Anabasis I


The first four chapters of Book I of the Anabasis detail the development of Cyrus' determination to wage war against his brother Artaxerxes The Great King of Persia, the assembling of his army from many pieces gathered in secret, and its passage and assembly on a fairly leisurely march to the Euphrates river. At the time of their father's death, Cyrus was satrap in the west of the Persian lands, which are cut off by a kingdom called Cilicia, which is close to modern day Armenia (and indeed there would later be an Armenian kingdom by that name). Here's a better map to understand the problem Cyrus faces in getting his forces around Cilicia. The king of Cilicia also holds the rank of satrap, and is placed there kind of to keep an eye on the younger brother Cyrus, whom The Great King had initially tried to just kill at the time their father died; only his mother's intervention saved Cyrus and got him this solution. To win the surprise attack he needs, Cyrus has to make this maneuver through territory held by his watchdog without alerting his brother. 


Cyrus draws his army from multifarious sources and some clever stratagems that make it seem as if he is dutifully quelling several problems at once on the western frontier, all the while sending the proper tribute to his elder brother. As a result, he is able to assemble a substantial force of more than ten thousand hoplites, the elite heavy infantry of the Greek world, as well as certain supporting light infantry called peltasts. He invites the Queen of Cilicia to join him and, in the manner of a Bene Gesserit, she comes and convinces him to put on a display and revue of the army so she can take its full measure; she also, likewise in that same manner, sleeps with him. 

He moves them a little out of his most direct route to maintain the pretense that he is doing one of those dutiful quellings, such that there is very little violence in this first stage. He sends the Queen home with a unit of his men, two companies of whom -- a hundred hoplites -- are lost somewhat mysteriously.  As a consequence Tarsus -- yes of St. Paul fame, but currently the headquarters of the King of Cilicia -- does get sacked by the remaining force out of a sense of anger at their lost comrades. By the time Cyrus arrives, the king has withdrawn to a fortress; they meet and exchange a very large ransom (to Cyrus) for a set of 'honor gifts' (fine robes and golden fittings for horses, that sort of thing). Cyrus uses this and other monies to convince his mercenaries, who still haven't been told they are going to take on the Great King, to push on into Syria to the Euphrates.

You might ask about supply lines. Cyrus has been planning for this for some time, and he has his fleet meet him at a pair of twin fortresses in mutual opposition called the Gates of Syria. There are also merchants whose business model is to follow mercenary armies like this; soldiers, well paid and especially these by the time Cyrus is done bribing them, are expected usually to buy their own food and whatnot. However, Cyrus wants to push across the desert so he has made additional provision. 

A lot hinges on speed and surprise. Cyrus' force is chiefly made up of powerful units of infantry that can hold the ground against almost anything during the era; you will notice that the force that abandons its fortress and flees from them to warn the Great King has a reported 20-1 numerical advantage over them. Even so, better part of valor. That figure is probably inaccurate; the actual estimate of the big battle to come was roughly a 4-1 numerical advantage for the Persian Great King.

If you are reading the translation that I am, the translator dubiously chose to use 'miles' for the word representing distances, farsang. This is for the convenience of the reader, but the ancient term is interesting. The Greeks and Persians measure distances kind of like we Americans do, by using time. We say, "It's an hour and a half to the airport," which estimate does not deploy a unit of measure of distance at all. There's a rough equivalent because everyone was moving on foot, or usually a walking horse if traveling a long way; and most people in good shape who are used to it can get along about fifteen to twenty miles a day. That seems to be about the pace the army was moving on the way down to the Euphrates, although they take long rests in between stages -- days to as much as a month -- because they're pretending not to be advancing on the Great King and because it allows the army to assemble across several routes. Thus, the size of the force is concealed until its final assembly.

At the crossing of the Euphrates, Cyrus finally has to admit to his men that he's leading them against the Great King of Persia. They did not sign up for this, and are predictably upset. He has prepared a convincing argument, however, at least from the mercenary's perspective: about four months' pay as a bonus per man, in addition to their regular wages. On consideration, they elect to go with him. 

In the next section we will enter into what is present day Iraq, along the river Euphrates where I spent quite a bit of time myself.

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