Xenophon · 370 BCE · overland

Xenophon's eyewitness account of the March of the Ten Thousand. A Greek mercenary army hired by Cyrus the Younger marches from Sardis into the heart of the Persian empire, only for Cyrus to fall at Cunaxa; stranded and leaderless, the ten thousand fight their way north up the Tigris and across the frozen mountains of Armenia to the Black Sea, and the most famous cry in Greek military history.

1. 1
   Sardis

   Ten thousand Greek mercenaries gather under Cyrus the Younger, told only that they march against hill tribes.

2. 2
   Tarsus

   Through the Cilician Gates the army learns the truth: Cyrus means to seize the throne of Persia itself.

3. 3
   Cunaxa

   Near Babylon the Greeks win their part of the field, but Cyrus is killed and their generals murdered by treachery.

4. 4
   Nineveh

   Stranded deep in Persia, the Ten Thousand fight their way north up the Tigris past the ruins of Assyria.

5. 5
   The Armenian Mountains

   Through the lands of the Carduchians and Armenia they struggle on, frostbitten and starving in the snow.

6. 6
   Trapezus

   From a mountaintop the vanguard sees the water and the cry goes up - Thalatta! Thalatta! The Sea! The Sea!

7. 7
   Byzantium

   Partly marching, partly by ship along the Euxine, the survivors come at last to Byzantium and the edge of home.