Classical World

Waterfield's examination of Xenophon's eyewitness account of the Ten Thousand mercenaries' march back home to the Greek world after their failed attempt to put Cyrus the Younger on the Persian throne is an excellent study that works well on two separate but interrelated levels. In the first place, it is a valuable companion to Xenophon's Anabasis (Waterfield's very readable translation of the Expedition of Cyrus has recently appeared in the Oxford World Classics series [2005]); it both summarizes Xenophon's account and supplies much necessary information that Xenophon chose to omit. In the second place, Waterfield provides an important analysis of Xenophon's biases, his aims and motivations in writing his account, and his literary style. This combination of approaches succeeds admirably and will add much to our understanding and appreciation of both Xenophon and his Anabasis.

Much of the detail of what was happening "on the ground" was left implicit by Xenophon, who presumably wrote for an audience that would be familiar with the financing of the mercenary force, the dangers and difficulties faced by the soldiers in hoplite warfare, the logistics of coordinating the massive retreat through hostile territory, and the hardships and deprivations that would be encountered on the march. Waterfield fleshes out these omitted aspects, helping to make the heroic march home more understandable (and to some extent more heroic) to the modern reader. In addition, Waterfield discusses the importance of the sea to the Greek mindset and its significance in the Greek perception of "home," providing a context for Xenophon's most famous line "the sea, the sea!" Finally, Waterfield makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion of the creation of Greek identity vs. that of the Barbarian and Xenophon's role in this.

Xenophon's Retreat is, however, much more than just a summary and discussion of these historical events. Waterfield also provides a useful analysis of Xenophon's growing disillusionment with his homeland (not just Athens but also the Greek world as a whole) and the effects this disillusionment had on both his literary style and his approach to and presentation of the material treated in the Anabasis. Xenophon was by no means an impartial and dispassionate eyewitness-reporter who simply happened to be there as the surviving mercenaries fought their way home; rather, he was a skilled writer whose presentation of the material was shaped by his growing pessimism. Waterfield highlights Xenophon's use of such themes as deceit, treachery, instability, and the corrupting influence of greed, vices that Xenophon found all too common around him throughout the Greek world during his retirement on his Spartan estate at Scillus and projected back onto his interpretation of the events in the Anabasis. The Anabasis thus emerges as a rich and nuanced text, rather than merely the eyewitness account of an embedded reporter (who also happens to be a general).

Aimed at the general English-speaking audience (the bibliography is primarily English), this is an interesting and informative look at the Anabasis and its place in Greek historiography. Written in a lively, readable, and accessible style, it will be of use to students and scholars of Xenophon as both historian and philosopher, as well as those interested in his Anabasis, his literary style and moral aims, and the transition from the fifth to the fourth century.