HISTORY

The Landmark Xenophon’s ‘Anabasis’

Pantheon. Dec. 2021. 672p. ed. by Shane Brennan & David Thomas. ISBN 9780307906854. $50. HIST
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Philosopher-warrior Xenophon’s 4th-century BCE Anabasis (the classic account of a coup d’état in the Achaemenid Empire), edited here by historians Brennan and Thomas, comes packed with the Landmark series’ trademark commentary and scholarly analysis. Lengthy footnotes supplement each passage, highlighting the traditional summaries of the text compiled by scribes over the ages. This edition features helpful maps too, for students unfamiliar with the distance and geography of the ancient world’s city-states. The copious illustrations include photographs of artifacts, such as pieces of Thracian armor, and of Greek ceramic art depicting battles and Hoplites in their gear. The appendices shed further light on what we know about Xenophon and his relation to Socrates, among other in-depth revelations about Anabasis. The translated prose reads easily and rolls from passage to passage quickly, while the edition’s scholarly material brings secondary sources into one tremendous research springboard. The book ends with a glossary and an extensive list of sources cited, which serves as a starting point for further research.
VERDICT History, literature, and classics departments will be grateful for this edition’s supplementary teaching and research material, but libraries geared toward a more casual readership might question the number of checkouts it will receive.
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