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The ten thousand: a novel of ancient Greece

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher:
Thomas Dunne Books
Pub. Date:
2001
Edition:
1st ed
Language:
English
Description
After decades of war, mighty Athens has been ravaged-- its navy destroyed, its city walls toppled, its army disbanded. The fierce military state of Sparta has triumphed, but passions and hate linger on. Thousands of battle-hardened veterans from both sides in the conflict remain scattered across the Greek islands, restless and dangerous-- until the young Persian prince Cyrus issues a call to arms from his base in Asia Minor. The rogue nobleman is raising an enormous mercenary army to wrest control of all of Persia, the most powerful empire on earth, from his half-brother the king.

The young philosopher-warrior Xenophon, scion of a noble Athenian family and follower of Socrates, risks his father's wrath and embarks on the adventure with high hopes for glory. Joining his cousin Proxenus, the war-maddened Spartan general Clearchus, and a huge body of Cyrus' native troops, he and ten thousand Greek mercenaries depart on an astounding march of a thousand miles, across the searing desert. Their near-deadly journey culminated in a massive, bloody battle at the very threshold of Babylon-- a battle that proves disastrous for them. Their leaders are betrayed and murdered, their supply lines cut, and their route home across the desert blocked by the furious Persian king, bent on revenge. The Fates call on Xenophon to lead the devastated Greek soldiers in their escape, though he has little experience in commanding men. As the army flees toward the snowy north, its situation appears desperate.

Months later, ten thousand battered, half-starved soldiers stagger out of the frozen mountains of Armenia into a small Greek trading post on the Black Sea. Their true tale of survival, and of the heroic expedition Xenophon led through the heart of an enemy empire, astonished the incredulous natives and has been the stuff of legend ever since.

Michael Curtis Ford combines his expertise on fifth-century B.C. Greek warfare with explosive page-turning action to give us an epic novel of struggle and survival. Not since Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire has any book so vividly captured the glory, beauty, and savage bloodshed that was ancient Greece.
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ISBN:
9780312269463
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work IDc8ad45b6-faec-20e5-b599-ccca25b2012a
Grouping Titleten thousand
Grouping Authormichael curtis ford
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-15 08:09:21AM
Last Indexed2024-03-29 04:49:43AM

Solr Fields

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author
Ford, Michael Curtis
author_display
Ford, Michael Curtis
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Mercer Public Library
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Mercer Adult Fiction
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Books
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Book
id
c8ad45b6-faec-20e5-b599-ccca25b2012a
isbn
9780312269463
itype_mercer
BOOK - HARDCOVER
last_indexed
2024-03-29T09:49:43.961Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
local_callnumber_mercer
F For
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Mercer Public Library
owning_location_mercer
Mercer Public Library
primary_isbn
9780312269463
publishDate
2001
publisher
Thomas Dunne Books
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Biographical fiction
Greece -- History -- Expedition of Cyrus, 401 B.C. -- Fiction
Historical fiction
Soldiers -- Fiction
War fiction
Xenophon -- Fiction
title_display
The ten thousand : a novel of ancient Greece
title_full
The ten thousand : a novel of ancient Greece / Michael Curtis Ford
title_short
The ten thousand
title_sub
a novel of ancient Greece
topic_facet
History
Soldiers
Xenophon

Solr Details Tables

item_details

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record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
ils:.b13391938BookBooks1st edEnglishThomas Dunne Books2001ix, 383 pages ; 25 cm

scoping_details_mercer

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