The ten thousand - Michael Curtis Ford

It is the beginning of winter, 410 BC and leadership has been forced upon Xenophon after the treacherous slaughter of his senior comrades in arms. Trapped far from home in hostile Persian territory, the Greek Army numbers only ten thousand men against a Persian enemy ten times larger. Many months later, ten thousand battered, half-starved Greek soldiers stagger out of the frozen mountains of Armenia into a small Hellenic trading post on the eastern Black Sea. Their tale of survival has been a legend ever since. Here the story is told in the form of a memoir from the viewpoint of Theo, Xenophon?s battle squire, who had been his servant since Xenophon?s birth. Theo?s position affords him a unique view of the brutality and heroism of 5th century BC Greek warfare. The Ten Thousand is a truly heroic tale told here with marvellous detail, style and panache.