Xenophon's march. Into the lair of the persian lion, 2002, 256 p., br -

An unforgettable personal retracing of one of the most extraordinary expeditions of all time, when two great ancient civilizations, and two great armies, clashed. The year is 401 BC. The Athenian philosopher Xenophon finds himself with an army of Greeks marching to the Near East. Their mission : to aid the Persian pretender Cyrus in a war against his brother Artaxerxes. At a great battle, Cyrus is killed and his army destroyed - except for the Greeks holding the right flank. Xenophon and the Greeks are now stranded in the heart of the persian Empire, outnumbered a hundred to one. The story of Xenophon's march to escape the persian noose is an intensely personal and human tale, replete with clashes of arms and desperate hardships. It is also the tale of two civilizations at mortal odds, with their turbulent mixt of anarchy and democracy ; Xenophon's men resembled a mobile Greek city, cutting both a military and a cultural slash through the persian Empire.