Anabasis by Xenophon

I first heard of this story perhaps 25+ years ago when I started exploring ancient Greek history.  The famous account by Xenophon tells the story of 10,000 Greek soldiers who joined the service of Cyrus, the brother of the then Persian King, Artaxerxes II.

The Greeks joined Cyrus as mercenaries in his bid to overthrow his brother and anoint himself as the rightful King of Persia.

Early in the battle Cyrus is killed and the 10,000 find themselves stranded in the middle of Persia, a short distance from Babylon and the now-enraged army of Artaxerxes.

The story encompasses the 10,000s harrowing escape, over thousands of miles, through layers of enemy territories on their quest to return to Greece.

I'm most pleased with the style of the writing, which was thoroughly accessible to me, as this is not always (nor usually?) the case for ancient writing as primary sources.  This bodes well for further reading of Xenophon, something I fully intend to do, especially now that I've downloaded his entire writings.