Ten thousand Greek mercenaries march deep into the Persian Empire to put a prince on a throne. He dies in the first battle. Now they are stranded — a thousand miles from home, surrounded by enemies, and their generals have just been murdered at a peace conference. The march out will become the most famous military retreat in history. Xenophon, who was there, tells it as it happened.
Start ReadingA Persian prince hires ten thousand Greek mercenaries for what he calls a minor border campaign. It is a lie. Cyrus is marching to seize the throne from his brother, the Great King. The Greeks begin to suspect the truth as the army plunges deeper into Mesopotamia. At Cunaxa, near Babylon, Cyrus charges his brother and is killed. The Greeks have won their battle. They have also lost everything.
The Greeks stand undefeated but stranded — deep inside an empire that wants them dead. The Persian satrap Tissaphernes offers safe passage. Five Greek generals accept his invitation to a peace conference. None of them come back. The army is leaderless, surrounded, and a thousand miles from the sea.
Out of the wreckage, new leaders emerge. A young Athenian named Xenophon — who came along as a tourist — stands before the demoralised army and tells them they will march home. They elect him general. The retreat begins: northward through hostile territory, with a Persian army shadowing their every step.
The mountains of Armenia in winter. Snow blinds the rearguard. Men freeze in their sleep. Hostile tribesmen roll boulders down from above. Every river crossing is a battle. The Ten Thousand are learning that the land itself is trying to kill them — and that discipline is the only thing between them and annihilation.
The Black Sea coast at last — but reaching it is not the same as reaching home. The army fragments. Some want to found a city, others want to raid. Discipline frays as the men argue over plunder and direction. Xenophon discovers that keeping ten thousand mercenaries alive in the wilderness was easier than keeping them together in civilisation.
The Greeks make landfall at Sinope and Xenophon faces accusations of tyranny from men who owe him their lives. The army splits, reunites, and splits again. Some hire out as mercenaries to local warlords. The dream of marching home as a unified force is dying — killed not by Persians but by the Greeks themselves.
The remnant of the Ten Thousand enters the service of Seuthes, a Thracian prince fighting to reclaim his kingdom. Xenophon discovers that barbarian employers pay even worse than Persian ones. When the Spartan general Thibron finally arrives to take command and lead the survivors to war in Asia, Xenophon hands them over. The march is finished. The legend is just beginning.