Ancient Greek —
A while ago, I was blogging Xenophon’s Anabasis here, but stopped, and have been absolutely quiet about Greek. I’ve still been studying Greek, but found that the labor of translating into readable English and posting it to the blog demanded too much time. Also, I suspect that forcing myself (an intermediate Greek student, at most) […]
Here are a couple.
and this one:
Each “Book” of the Anabasis includes a short introduction, as summary of the narrative so far. The division of the work in Books and the introductions as well are certainly the work of later editors, and not Xenophon. The introduction is presented here [in brackets].
[The foregoing narrative has described what happened on the […]
After breakfast, they crossed the Zapatas River, and were marching in a formation with the pack animals and camp-followers in the middle.1 They hadn’t proceeded very far when Mithradates showed up again, with 200 cavalry and 400 archers and slingers, all nimble and quick-moving forces. They approached the Greeks in a friendly fashion,2 and when […]
Here’s a snippet from Anabasis III.5.1:
ἔνθα δὴ οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι στραφέντες ἔφευγον ᾗ ἕκαστος ἐδύνατο …
which can be translated as “And then the barbarians turned back and fled, every man for himself (literally, “in whatever way each man was able”).”
Most of this sentence was easy to understand:
ἔνθα δὴ - And then
οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι - the […]
The next morning, they got up and burned their wagons, tents, and excess baggage. After breakfast, 1 Mithradates2 arrived with about thirty cavalrymen. Claiming to be a friend of the Greeks, and having come at great risk, he asked to know their plans, indicating that he would join them, along with all of his retainers.
After […]
Xenophon continues to harangue the Greeks, arguing that their difficulties are not so bad. Paraphrasing:
“Don’t worry about the rivers. If we can’t cross them here, we can always go upstream and cross them at the source, not even getting our knees wet. And if the barbarians thought to trap us on the wrong side of […]
At daybreak, the leaders decided to post guards and summoned the rest of the soldiers to an assembly. Cheirosophos the Spartan spoke:
“We are in a tough spot, being deprived of many officers and soldiers, and our former allies, Ariaeus and his men, have betrayed us. But we must not give up, but must struggle as […]
The Greeks being stranded in Mesopotamia and their generals treacherously killed by the Persians, Xenophon, who so far has had no official role in the army, is inspired to rouse the Greeks to action and he volunteers to lead them.
After telling them that they must rouse themselves and fight the Persians, “a certain Apollonides, […]
As I work my way through the Anabasis, I find that I constantly change how I use my notebook. Early on, I filled it with full English translations, striving to make them accurate and readable. Periodically, I’d just note vocabulary: a Greek word, in the form that it appeared in the text, with its English […]
This chapter marks Xenophon’s entrance into a leading role in the story. Heretofore, he was just a hanger-on, a camp follower.
The night after the generals were captured and officers killed by the Persians, the Greeks were very distressed, as they realized how far from home they were, how many enemies were all around, etc. Most […]
In many ways, Clearchus dominates the first two books of the Anabasis. He is the leading Greek general; he outlives Cyrus and even in Book I, he had played a bigger role than Cyrus. Partway through Book I, I wrote this about him, emphasizing what a tough guy he was. And in Book II, Chapter […]
This post is for some of the very astute, perceptive, and insightful commenters at Innocent Bystanders.
Xenophon, Anabasis, I.9
[19] Furthermore, whenever [Cyrus] saw that a man was a skillful and just administrator, not only organizing well the country over which he ruled, but producing revenues, he would never deprive such a man of territory, but […]
I’m still plowing through Xenophon’s Anabasis. But I have backed up to the beginning again, for a few reasons. First, since I’m reading it as a learning exercise, going over it for the fourth time helps solidify my understanding of the vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, grammar, and style. It’s also somewhat fun to be […]
[16] Πρόξενος δὲ ὁ Βοιώτιος εὐθὺς μὲν μειράκιον ὢν ἐπεθύμει γενέσθαι ἀνὴρ τὰ μεγάλα πράττειν ἱκανός: καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔδωκε Γοργίᾳ ἀργύριον τῷ Λεοντίνῳ. [17] ἐπεὶ δὲ συνεγένετο ἐκείνῳ, ἱκανὸς νομίσας ἤδη εἶναι καὶ ἄρχειν καὶ φίλος ὢν τοῖς πρώτοις μὴ ἡττᾶσθαι εὐεργετῶν, ἦλθεν εἰς ταύτας τὰς σὺν Κύρῳ πράξεις: καὶ ᾤετο […]
