February BOTM: The March of the Ten Thousand, by Xenophon.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > February BOTM: The March of the Ten Thousand, by Xenophon.

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Tao Jones posted:

Xenophon mentions that people took Cyrus's crossing of the river at Thapsacus as being an omen of his destiny to become king. But Cyrus fails; is this a criticism of omens? Prior to the battle scene at the climax, Cyrus tells Xenophon that omens and sacrifices were made and favorable, but those aren't mentioned in the text otherwise.

I was intrigued by a bit of detail that Xenophon points out when the armies are preparing for combat -- the Persians don't wear headgear when they fight. Why not? Is this just an interesting anthropological detail, some attempt to otherize the Persians, or is it significant? Xenophon doesn't seem overly fond of 'fun facts' like Herodotus, so it kind of stuck out.

In the rest of his works Xenophon is really big on the importance of omens and sacrifices. It's kind of interesting just how conventional he is in his thinking, for a student of Socrates.

...

It would be interesting to contrast his descriptions of the Persians here, with the same in Cyropaedia. (The whole book is a bit long, but the last part has a summarized "customs of noble Persians back in the day - customs of decadent Persians right now" section. If there's anything besides the Ten Thousand that would inspire Alexander...)

...

The start is really goddamned dull. I tried to introduce the book to my dad (cue poster appearing and making the same joke for the thousandth time) who is really into military fiction, and he couldn't get past the "today we marched 5 no pasarans, and consumed 3 resource units" sections.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2016 09:03

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:40

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Tao Jones posted:

Cyrus's answer to most of his leadership-related problems is, more or less, "I'll make you rich when we win". Does this say anything about him as an individual, or is this just how things were done?

"Xenophon's perspective on visionary / transformative leadership notes the importance of intrinsic motivation, but also emphasizes the value of external rewards".

But seriously though "pay your goddamned mercenaries you absolute assholes" and "reward people appropriately" are the most fundamental takeaways of Xeno's leadership theory.

Xander77 fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Feb 13, 2016

# ¿ Feb 11, 2016 19:07

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Rusty posted:

What makes a sacrifice unfavorable anyway? I think it's funny ever step of the way they are making sacrifices to see what direction to take. They make them in public, in private, and sometimes won't move even when they are starving because of the sacrifices. The have ships brining in animals to sacrifice as part of the war supplies. And to top it off, the guy who interprets the sacrifices rats out Xenophon's questions that he sacrifices over. It's such a large part of the book.

Creatures of Light and Darkness posted:

"Those are my innards! I will not have them misread by a poseur!"

# ¿ Feb 11, 2016 22:25

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

my dad posted:

I have to say, I think it's a waste that The March of the Ten Thosand wasn't reserved for, you know, March.

I think it should have been called Katabasis all along.
:goonsay:

# ¿ Feb 20, 2016 01:25

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Did we have a Three Musketeers month at some archived point? If not, that's what I'd like to see.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2016 05:12

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > February BOTM: The March of the Ten Thousand, by Xenophon.