The Long March Home: Survival and Glory in Xenophon’s Anabasis – Editions Rémanence journal

Editions Rémanence book reviews

"Thalatta! Thalatta!" — "The Sea! The Sea!"

Few cries in history echo with as much raw relief and triumph as this one. In Xenophon’s Anabasis (The March of the Ten Thousand), we are given the ultimate true story of survival against impossible odds. It is a narrative that begins with the promise of gold and ends with a desperate struggle for life itself.

Written in clear, soldierly prose, Xenophon recounts the expedition of ten thousand Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger to seize the Persian throne. But when Cyrus is killed in battle and the Greek generals are treacherously murdered, the army finds itself leaderless, deep in enemy territory, and thousands of miles from home. What follows is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told.

A Democracy of Swords

Anabasis is more than a war memoir; it is a study in leadership and resilience. Xenophon, a student of Socrates turned reluctant general, steps forward not to rule, but to guide. We witness a moving spectacle: a wandering army that functions like a moving city-state, debating its decisions and voting on its fate while fighting off Persian arrows and surviving the freezing snows of Armenia.

The landscape itself becomes an antagonist. Xenophon vividly describes the fierce tribes, the bitter cold, and the rugged mountains that stand between the Greeks and their salvation. It is a travelogue of the ancient world, filled with anthropological curiosity even amidst the chaos of retreat.

The Archetype of Adventure

To read Anabasis is to see the blueprint for centuries of literature, from Roman military manuals to modern tales of endurance. It is a testament to the human spirit's refusal to break. When the soldiers finally glimpse the shimmering Black Sea, their joy is not just a plot point—it is a shared catharsis that rings true across two and a half millennia.