When king Darius II of Persia died, both of his sons,
Artaxerxes and Cyrus, wanted to be king. But Artaxerxes made himself king by
force. Cyrus decided that he would raise an army and demand Artaxerxes to step
off the throne.
Cyrus couldn't find enough Persian soldiers, so he hired eleven
thousand Greek soldiers. In the middle of the battle, Cyrus was killed and the
Persians on his side surrendered. But the Greeks continued fighting. Artaxerxes
sent a message telling them that Cyrus was dead and gave their leaders an
invitation to their council.
When the Greek leaders arrived, they were killed and a
message was sent to the Greeks. It told them that their leaders were dead so
they now had to fight in the Persian army. The Greeks were both enraged and
grief-stricken when they heard this. The Greeks thought that they were going to
die and they would never see Greece again. They wouldn't eat their supper and
couldn't sleep because they were so sorrowful.
However, Xenophon was thinking of a way that the army could
return to Greece. He was a pupil of Socrates, a famous philosopher. While
everyone else was in despair, he found a way that they might get back to
Greece. They could appoint a leader and retreat to the ocean.
