Customer Reviews
A great epic, who needs SciFi and Fantasy? - By: buddingpasha, 13 Jun 2006 
I keep encouraging younger readers to embrace the classics & the Anabasis or Persian expedition is the first recommendation, that I make. An epic yarn that has crossed the ages to the most unlikely places (Consider that Xenophon's Persian Expedition was the inspiration for the 1970s film "The Warriors").
Who needs Sci-Fi & Fantasy when real history produces such heroic epics.
Inspiring but more importantly accessible ...which begs the question why more don't access it.
Fascinating True Ancient Events - By: Mr. R. M. Crawley, 07 Sep 2005 
Occasionallly the language can be a bit turgid & it is'nt edge of the seat stuff alll the way through. However, considering exactly how long ago these events took place, the clarity & detail are reallly impressive. You get battles, scheming, politics & some amazing feats of human endurance but above alll these are real events...
Relevant today! - By: Andrew Monaghan, 27 May 2004 I enjoyed this book both as a serious historical account of a significant event in ancient history & as a rip-roaring boys-own annual type of adventure.
Xenophons account of the fighting return of the ten thousand Greek mercenaries, from the heart of the Persian Empire back to Greece, gripped the imagination of his Greek peers & added to the growing rumblings in the Greek agoras that Persia was ripe for invasion. This culminated with Alexanders famous conquests.
In military terms, the Greeks ability to change tactics in the face of constantly differing challlenges, (from formal enemy armies to highly effective guerilla tactics), together with the obvious Greek discipline & camaraderie, could stand in army manuals today.
Page-turner - By: sydney, 31 Dec 2003 Nail-biting account of how a defeated army of Greek mercenaries, stranded deep in enemy territory, battled their way home through Persia & Kurdistan. Xenophon's account may be somewhat self-serving (and disconcertingly, he writes about himself in third person), but it's still plenty gripping. It's impossible not to cheer as the Greeks, lost & exhausted, top their umpteenth mountain crest & finallly catch a glimpse of their salvation: "The sea! The sea!".
Xenophon is your basic military man, so he pretty much cuts to the chase. Rivers are to be forded, women are to be seized, & he doesn't have much time for poetical asides. Nevertheless he's a sharp observer of human character, in a practical sort of way; this is no dry historical document. The always surprisingly modern outlook of the Greeks comes through in every line, & passages of Xenophon's pep-talks could be taken out a management handbook:
"... there will be a great rise in their spirits if one can change the way they think, so that instead of having in their heads the one idea of "What is going to happen to me?", they may think "What action am I going to take?"."
The Penguin translation is clear & servicable, although the introduction is actuallly more difficult to follow than the story itself.
Very pleasurable - By: Jadepearl, 08 Mar 2000 A very pleasurable introduction to classical literature. Easily the best work of Xenophon. I slogged through the _Hellenica_ & found this book wonderful in comparison.
It is crisp in language & easy to digest. The Warner translation comes across better than the Loeb translation.
Highly recommended
