten Thousand while in the service of Cyrus the Younger, Cyrus's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from Artaxerxes II of Persia, and the return of Greek mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the Battle of Cunaxa. Anabasis is a unique first-hand, humble, and self-reflective account of military leader's experience in antiquity. On the topic of campaigns in Asia Minor and in Babylon, Xenophon wrote Cyropaedia outlining both military and political methods used by Cyrus the Great to conquer the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. Anabasis and Cyropaedia inspired Alexander the Great and other Greeks to conquer Babylon and the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC.
Cyrus the Younger was a Persian prince and general, who ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC during a failed battle to oust his elder brother, Artaxerxes II, from the Persian throne.
The Battle of Cunaxa was fought in 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger and his elder brother Arsaces, who had inherited the Persian throne as Artaxerxes II in 404 BC. The great battle of the revolt of Cyrus took place 70 km north of Babylon, at Cunaxa, on the left bank of the Euphrates. The main source is Xenophon, a Greek soldier who participated in the fighting.
Anabasis is the most famous work of the Ancient Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. It narrates the expedition of a large army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger to help him seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II, in 401 BC.
Persian expedition or Persian campaign may refer to:
The Ten Thousand were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Battle of Cunaxa and back to Greece was recorded by Xenophon, one of their leaders, in his work Anabasis.
Selymbria, or Selybria (Σηλυβρία), or Selybrie (Σηλυβρίη), was a town of ancient Thrace on the Propontis, 22 Roman miles east from Perinthus, and 44 Roman miles west from Constantinople, near the southern end of the wall built by Anastasius I Dicorus for the protection of his capital.
Hellenica simply means writings on Greek (Hellenic) subjects. Several histories of 4th-century Greece, written in the mould of Thucydides or straying from it, have borne the conventional Latin title Hellenica. The surviving Hellenica is an important work of the Ancient Greek writer Xenophon and one of the principal sources for the last seven years of the Peloponnesian War not covered by Thucydides, as well as the war's aftermath.
Media is a region of north-western Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Medes. During the Achaemenid period, it comprised present-day Azarbaijan, Iranian Kurdistan and western Tabaristan. As a satrapy under Achaemenid rule, it would eventually encompass a wider region, stretching to southern Dagestan in the north. However, after the wars of Alexander the Great, the northern parts were separated due to the Partition of Babylon and became known as Atropatene, while the remaining region became known as Lesser Media.
Cyaxares II was said to be a king of the Medes whose reign is described by the Greek historian Xenophon. Some theories have equated this figure with the "Darius the Mede" named in the Book of Daniel. He is not mentioned in the histories of Herodotus or Ctesias, and many scholars doubt that he actually existed. The question of his existence impacts on whether the kingdom of the Medes merged peacefully with that of the Persians in about 537 BC, as narrated by Xenophon, or was subjugated in the rebellion of the Persians against Cyrus' grandfather in 559 BC, a date derived from Herodotus (1.214) and almost universally accepted by current scholarship.
Athura, also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BC as a military protectorate state. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its people, without any administrative implication.
Calpe, also Kalpas or Calpas, was a port city of ancient Bithynia in Asia Minor, on the shore of the Black Sea. It was located not far from the mouth of the river Calpas. It was mentioned in Xenophon's Anabasis. Xenophon, who passed through the place on his retreat with the Ten Thousand, describes it as about half way between Byzantium and Heraclea Pontica on a promontory, part which projects into the sea is an abrupt precipice. The neck which connects the promontory with the mainland is only 400 feet (120 m) wide. The port is under the rock to the west, and has a beach; and close to the sea there is a source of fresh water. The place is minutely described by Xenophon. The place is mentioned also by Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Arrian, who places it 210 stadia from the mouth of the Psilis, and Stephanus of Byzantium.
Meno, son of Alexidemus, was an ancient Thessalian political figure. Probably from Pharsalus, he is famous both for the eponymous dialogue written by Plato and his role as one of the generals leading different contingents of Greek mercenaries in Xenophon's Anabasis. In various first hand accounts, including Anabasis, his name appears as Menon.
Ariaeus was a Persian general who fought alongside Cyrus the Younger at the Battle of Cunaxa and later was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes.
Arexion was a seer. He served under Xenophon with the Ten Thousand in the Persian Expedition recorded by Xenophon in his work The Anabasis. He was the presiding soothsayer during this expedition after Silanos from Ambracia deserted the army. As a soothsayer he practiced extispicy, the observance of animal entrails to foresee future events. He is also referred to as Arexion the Arcadian which indicates he was a native of Arcadia, a region in the center of the Peloponnese.
Tim Rood is a British classical scholar, specialising in Greek historiography and reception studies. He is Professor of Greek Literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow and tutor at St Hugh's College, Oxford. His research is principally concerned with the literary techniques of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon.
Cheirisophus was a Spartan general who fought with the Ten Thousand under Cyrus the Younger. Cheirisophus was sent by the Spartan ephors with 700 heavily armed men to aid Cyrus the Younger in his expedition against his brother Artaxerxes in 401 BC. He joined Cyrus on his march at Issus in Cilicia. After the Battle of Cunaxa, Clearchus sent Cheirisophus with a delegation to the Persian general Ariaeus to make an offer of placing him on the Persian throne, an offer which Ariaeus declined.
Tyriaeum or Tyriaion, also spelled Tyraion, was a Roman and Byzantine era civitas in the Roman Province of Pisidia, located ten parasangs from Iconium It was mentioned by Xenophon, and Pliny and Strabo tell us it was between Philomelium (Akshehr) and Laodicea Combusta. It is tentatively identified with ruins near modern Teke Kozağaçi (Turkey) on the road from Antalya to Denizli or near modern Ilgın.
Teuthrania was a town in the western part of ancient Mysia, and the name of its district about the river Caicus, which was believed to be derived from a legendary Mysian king Teuthras. This king is said to have adopted, as his son and successor, Telephus, a son of Heracles; and Eurypylus, the son of Telephus, appears in the Odyssey as the ruler of the Ceteii. The town was situated between Elaea, Pitane, and Atarneus. The nearby towns of Halisarna, Pergamum, and Teuthrania had been given by the Persian king Darius I to the Spartan king Demaratus about the year 486 BCE for his help in the expedition against Greece. Demaratus's descendants continued to rule these cities at the beginning of the 4th century BCE. During the withdrawal of Pergamum from The March of the Ten Thousand, it was attacked by, among others, troops from Halisarna and Teuthrania under command of Procles, son of Demaratus. In the Hellenica, Xenophon relates that Teuthrania, together with Pergamum, Halisarna, Gambrium, Palaegambrium, Myrina and Gryneium were delivered by their rulers to the army that, under the command of the Spartan Thimbron, around the year 399 BCE, had come to the area to try to liberate the Greek colonies from the Persian domain.
Halisarna was a town of ancient Mysia on the north bank of the river Caïcus. The nearby towns of Halisarna, Pergamum, and Teuthrania had been given by the Persian king Darius I to the Spartan king Demaratus about the year 486 BCE for his help in the expedition against Greece. Demaratus's descendants continued to rule these cities at the beginning of the 4th century BCE. During the withdrawal of Pergamum from The March of the Ten Thousand, it was attacked by, among others, troops from Halisarna and Teuthrania under command of Procles, son of Demaratus. In the Hellenica, Xenophon relates that Halisarna, together with Pergamum, Teuthrania, Gambrium, Palaegambrium, Myrina and Gryneium were delivered by their rulers to the army that, under the command of the Spartan Thimbron, around the year 399 BCE, had come to the area to try to liberate the Greek colonies from the Persian domain.
