I. Introduction

Extract

On the fifth day they did in fact reach the mountain; its name was Theches. Now as soon as the vanguard got to the top of the mountain, a great shout went up. [22] And when Xenophon and the rearguard heard it, they imagined that other enemies were attacking in front; for enemies were following behind them from the district that was in flames, and the rearguard had killed some of them and captured others by setting an ambush, and had also taken about twenty wicker shields covered with raw, shaggy ox-hides. [23] But as the shout kept getting louder and nearer, as the successive ranks that came up all began to run at full speed toward the ranks ahead that were one after another joining in the shout, and as the shout kept growing far louder as the number of men grew steadily greater, it became quite clear to Xenophon that here was something of unusual importance; [24] so he mounted a horse, took with him Lycius and the cavalry, and pushed ahead to lend aid; and in a moment they heard the soldiers shouting, ‘The Sea! The Sea!’ and passing the word along.        (An. 4.7.21–4)¹

Xenophon's slow recognition that the commotion among the Greek soldiers in front of him is caused by their first glimpse of the Black Sea and the realization that they might complete their journey home, after becoming stranded in the middle of a hostile Persian empire, builds up to the cry Thalatta! Thalatta! It has echoed through the centuries, inspiring readers, including even those who encountered it as an adapted translation passage in Wilding's Greek for Beginners, the standard introduction to Greek language used in English schools in the later twentieth century.² Xenophon's deceptively simple narrative style has lent itself well to classroom use, but, while those who encountered him as one of the first Greek authors they read have sometimes underestimated the subtleties of his style and analysis, more recent scholarship has shown the sophistication of both.