Cunaxa 401 B.C.

The Achaemenid King, Darius II died in 404 B.C. and was succeeded by his eldest son, Artaxerxes II. The death of Darius had precipitated a power struggle between Artaxerxes II and his brother, 'Cyrus, the younger', the satrap of Anatolia, which culminated in the battle of Cunaxa 401 B.C. near Babylon. A description of the battle is preserved in detail by Xenophon in his classic Anabasis as well as in Plutarch - Artaxerxes II.

It is the younger brother Cyrus, who seems to have captured the imagination of the Greeks and has been generally viewed as the hero of the conflict, the battle being seen as a victory to Cyrus with the credit going to Cyrus' Greek mercenaries. The Greeks have used the story to show the superiority of the Greek hoplite's arms and training and to demonstrate how easily the conquest of Persia could be acheived by anyone who is brave enough to try. With little description of the battle from Persian sources and the reliance on Greek writers, the brillance of Artaxerxes' and Tissaphernes' victory has been overlooked.

Background.

Artaxerxes, first known as Arsicas, was the first of four brothers. Their mother Parysatis, for reasons unknown, favoured Cyrus above Ostanes and Oxathres and even Arsicas. With his mother's support, Cyrus sought to take the Achaemenian throne.

During the coronation of Artaxerxes II, Cyrus was caught in an assasination attempt and was sentenced to death. However he was spared after the pleading of his mother and was allowed to return to Sardis, only to begin planning to take the throne by force.

Cyrus had assisted the Spartans against the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war, which ended in the victory for the Spartans in 404 B.C. Cyrus now used these Spartan alliances to begin recruiting a combined Greek and Persian army to march against his brother.

Wishing to keep his real intention secret, he continued to pay his annual tribute to the King and covered the build up of both Greek & Persian forces by carrying out a personel feud with Tissaphernes, the satrap of Ionia.

The Greek mercenaries, under the command of the Spartan general Clearchus, were recruited in Thrace and Thessaly and were also kept in the dark about the real purpose. The Greek mercenaries only learnt of their real target at Thapsacus, Cyrus had managed to get them that far by first misleading them into thinking they were to be used to suppress the Pisidians and later by the promise of more money. Leaving Sardis, Cyrus advanced into Phrygia, mustering Persian troops at Celaenae and getting supplies and reinforcements at Tyriaeum, and then at Issus, the eastern seaport of Cilicia.

Artaxerxes' Strategy.

Tissaphernes is said to have alerted the King of Cyrus' plan. Artaxerxes, with the help of Tissaphernes and a Greek named Phalinus, began his plans for the upcoming battle. Artaxerxes had vast manpower resources available to him, but was aware that many of his generals and advisors may secretly favour Cyrus.

Artaxerxes took the threat seriously and his response was thorough in its organisation and planning;

• sending scouts and spies to keep an eye on the advancing army.
• ordering cavalry to conduct a scorched earth policy in front of the advancing army.
• constructed of a large ditch across Cyrus' line of advance.
• used Phalinus, an expert in training and tactics to train the King's forces.

Both brothers had different advantages for the upcoming battle. Cyrus had the use of 10,000 heavily armed and well trained Greek hoplites while Artaxerxes had the benefit of a much larger force. However, Artaxerxes, unlike Cyrus, did not rely solely on his advantage.

Artaxerxes did not rush to meet the threat but let Cyrus come to him, giving him the time to complete his preparations and time to assemble his army.
To reach the King, Cyrus had to march through the Arabian desert, a march in which he lost many baggage animals through lack of feed, the troops ran short of corn, and water became scarce. Cyrus' march could have easily ended with the army forced to turn back due to the lack of supplies or because of the quarrels that started to break out between the Greeks. Cyrus, however, got his men through the desert with promises of more money.

 

Cyrus Deploys his Forces

Cyrus mistakenly expected to meet Artaxerxes at the ditch and so formed his army into battle formation and marched forward.

 

From John Warry's book, this fully armoured cavalrymen depicts Cyrus' bodyguard.

