The

is one of the most interesting and best known of the texts that have come down to us from antiquity. Telling the story of a Persian prince, Cyrus the Younger, who hired an army of Greek mercenaries to march against his brother, it describes the expedition’s progress from Sardis in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) to Babylonia (modern Iraq) and, following Cyrus’s death, the long journey homeward of the Greeks. Their sighting of the Black Sea in the course of the retreat, marked by the soldiers’ shout, “The Sea! The Sea!”, remains one of the most moving and celebrated moments in Western literature.

The book’s author, Xenophon the Athenian, was a participant on the march and his eyewitness reporting provides much of the colour and drama that are defining elements of

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Citation: Brennan, Shane. "Anabasis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 May 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6644, accessed 24 November 2024.]