Product Description

The 4th century BC. A village in Syria. A woman, dressed in rags and covered in blisters and sores, is seen approaching on the road coming from the north. Suspicious of her, the villagers shout and throw rocks at her. She is struck and falls. She seems dead...

Her story encompasses one of the great collective acts of heroism of the ancient world. She was the mistress of Xenophon, a general in the vast army of ten thousand Greek mercenaries from virtually every Greek city state that was employed by Cyrus the Younger, in his quest to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II.

Manfredi, one of the world's experts, has created an rip-roaring adventure seen from the perspective of the women who accompanied the soldiers on their long journey. A new and intense account of the most celebrated march in man's history, by the acclaimed author of the Alexander trilogy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11190 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-03
• Released on: 2009-06-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
'There can be few better escapes from economic misery and the British winter than a sword-and-sandals romp through ancient times'
--Sunday Express

From the Back Cover

Ten thousand indomitable warriors… and a single woman in love

401 BC. After thirty years of war, the city-states of Greece are on their knees. As they flounder, Clearchus of Sparta is commissioned to recruit an army of Greek mercenaries. Their true purpose is unclear. They know they must venture deep into the hostile heart of the Persian Empire. They know Cyrus, brother of the Great Persian King, Artaxerxes, is their paymaster. But their official objective – clearing the area of rebel tribes – convinces no one…

The expedition is shadowed by another army… of women, which includes Abira, a Syrian girl. She has abandoned her village to follow the young Greek warrior, Xeno, who appeared to her like a god on horseback from the heavens, offering the promise of love, of adventure, of a different life…

In The Lost Army, Valerio Massimo Manfredi, bestselling author of the ‘Alexander’ trilogy and The Last Legion, shapes history into an epic story of self-sacrifice and the unrelenting, heroic struggle for survival.

About the Author

Valerio Massimo Manfredi is professor of classical archaeology at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. He has published ten works of fiction, including the 'Alexander' trilogy, which has been translated into twenty-four languages in thirty-eight countries. His novel The Last Legion was released as a major motion picture in 2007. He has written and hosted documentaries on the ancient world and has written screenplays for cinema and television.

Customer Reviews

A Lost Classic - What happened to the sons of the 300 and how 1 woman changed their fate.
Love and War are two classic themes which are skilfully woven into Manfredi's take on the journey of 10,000 Greek mercenaries whose ancestors were the 300 who defended the Fiery Gates under Leonidas . These are the infamous Red Cloaks who fight to win a battle in 401 BC with consequences they could not foresee.

Abira is a beautiful, young village girl, who is literally swept off her feet by the soldier scout and army chronologist Xeno. She knows he is her ticket out of the Village of the Belt where she could marry a boy chosen by her family & remember with regret this stranger or she could seize her chance ...

So how does this girl cover thousands of kilometres with the Red Cloaks, across extreme terrains, become a pivotal part in this herd of soldiers return only to be stoned & left of dead?

I was given this book as a gift & what an enlightening gift this proved to be. For whatever reason, historic tales have never featured much in my reading lists - however this book may change that! In my naivety, I didn't realise this was story grounded in real events, it matches any Hollywood sword and scandal epic & makes the story all the more enthralling.

Take this book away with you on holiday if you`re crossing difficult terrains or need to immerse yourself in a different battle from your daily commute and let its pace engulf you.

Interesting story badly translated
This book is exactly the reason I find Manfredi novels frustrating. His books are so up and down in quality for me. The story itself is excellent, and written this time from a totally different angle. He has decided to write this from the perspective of a woman in the army's entourage rather than from the main characters perspective, which gives a unique look at this historic event. Unfortunately however the translation is poor (sorry Mrs Manfredi) which can make the reading at time very painful, almost like a badly dubbed B movie in places. Living in a non native English speaking country, some of the 'mistakes' are glaring errors where a literal translation does not work and sound like bad acting (at typical example might be something like "Xeno said 'Hello' and then Sophos said 'Hello' back to him"). Finally a silly pet hate for me on this novel is that the battle of Thermopylae (or Hot Gates) is constantly referred to as the Fiery Gates for some reason, something I think a different translator would have noticed. So in summary: good idea and interestingly about a historical event that is not often written about, however a very frustrating read.

Soldiers & Survival of the Fittest:
Ostensibly narrated by a female camp follower, this book portrays the katàbasis (return) of the Greek mercenaries of Xenophon's famed 'Anabasis' ('Journey Up-country'). The Ten Thousand was not a single homogeneous uniform community, and Manfredi addresses the fact that life in the Greek army was mainly formed by a collection of groups, e.g., the informal companionship of the suskenia (mess) is contrasted with the military unit and loyalties of the lochos (company) and realistically informs the narrative text. But, oh dear! Manfredi does dwell on the casualties and cruelties of battle, and then some ... However, it is notable the writing style - or, to be accurate, translated writing style - has improved somewhat since the earliest novels, although an impression persists that the reader is perusing a 'film treatment' rather than a novel per se. Some sections of the novel are almost Homeric in their descriptive power, but the dialogue between the characters does not live up to these. Manfredi has also invented an imaginary scenario / hypothesis that Sparta meant the 10,000 to either win or disappear which, given the reputation of the Spartans, is not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility. In the context of The Lost Army he also frequently refers back to the ultimately useless sacrifice of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, as if for some reason the triumph of the 10,000 was revenge for the past.

Ultimately the straggling army reached the shores of the Black (Euxine) Sea, hailing it in a famed shout of joy: 'thalatta, thalatta' (the sea, the sea!), where they erected a trophy monument to their achievement. However, if you want to know the 'real' Xenophon, go to the original 'Anabasis': apart from the surprisingly easy-to-read original Greek for classics students, there are several excellent translations on the market.