The Long March: Xenophon and the Ten Thousand

by Robin Lane Fox (Editor)

The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most famous military adventures in the ancient world. Its fearless army of Greek mercenaries marched through western Asia (modern Turkey and Iraq) in 401–399 B.C., their hopes and hardships recounted by Xenophon, the Athenian, an admiring pupil of Socrates. Xenophon’s history of the Long March, or Anabasis, is a classic of Greek literature.
In this book, twelve leading scholars explore the Anabasis, a deceptively simple and profoundly rich source of social and cultural history and the mentality of the ancient Greek participants. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, from Xenophon’s values, motives, and manner as a writer to the outlook of his companions as mercenary soldiers, from his descriptions of religion in soldiers’ lives to their relations with women, boys, and the many foreign peoples encountered during the march.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, World History, Classics

376 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2004

About the author

Robin Lane Fox (born 1946) is an English historian, currently a Fellow of New College, Oxford and University of Oxford Reader in Ancient History.

Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Since 1977, he has been a tutor in Greek and Roman history, and since 1990 University Reader in Ancient History. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship, and is also New College's Tutor for Oriental Studies.[1] He is a lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.

He was historical adviser to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.

Lane Fox is also a gardening correspondent for the Financial Times.

He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com.

They are not related to, and should not be confused with Robin Fox, anthropologist, and his daughter Kate Fox, social anthropologist.

Reviews

[Rui Valente · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book written by academics to academics, and some may find it, as such, difficult to read.
Adding to that, the book has many contributors, and the style and interest vary wildly from chapter to chapter.
It has enough sections to make it very appealing, though, and adds considerable detail to the reading of Xenophon's Anabasis. Sometimes I wish some contributors were not so skeptical or suspicious of Xenophon, and that annoys me a bit, but that is probably just me sticking by him :)

[Dglatein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the unadventurous but accessible by non-military, non-philological students of battle narratives. Swofford, author of Jarhead, liked it when he was in the same territory, Iraq.