 

 

Commanders

Cyrus, the Younger	- Pretender to the Throne
Ariaeus	- Cyrus' second-in-command - Native Infantry- left wing
Clearchus	- Spartan Commander - right wing
Menon	- Thessalian commander - Greek left wing
Proxenus	- Theban mercanary General
Cyrus' Guard cavalry	600
Greek Hoplites	10,400
Peltasts	2,500
Native Infantry	100,000
Paphlagonian light cavalry	1,000
Scythed Chariots	20

Cyrus' deployment was very conventional. The Greeks, under the command of the Spartan, Clearchus, deployed on the right flank, the standard position of honour in the Greek army. The Eurphates river protected their right unshielded side. On the extreme right were the 2,500 Greek Peltasts, then the 10,400 Greek hoplites. Assuming the Greek deployed 8 ranks deep, the Greek line must have covered approximately two kilometres. Clearchus also had the support of 1,000 Paphlagonian light cavalry.

Cyrus positioned himself in the centre with his 600 heavily armed Guard Cavalry with helmet, breastplates and thigh armour. The 100,000 native troops under the Persian commander Ariaeus were to deploy on the left flank. Cyrus also had 20 scythed chariots.

Artaxerxes unexpectedly failed to face Cyrus and allowed him to cross the undefended ditch. This could have been for several reasons. It would have allowed Artaxerxes to observe Cyrus' deployment and therefore determine his plan of attack. But, what it does achieve, is that it throws Cyrus off guard.

Cyrus and the rest believed that Artaxerxes had given up the idea of fighting, and as a result of this belief, on the following day, Cyrus went forward with less caution.

" riding in his chariot with only a few regular formations in front of him. Most of the army was marching in no sort of order , and much of the soldiers equipment was being carried on the wagons and baggage animals".

Cyrus caught unprepared

Artaxerxes' strategy had worked well. Cyrus raced ahead with most of his army strung out in march when around midday, scouts raced back to report the approach of the King's army in battle formation. Cyrus was caught by surprise and forced to deploy his troops in a hurry. With little time to consider options or change his plans, the Greeks began to deploy in their previously determined positions on the right wing. Cyrus, travelling in a chariot, hurriedly put on his breast plate and mounted his horse.

Artaxerxes' Forces

Commanders

Artaxerxes II	- Achaemenid King
Tissaphernes	- Satrap of Ionia
Artagerses	- King's bodyguard
Gobrias	- Persian Commander
Arbaces	- Satrap of Media
Infantry	400,000
Cavalry	6,000
Scythed Chariots	150

The Kings forces outnumbered his brother's considerably and deployed in deep formation. On Artaxerxes' left, the white-armoured cavalry of Tissaphernes were deployed against the river. Then the wicker shielded heavy Persian infantry, then the Egyptian heavy infantry phalanx with their long spears and large wooden shields. Along side them, the cavalry & archers many ranks deep.

The King was assumed to be in the Persian centre, the usual position for the King, but it is possible that Artaxerxes was actually on the right wing of the Persian army.

Cyrus Plan

For someone who was present at the battle, Xenophon leaves us with many unanswered questions about what happened. Xenophon says that Cyrus ordered the Clearchus to deploy facing the King but Clearchus saw the good order of the troops protecting the King, and fearing encirclement from Artaxerxes huge army, refused. The Greeks positioned quickly to the right while Ariaeus' troops were still deploying from march column. Cyrus' plan seems to be to quickly overpower the opposing troops. However, Xenophon does not mention how Cyrus was to deal with the rest of the King's army. Was he expecting large numbers of desertions of troops from the King during the battle? Or, was he expecting the victory on one wing enough to rout the whole army? Xenophon's mention of 1,000 Paphlagonian cavalry supporting the Greeks may be the clue. If these were to exploit any victory on that wing, they could be used to pursue the broken troops allowing Clearchus to wheel the Greeks to attack the Persian centre while Cyrus attacked it frontally. The question then is why did the Greeks continue to pursue the Persian and Egyptian troops for 6 kilomteres and what happened to the Paphalagonian cavalry?

Artaxerxes' Victory

What the Greeks did not realise or could not admit is that their so called victory was planned by Artaxerxes to waste the strongest part of Cyrus' force in a useless pursuit. Artaxerxes' victory not only achieved the result he wanted, in more ways then one, it resulted in the death of Cyrus, which was his main objective. But he was able to achieve this with very few casualities on either side. Considering the so called sizes of both armies, the number of dead is very small. Plutarch gives two possible figures for the number of dead - 9,000 according to Ctesias, or 25,000 according to Dinon. So, after the battle, Artaxerxes would have had the use of a full force of Greek mercenaries under his control.

