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Xenophon's parasangs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2010

Tim Rood
Affiliation:
St Hugh's College, Oxford

Abstract

This paper analyses one aspect of Xenophon's representation of space, focusing on the famous stages-and-parasangs formula employed by Xenophon in the Anabasis. It starts by discussing the meaning of his terms, and then explores patterns of repetition and variation in his account of the march, split into three sections (the marches upcountry, to the sea and along the coast). Rather than explaining Xenophon's usage in terms of sources, it suggests that variations in the marching formula elaborate the successive stages of the Greeks' encounter with the spaces of the Achaemenid Empire.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2010

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