Xenophon (c. 430–c. 354 BCE) was an Athenian of good family and a follower of Socrates. In 401 BCE he joined the Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger, and after the generals were murdered he was elected one of the leaders of the retreat. Exiled from Athens, probably for his service with Cyrus and later with Sparta, he lived for decades on an estate at Scillus near Olympia granted by the Spartans. His many works include the Hellenica, the Memorabilia and Symposium on Socrates, the Cyropaedia, and treatises on hunting, horsemanship and household management.
The Persian Expedition, known in Greek as the Anabasis or 'march up-country', is Xenophon's account of the campaign of 401–399 BCE in which about ten thousand Greek mercenaries followed Cyrus the Younger into Mesopotamia and then fought their way home. Cyrus, younger son of Darius II, gathers an army in Sardis on the pretext of a war against Pisidian raiders, while his real aim is to unseat his brother, King Artaxerxes II.
