Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age [Hardcover]

Robin Waterfield (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674023560 | ISBN-13: 978-0674023567 | Publication Date: November 30, 2006

In The Expedition of Cyrus, the Western world's first eyewitness account of a military campaign, Xenophon told how, in 401 B.C., a band of unruly Greek mercenaries traveled east to fight for the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger in his attempt to wrest the throne of the mighty Persian empire from his brother.

With this first masterpiece of Western military history forming the backbone of his book, Robin Waterfield explores what remains unsaid and assumed in Xenophon's account—much about the gruesome nature of ancient battle and logistics, the lives of Greek and Persian soldiers, and questions of historical, political, and personal context, motivation, and conflicting agendas. The result is a rounded version of the story of Cyrus's ill-fated march and the Greeks' perilous retreat--a nuanced and dramatic perspective on a critical moment in history that may tell us as much about our present-day adventures in the Middle East, site of Cyrus's debacle and the last act of the Golden Age, as it does about the great powers of antiquity in a volatile period of transition.

Just as Xenophon brought the thrilling, appalling expedition to life, Waterfield evokes Xenophon himself as a man of his times—reflecting for all time invaluable truths about warfare, overweaning ambition, the pitfalls of power, and the march of history.

(20090506)

Editorial Reviews

Review

An excellent book. Robin Waterfield writes very well, in a style that is accessible and sophisticated. We are taken into an adrenaline-filled hoplite battle, we discover that owning horses in Xenophon's day was a mark of the super-rich like owning a Ferrari today, we even back away from the bad breath of ancient slaves, and as we view the sea from the Pontic mountains we understand why 'the sea' was virtually an ancient Greek way of saying 'home.'
--Barry Strauss, Cornell University, author of The Trojan War: A New History

Mr. Waterfield, unlike his ancient source, tells the story briskly and vividly. Reading his account of the march is like hearing a record that used to sound like sludge finally set to the right rpm. But Mr. Waterfield...goes easy on his favored Greeks, whom he views as trying to live virtuously in a world that has made it impossible, forgetting somehow that mercenaries like Xenophon's men were the ones who made it impossible. Xenophon had his chance to live virtuously. He had been loosely associated with Socrates and so knew the basic outline of the virtuous life. But Xenophon grew bored and headed east--to present-day Iraq, which has never been a good place to go if you're bored or looking to live virtuously.
--Brendan Boyle (New York Sun )

The Anabasis is a good place to begin understanding the Greek and thus Western way of inventing the East and defining ourselves through contrast, and sometimes conflict, with it. Waterfield's book is a good place to begin understanding the Anabasis. On the armature of Xenophon's narrative Waterfield sculpts a readable, accurate recounting of the Greek march up-country and the retreat after Cunaxa...I wish I had known this book when I read the Anabasis with my students in the fall of 2006. When I read it again in 2007, my students will learn much from Waterfield's accessible introduction.
--Lee T. Pearcy (Bryn Mawr Classical Review )

In Xenophon's Retreat, a superb book, Waterfield starts with the decisive battle, then works backward and forward. His accounts of warfare in the 4th century B.C. raise the hair and turn the stomach. He explores the staggering logistics of moving thousands of men, slaves, concubines and animals, tons of supplies, armor and weapons, over alien territories. His hunches are reasonable and his storytelling gripping.
--John Timpane (Philadelphia Inquirer )

About the Author

Robin Waterfield has recently published a new translation of Xenophon's Anabasis. He is also the author of Athens: A History and has translated works by Euripides, Plutarch, Herodotus, Aristotle,Plato, and
other works by Xenophon.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (November 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674023560
• ISBN-13: 978-0674023567
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way more than just a translation..., February 6, 2008

By 

Greg Spyridis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age (Hardcover)

Though, at its heart, "Xenophon's Retreat" is a summary of "The Expedition of Cyrus" (the first, and one of the most important, military campaign accounts of the ancient world), this book is surprisingly more than just a translation.

Written with a fantastically dry wit by an author who actually retraced the life, and travels, of "The Expedition's" Greek creator, it not only tells the story of Cyrus' ill-fated uprising, but also takes a very reasonable, and enlightening, approach to the ancient Greeks as a people...providing critical background on not only Xenophon (something that was desperately lacking until now), but also the social, economic, and political forces of the world he lived in.

As someone who's read more than my share of military history, I loved the balance it strikes between the technical, the philosophical, and the practical. In particular, I was impressed with the religious and cultural perspectives it provides on history that is so often left to relatively dry statistics. Turns out it's absolutely remarkable how much more sense the military aspects of the ancient world makes once you get a glimpse at the rest of the picture.

All in all, "Xenophon's Retreat" is unlike anything else I've ever read in the field, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Overview of Xenophon's Life and Times, January 23, 2007

By 

G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age (Hardcover)

This book is more than a summary of Xenophon's `The Expedition of Cyrus'. It gives an outline of Xenophon's life in the backdrop of the places and times in which he lived. I found the account of the Cyreans' march to and from Cunaxa, as well as the battle itself, to be particularly gripping. The political shenanigans that are described both before and after the march, to me, seemed less interesting in comparison; however, these descriptions do allow the reader to form a more complete picture of what life was like and the way people reasoned things out in those turbulent times. The writing style is clear and engaging; several black and white photographs complement the text. This book should of particular interest to ancient history buffs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well done!, December 31, 2009

By 

G. Stucco "mr guido" (usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age (Paperback)

Robin Waterfield did a great job in summarizing the historical circumstances that preceded and followed the troublesome return home of a contingent of Greek mercenaries in 400 BC. The journey back home took about a year; it cost the lives of thousands of Greeks, members of their families and slaves who accompanied the warriors. He also wrote a very insightful last chapter on the legacy of the battle of Cunaxa. I recoomend reading this text as well as an accompanying historical fiction (such as Michael Curtis Ford's "The Ten Thousand").