---
title: Xenophon & the Anabasis — Facts
summary: Pithy, sourced facts about Xenophon and the Anabasis — the march of the Ten Thousand and the cry "Θάλαττα! Θάλαττα!" ("The sea! The sea!") that names Thalatta. Every fact traces to a source.
tags: [xenophon, anabasis, history, the-name, thalatta, facts]
updated: 2026-06-24
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon), Xenophon Anabasis 4.7.24 (Greek, out of copyright) via Perseus Digital Library http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0201
---

# Xenophon & the Anabasis — facts

## The man
- Xenophon of Athens (Ξενοφῶν): Greek general, historian, and philosopher.
- Born c. 430 BC in the deme of Erchia; died 355/354 BC, likely in Corinth, around age 74–75.
- Father Gryllus (an aristocratic family); wife Philesia; sons Gryllus and Diodorus.
- Studied under Socrates; probably served in the Athenian cavalry.
- Wrote in plain Attic Greek; Diogenes Laërtius called him the "Attic Muse." His entire corpus survives.

## The expedition
- 401 BC: joined Cyrus the Younger's march to take the Persian throne from his brother Artaxerxes II.
- *Anabasis* (Ἀνάβασις, "the going up") is his firsthand account — seven books, composed c. 370 BC.
- Battle of Cunaxa, 401 BC, near Babylon: Cyrus was killed; the Greek generals were later lured to a feast and executed by Tissaphernes.
- The ~10,000 Greek mercenaries — "the Ten Thousand" — elected new leaders, Xenophon among them.
- They retreated north through the Carduchians (SE Turkey), across the Centrites River, and through Armenia in winter.
- They reached the Black Sea at Trapezus (modern Trabzon) — *Anabasis* 4.8.22.

## "Θάλαττα! Θάλαττα!"
- From Mount Theches the vanguard saw the sea and shouted **"Θάλαττα! Θάλαττα!"** — **"The sea! The sea!"** — meaning the way home.
- The line (*Anabasis* 4.7.24): *καὶ τάχα δὴ ἀκούουσι βοώντων τῶν στρατιωτῶν θάλαττα θάλαττα καὶ παρεγγυώντων* — "And soon they hear the soldiers shouting 'The sea! The sea!' and passing the word along." (The Greek is ancient and out of copyright; English is a plain rendering. Full chapter free at Perseus, Anabasis 4.7.)
- **Thalatta** is the Attic Greek word for **the sea** — the source of the company name.

## After the march
- 394 BC: fought for Sparta at the Battle of Coronea; Athens banished him.
- Given an estate at Scillus (near Olympia); lived there ~23 years and wrote his short treatises.
- 371 BC (after Sparta's defeat at Leuctra): the estate was confiscated; he moved to Corinth. Pausanias records his tomb at Scillus.

## The works (all extant)
- **Anabasis** — the march of the Ten Thousand; later a field guide for Alexander the Great.
- **Cyropaedia** — on Cyrus the Great (who took Babylon in 539 BC); archetype of the "mirror of princes" genre.
- **Hellenica** — Greek history, 411–362 BC, continuing Thucydides; ends at the Second Battle of Mantinea.
- **Memorabilia**, **Apology**, **Symposium**, **Oeconomicus** — the Socratic works.
- **Agesilaus**, **Constitution of the Lacedaemonians**, **Hiero**, **On Horsemanship**, **Hipparchikos**, **Hunting with Dogs**, **Ways and Means**.
- Held to be among the first to describe flanking manoeuvres and feints in tactics.