Anabasis, Books 1-4 [Ancient Greek]
by Xenophon
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Excerpt from The First Four Books of Xenophon's Anabasis: With Notes Adapted to the Revised and Enlarged Edition of Goodwin's Greek Grammar, and a Copperplate Map Rudiments of Greek. In the opinion of the Editors it is highly desirable to use as small a portion as possible of the classic literature as a corpus vile for the more minute dissection, and to enable pupils at the earliest possible moment to read Greek. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and show more classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. show lessTags
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The Anabasis is Xenophon's historical narrative describing the retreat of Cyrus's army ("the ten-thousand") following his untimely death. It is told in the third person and filled with colorful characters and descriptions of camp life. The Greek word 'anabasis' means literally 'a going upward' but in military terms it meant taking an army inland from the shore. The narrative might well have been called "Katabasis", which means a journey to the coast from the interior since that is what the ten thousand accomplished. Xenophon was a professional soldier as well as a writer, and he was part of the mercenary army of Cyrus that was hired to attack and take over the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. The battle went to the show more Greeks, but since Cyrus was dead there was no point in keeping the field and the army marched north towards the nearest Greek settlements. After numerous hardships and adventures narrated by Xenophon in a clear, hard-edged style that reminds one of Caesar's description of his Gallic campaigns, the army finally reaches the sea at which they give a shout of joy for the Greeks are a great seafaring people and much at home upon the waves. Well worth reading in the classic Greek if you can manage it. show less
Good book for Greek scholar
Edition: Revised Edition // Descr: lii, 290 p. : ill. 19 cm. // Series: Call No. { 888 X2 2 } With Notes Adapted to the Latest Edition of Goodwin's Greek Grammar, and to Hadley's Greek Grammar Edited by William W. Goodwin and John Williams White. // //
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Xenophon's life and personality is better known to us, perhaps, than that of any other Greek who lived before Alexander the Great. Much of his considerable output of historical writing and essays is frankly or implicitly autobiographical. He reveals himself as one of those many Athenians and other Greeks who turned to autocratic political models, show more including admiration of Persia, after the excesses of the Athenian democracy led to disaster in the Peloponnesian War. He also reveals himself as much more than a literary man and a critic of his times. A gentleman adventurer and something of a professional soldier, he followed in turn the philosopher Socrates, the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger, and the Spartan king Agesilaus, all of whom he wrote about with an air of close personal knowledge. His works include the autobiographical Anabasis, an account of his service with a mercenary Greek army that marched from Mesopotamia to the Black Sea after the defeat and death of the younger Cyrus. It provides the most detailed single perspective on the military practices and military mentality of Xenophon's age. His Hellenica, by contrast, is an impersonal continuation to the end of the Peloponnesian War of the work of Thucydides and a patchy memoir that concentrates on Sparta's fortunes until the definitive end of its power in 362 b.c. Xenophon's other major works are the Cyropaedia and the rambling Socratic dialogues known as the Memorabilia. The Cyropaedia is a fictional idealization of the career of Cyrus the Great, the only great conqueror known to the Greeks before Alexander. Often regarded merely as a novel, it is a species of a priori historical reconstruction. A retrojection of the military science and political values of the day into a largely unknown Persia of the past, it is intended to explain Cyrus's success on rational principles. The Memorabilia and the Socratic Apology that comes down with them contain nothing of philosophical value but are thought by some scholars to offer a possible corrective to Plato's altogether too Platonic Socrates. Xenophon had a conventional and second-rate mind, but he is a valuable resource because of his mediocrity. He enables us to make contact with an ordinary intellect from a world that often seems dominated by geniuses. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Anabasis, Books 1-4 [Ancient Greek]
- Disambiguation notice
- This is the text of Xenophon's Anabasis Books 1-4 in Ancient Greek (with or without a translation). Please do not combine with volumes containing other parts of the Anabasis or Books 1-4 in translation.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 488.64 — Language Classical Greek and related Hellenic languages Classical Greek usage (Prescriptive linguistics) Readers Readers for people whose native language is different from the language of the reader
- LCC
- PA4494 .A5 .M35 — Language and Literature Greek language and literature. Latin language and literature Greek literature Individual authors Xenophon
- BISAC
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- Languages
- English, Greek (Ancient)
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 7