The rewards for the victors.

After the battle, Artaxerxes rewarded those who helped him achieve victory and punished those who deserted him. To one of his Carian guards he awarded him

"the privelege of carrying ever after a golden cock upon his spear before the first ranks of of the army in all expeditions." Plutarch

He gave gifts to the son of Artagerses, who was killed by Cyrus, and rewarded his doctor Ctesias and an eunuch who brought him a drink after he was injured. Tissaphernes however was given the King's highest honour, he was given the King's daughter as a bride, and was put in charge of the provinces which Cyrus had ruled. As for Arbaces, who sided with Cyrus, Artaxerxes did not kill him but instead, paraded him in front of the troops as a fool and allowed him to return home.

Tissaphernes

Tissaphernes, the trusted commander of the King, seems to be have played a large part in the victory. He had many years experience in fighting the Greeks and knew of the ability of their heavy infantry. He had only been able to achieve victory on previous occassions by bribing his Greek hoplites to desert. At Cunaxa, he commanded the King's left wing, Xenophon- Anabasis. I 8. 9 and personnally lead a column of heavy cavalry that broke through the Greek peltasts.

Phalinus

The day after the battle Heralds arrived mid morning from the King. Interestingly, among the Persians, there was one Greek named Phalinus, who, according to Xenophon (Anabasis ) "was in the service of Tissaphernes and was thought a lot of by him, as he professed to be an expert in drill and infantry tactics."

It would seem the King used Phalinus, another Greek, to talk to the Greeks as he was keen to gain their services. It would be beneath the dignity of the King to bargain for the support of a beaten foe with money.

Another possible reason Phalinus was given the honour of accepting the Greeks surrender was because he had played some large part in the King's victory.

The following examples demonstrate the skill and training of the Persian troops and that it was unexpected by both the Greeks and Cyrus. Firstly, Plutarch described the King's men as well marshalled,..

" the very manner in which he led on his men, silently and slowly, made the Grecians stand amazed at his good discipline, who expected irregular shouting and leaping, much confusion and separation between one body of men". Plutarch

Second, when no troops were opposing his front, Artaxerxes troops did not break formation to pursue but wheeled both lines of troops to threaten Cyrus' centre and the Greek's rear.(Anabasis).
Third, after looting Cyrus' camp and killing some of the Greek defenders, the King was able to recall his troops and marched back in battle order the way he had come and then wheeled again to face the Greeks who had returned from their wasted pursuit. As Xenopon Anabasis describes,
" the King suddenly changed direction and went past them, bringing up his line facing their front in the same order as he had come out to fight in the first place. ... drawn up opposite at close quarters".

Considering Cyrus' surprise at the King's armies well ordered advance, it might be possible to attribute this to the training of Phalinus.

The Battle

As previously mentioned, Cyrus waas in march order when he was surprised by the sudden appearance of Artaxerxes' army. Although the Xenophon mentions the initial panic that the king would attack before Cyrus had deployed his troops, Xenophon says the battle commenced early afternoon and so suggests they had several hours to get ready. Cyrus would have needed all this time to bring up the 100,000 troops be had marching behind him.

Artaxerxes may have used the time to finalise his plans or redeploy some troops. He does seem to have used this time to move some of the scythed chariots from his centre to cover the Greeks.(Plutarch: Artaxerxes p4).Artaxerexs may also have used this time, like Cyrus, to make sacifices and prayers and consult the omens." (Anabasis 1:)

Clearchus may have become impatient for battle as Xenophon says that the watchword was passed along the line twice. This, my understanding, is how the Greek right wing communicated that it was ready to attack. The words "Zeus the Deliverer" was relayed man to man, unit to unit and when the correct response - "Victory", was returned, Clearchus knew he was free to attack. So after the second message was received Cyrus, seeing that his troops were ready, gave the response. (Cyrus, not speaking Greek, had to ask what was the meaning of the password). When Cyrus gave the signal to attack, his left flank was said to be overlapped by Artaxerxes. Cyrus assumed, correct or not, that Artaxerxes had positioned himself in the Persian centre.

The Greeks began to move forward, the two lines about 600-800 yards apart, clashing their shields and spears together and raising a shout to frighten the horses. The scythed chariots stationed in front, rushed about. Xenophon says that some chariots went through their own troops and others were abandoned and careered driverless through the Greek lines.

