Great Battles of the Ancient World | The March of the Ten Thousand (Lecture 14)

Lecture 14: In the summer of 401 B.C., Cyrus, satrap of western Asia and brother of the Great King Artaxerxes, hired 13,000 Greek mercenaries, ostensibly to fight against barbarian raiders on his eastern border. Leading the mercenaries deep into the heartland of Mesopotamia, however, Cyrus revealed his true intentions: to challenge his brother and seize the Persian throne for himself. At the bizarre Battle of Cunaxa, Cyrus’s forces were defeated, but his Greek mercenary force, called the Ten Thousand, stood unconquered in their sector of the field. After their generals were treacherously murdered under a flag of truce, the Ten Thousand elected new leaders and resolved to fight their way back home. We examine this most extraordinary battle and fighting retreat, conducted over 1,500 miles through hostile territory. From a Persian perspective, it carried grave implications for the ability of the Great King’s troops to defeat Greek hoplites, even on their home turf. These implications were to be fully realized, in modified form, by Alexander the Great.

Essential Reading:
Plutarch, Artaxerxes, pp. 1–20.
Xenophon, Anabasis (called The Persian Expedition in the Penguin Classics Series).
Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East, 2.664–73.
Lane Fox, The Long March, especially pp. 154–183 (on the Persian Empire) and pp. 215–242 (on the Ten Thousand as a fighting force).

Supplemental Reading:
Anderson, Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon.
Trundle, Greek Mercenaries.

Lecture 15: https://www.bitchute.com/video/iVzIA1zIdoNe/