The Diary of Xenophon’s Anabasis: A Chronological Retrospect

Xenophon’s Anabasis remains prized as one of the greatest travel adventures of the classical world. It is an account of mercenary soldiers being stranded in enemy territory, losing their leaders, having to regroup to select new leaders and accomplishing a successful escape. As a consequence, it has remained to be a unremitting source of motivation and excitement to modern readers. The title character Xenophon (430-354 BC) described this journey first-hand as one of the junior officers being selected to senior leadership during the expedition, and he vividly describes the many previously unknown locations of the retreat in unfamiliar territory whilst also recounting his thoughts and decisions and interactions with his compatriots. As a result, the manuscript remains an important source relevant to historians, leadership scholars, military strategists, geographers, psychologists and adventure enthusiasts. In view of its widespread appeal, an accurate chronology of day-to-day events and start and finish times have been requested for some time, but have only been retorted with approximate hypotheses of times and dates. This book aims to offer a day-to-day chronology of Xenophon’s anabasis in a diary format. It is the first of its kind to offer a holistic day-to-day view of daily events during the Anabasis, whose specific dates have been calculated to give accurate times and places. It utilises Xenophon’s text as a core on which additional sources have been applied to ancient calculate dates with precision. This diary therefore presents a unique chronological perspective through which to better appraise the courageous journey and daring escape of Xenophon and his countrymen in their famed Anabasis.