Xenophon Roundtable I
Time permitting, I will try to link to all the RT posts at Chicago Boyz.
First post, by “Fringe”
Xenophon Roundtable: Xenophon was a Professional
An army marches on its stomach – Napoleon Bonaparte
While we have no real idea how much insight Xenophon possessed when he joined the invasion of Persia, the Anabasis is written by a professional with a profound appreciation of the issues of logistics (as is the Agesilaus). From beginning to end, the Anabasis is replete with not just the story of the Persian expedition, but how the Greek forces managed to maintain themselves in supply, from the time of their entry into Persia, until their retreat is complete. Xenophon understands that other professionals will be interested in this as much as in anything else that he relates. It is likely that Alexander read these logistical details with great attention. For instance, if you re-read the Anabasis from the perspective of a logistician, you will find that it serves as a nearly complete narrative of the logistics of the Persian expedition. In most instances, you are far more certain of how the Greeks remained in supply than of what happened to them in battle. If you compare it to other histories you have read, you may well find that there is, well, no comparison.
Read the rest here.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Be sure to look at Fringe’s wrap-up comment in response to the other comments. It is almost as long as the intial post, and is very good.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
It is a good start to the RT. Interesting that logistics was the lead concept.
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BTW, follow up to our discussion last weekend, just ordered the Anglosphere Challenge from Amazon.