A Greek mercenary company
known to history as the ‘Ten Thousand’ joined the rebellious Cyrus the Younger
in a revolt against the Persian King Artaxerxes II in 401 BCE. Within the year,
however, the rebel prince was dead and the mercenaries found themselves
stranded near Babylon, with Persian armies and hostile local militias in all
directions. Despite the original mercenary leaders being arrested and executed,
the Ten Thousand managed to continuously break through roadblocks, mountain
ambushes, and guarded river crossings, eventually reaching the eastern end of
the Black Sea by 400 BCE. Xenophon—the philosopher, historian and accomplished mercenary—was
a leading member of the Ten Thousand, and he later documented their story in
his Anabasis Kyrou, translated as Cyrus’ March Up Country or The
Expedition of Cyrus.
Upon reaching the Black Sea,
the mercenaries gained some more room to breathe. Earlier, in Mesopotamia and
the mountains of Armenia, the mercenaries had been constantly pursued by
Persian or local armies. On the Black Sea coast, however, the mercenaries were
seemingly able to pick and choose their fights. Yet, as the mercenary company
was always foraging the countryside for provisions (and loot), there was still
plenty of conflict between the warriors-for-hire and the inhabitants of the
lands through which they were marching.
The Paphlagonians, an
Anatolian people who lived near the Greek colonial city of Sinope, were one of
the many regional powers that the mercenaries irritated as they foraged along
the Black Sea coast. The mercenary company encountered the Paphlagonians near
the city of Cotyora, where, according to Xenophon, the mercenaries stayed for
forty-five days. The Ten Thousand (now actually about 8,600) quickly overstayed
their welcome, and diplomats from Cotyora’s ally, Sinope, sailed over to keep
the mercenaries in line. With a mixture of threats and diplomacy, the
mercenaries convinced Sinope and its allies to lend them a fleet of ships so
that they could sail back to Greece. Yet, while the mercenaries waited for
their transports, the foraging and pillaging continued.
As Xenophon described it,
“while they continued to wait, the Greeks supported themselves either by buying
food from the market or by plundering the territory of the Paphlagonians” (Anabasis Kyrou, Book 6, section 1). The
Paphlagonians, however, did not relinquish their resources without a fight. They
repeatedly set up ambushes against the Greek raiders during the day, and at
night they attacked any scavenging parties that made the mistake of resting in
Paphlagonia. The conflict was tiresome for both sides. Therefore, when the
Paphlagonian leader sent diplomats to negotiate a non-aggression pact, the
mercenaries eagerly accepted the proposal and held a feast in honor of the
Paphlagonian ambassadors.
The feast outside of Cotyora
was one of the more charming scenes of life and humanity presented in the Anabasis Kyrou. To start off the
revelries, a libation was poured out for the gods, then, between eating and
drinking, they sang songs together, accompanied by musicians playing pipes.
With wine flowing and music playing, the diverse band of mercenaries decided to
have a dance-off of their different cultural dances.
A pair of Thracians were the
first to jump to their feet and dance to the sounds of the pipes. According to
Xenophon, the Thracians unsheathed their blades and began jumping in time with
the music. As they jumped, they took turns jabbing at each other with their swords.
The dance ended with one of the two dancers pretending to be stabbed. The
‘wounded’ Thracian put on quite the show, falling to the ground with dramatic
flair. When the dancer was done acting out his death scene, his Thracian
comrades lifted him up and carried him away, all the while singing battle
songs.
Next to dance was a group of
Aenianians and Magnesians from the Thessaly region of Greece. They put on a
show, called the karpaia, which was
even more choreographed than the one performed by the Thracians. Xenophon
described the scene as a mock highway robbery where the dancers played the part
of a farmer and a thief. Accompanied by the pipe music, the dancers acted out
the encounter between assailant and victim, then rhythmically went to battle in
time with the tune. The dance apparently had a bit of improvised acting at times,
for Xenophon claimed that the victor between the farmer and the thief varied in
each performance. Nevertheless, in the dance that Xenophon witnessed, the thief
won the battle and stole the farmer’s possessions.
After the dancing thief’s
success, an acrobatic Mysian from northwest Anatolia stepped forward to
showcase a blend of physical exercise and Persian dance. He carried a shield in
each hand and used them in all of his dances. Sometimes, he held the shields
out to his sides, as if fending off two attackers. Other times, he had both
shields defending a single direction. When the shield shadowboxing was over,
the Mysian (still wielding his shields) began rolling around in somersaults. Finally,
he began a strenuous dance involving squats and the clashing of shields, all in
time with the music, of course.
The Mysian was succeeded by a
group of Greek Arcadians—they, along with the Achaeans, were the most populous
demographic of the mercenary army. Dressed to impress in their best armor, the
Arcadians launched into a religious song and dance that was usually meant to be
done in ceremonial processions. As with the other performances, the dancing
Arcadians were accompanied by the untiring pipe players. The Arcadians may not
have been as imaginative as the others in their choice of dance, but the
Paphlagonians nevertheless found it entertaining. This would have been the
final dance of the feast if the Arcadians and the Mysian had not plotted one
last performance—one that would be the crowd favorite, by far.
One of the Arcadians had with
him a professional dancing-girl. The Mysian obtained permission from the
Arcadian to dress the dancing-girl in a brilliant set of armor, a shield, and
presumably a weapon. The Arcadian agreed and the dancing-girl was equipped in
war gear and brought before the feasting mercenaries. With the eyes of the
warriors on her, the dancer gracefully threw herself into her own rendition of
the famous Pyrrhic dance, one of the most popular war dances of the Greek world.
The mercenaries greatly enjoyed watching the dancing-girl’s performance, or
perhaps they simply enjoyed watching her. Nevertheless, according to Xenophon,
she received the loudest applause of the night. The Paphlagonians, it was said,
found her war dance to be so convincing that they were certain that she fought
alongside the mercenaries during battles.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Picture Attribution: (A
Pyrrhic Dance painted by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), [Public Domain] via
Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Anabasis Kyrou (The Expedition/Upcountry March of Cyrus) by Xenophon and translated by Robin Waterfield. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
