Reditus Decem Millium Graecorum

A historical map showing the route of the epic March of the Ten Thousand, a group of Greek hoplite mercenaries employed by Cyrus the Younger to help him claim the throne of Persia in 401 BCE. The army marched all the way across Anatolia from Greece to near Babylon in modern-day Iraq (a red line marks their route). The death of Cyrus, their patron, at the Battle of Cunaxa near Babylon (marked on the map at the south-eastern point of the army's march) left the Greeks in hostile territory without a purpose.

Their journey home via Armenia and the Black Sea was long and arduous, facing constant attacks from Persians and native raiders, but the army did survive and eventually returned to Greece. The written account of the expedition by the Greek general, Xenophon, would later inspire Alexander the Great to travel east and conquer Persia.

Original colour. [MEAST4654]