An ancient town of Babylonia northwest of Babylon. It was the site of a battle (401 B.C.) in which Artaxerxes II of Persia defeated his brother Cyrus the Younger, leading to the Retreat of the Ten Thousand described by Xenophon in his Anabasis.
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An ancient town of Babylonia northwest of Babylon. It was the site of a battle (401 B.C.) in which Artaxerxes II of Persia defeated his brother Cyrus the Younger, leading to the Retreat of the Ten Thousand described by Xenophon in his Anabasis.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
battle in 401 BC when the Persian King Artaxerxes II defeated his younger brother who tried to usurp the throne
Synonym: battle of Cunaxa
| Battle of Cunaxa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Cyrus Loyalists Greek Mercenaries |
Persian Empire | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Cyrus the Younger † Clearchus |
Artaxerxes II | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| A large force of Persian soldiers[1] 10,400 Mercenary Hoplites 2,500 Mercenary Peltasts 1,000 Paphlagonian Cavalry 600 Bodyguard Cavalry 20 Scythed Chariots |
Persian army substantially outnumbered that of Cyrus [2] 6,000 Bodyguard Cavalry 200 Scythed Chariots |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown Allied Minimal Greek |
Heavy | ||||||
The Battle of Cunaxa was fought in 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger and his elder brother Arsaces, who had seized the Persian throne as Artaxerxes II in 404 BC. Cyrus gathered an army of Greek mercenaries, consisting of 10,400 hoplites and 2,500 peltasts, under the Spartan general Clearchus, and met Artaxerxes at Cunaxa on the left bank of the Euphrates River, 70 kilometres North of Babylon. Artaxerxes had about 200 scythed chariots compared to about 20 available to Cyrus. Something like this same ratio probably applies to the ratio of non-Greek troops available to each side. Artaxerxes certainly enjoyed a superiority in cavalry. The tactical outcome of the battle is disputed but as Cyrus died in the battle it was a political and strategic victory for Arsaces.
On Cyrus’s death Clearchus assumed the chief command and conducted the retreat, until, being treacherously seized with his fellow-generals by Tissaphernes, he was handed over to Artaxerxes and executed. Stranded deep in enemy territory, with most of their generals dead, Xenophon played an instrumental role in encouraging the "Ten Thousand" Greek army to march north to the Black Sea in an epic fighting retreat. This story is recorded in Anabasis by Xenophon who accompanied the "expedition up country".
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