Battle of Cunaxa - Battle

Battle

  • First phase of battle

  • Second phase of battle

The Greeks, deployed on Cyrus's right and outnumbered, charged the left flank of Artaxerxes' army, which broke ranks and fled before they came within arrowshot. However, on the Persian right the fight between Artaxerxes' army and Cyrus was far more difficult and protracted. Cyrus personally charged his brother's bodyguard and was killed by a javelin, which sent the rebels into retreat. (The man who threw the javelin was known as Mithridates and he would later be executed by scaphism because he took the kill from Artaxerxes). Only the Greek mercenaries, who had not heard of Cyrus's death and were heavily armed, stood firm. Clearchus advanced against the much larger right wing of Artaxerxes' army and sent it into retreat. Meanwhile, Artaxerxes' troops took the Greek encampment and destroyed their food supplies.

Read more about this topic:  Battle Of Cunaxa

Famous quotes containing the word battle:

    The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.
    Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)

    Forty years after a battle it is easy for a noncombatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to have to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    Whose kiss
    stings and stills;
    your kiss was stale, satiate and pale
    beside his,
    who commands battles,
    who kills
    when the battle delays.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)