The Persian and Egyptian heavy infantry facing the Greeks were said to break and run, even before the Greeks were in bowshot. The Greeks keeping formation, followed up quickly, shouting to each other not to run, but to keep their formation. Unlike the battle of Marathon, where the Greeks stopped their pursuit and turned to attack the Persian centre, here the Greeks instead kept up their pursuit for approximately six kilometres, which took about an hour.(I 8. 20).

Tissaphernes on the extreme Greek right, broke through the facing peltasts and headed for the Greek camp. He did not attempt to attack or even holt the hoplites.

Xenophon's description now gets confusing as he was with the Greeks chasing the retreating Persians. It seems Artaxerxes, with no enemy to oppose him, was now free to wheel around to threaten Cyrus' flank. Cyrus appears to have no reverses to counter this move and so charges directly towards the King with his six hundred cavalry. Cyrus, leading the charge, routed the six thousand Cadusians screening the King, killing their leader Artagerses. Plutarch Artaxerxes describes it differently. He says Artagerses

galloped up to him, crying aloud, "O most unjust and senseless of men, who are the disgrace of the honoured name of Cyrus, are you come here leading the wicked Greeks on a wicked journey, to plunder the good things of the Persians, and this with the intent of slaying your lord and brother, the master of ten thousand times ten thousand servants that are better men than you? as you shall see in this instant; for you shall lose your head here; before you look upon the face of the King."
With that he cast his javelin at him and struck him. Cyrus, unwounded, threw his weapon as Artagerses turned his horse and struck him through the back of the neck.

Encouraged by this victory, Cyrus now charged Artaxerxes himself without waiting to reform his cavalry. Plutarch (Anabasis) says Artaxerxes, casting his spear, missed but and hit Cyrus' friend Satiphernes, Cyrus however pierced the King's armour but only wounded him. Cyrus, however, was killed in the fighting and his head and right hand were cut off according to Persian law.

Scythed Chariots

The effectiveness of the scythed chariots may have been overlooked in Xenophon's description. Their advantage lay not in their ability to inflict casualties, but to cause fear.

Xenophon Hell. IV 1. 17-19, described their ability to break through and scatter hoplites when Pharnabazus in 395 B.C., with just two such chariots and 400 cavalry, was able to rout 700 hoplites and scattered the mass of the hoplites with them, and then his cavalry killed about a hundred of the Greeks before the rest reached the refuge of Agesilaus' main force.

At Cunaxa, the chariots may have forced the Greek's to seek the security of the position on the right wing and restricted their ability to change direction quickly or move away from the secure river.

Ordered not to engage the Greeks

My understanding that Artaxerxes had ordered his troops not to engage the Greeks can be seen in Xenophon's description and he did this for the following reasons; First, his war was with his brother, not with the Greek mercenaries Cyrus hired. Artaxerxes did not even punish the Persian, Arbaces, who commanded the 'native' troops against the King. Second, Artaxerxes and Tissaphernes were aware of the skill and reputation of the Greek heavy Infantry and they knew that engaging the Greeks would result in high casualities on both sides. Third, as Xenophhon mentioned, the Persians had built up a large military force in Palestine under the command of Abrocomas, and he mentions indirectly that Artaxerxes intended to use the services of the Greeks against Egypt.

The Persian's deliberate avoidance is seen first with the feinted retreat of the Egyptians and the Wicker shielded Persians and again when Tissaphernes breaks through the Greek peltasts to move against the camp.
The avoidance is again demonstrated when the King and Tissaphernes avoided attacking the Greek camp defenders, even when Cyrus had been killed and the Persians had the advantage both in troop numbers and quality.
Even the scythed chariots appeared to avoid engaging the Greeks. Xenophon said the only chariots to break through the Greek lines were the ones that had been previously abandoned. Xenophon also mentioned ( almost embarrassingly), a break in the Greek line at the beginning of the battle that the scythed chariots did not take advantage of.

Artaxerxes sort to isolate and strip the Greeks of their supplies. When Artaxerxes plundered the Greek camp, he took the 400 wagons carrying barley and wine, resulting in the Greeks going hungry, having not eaten since breakfast when they broke camp. They had also missed the midday meal.

The next morning they were forced to eat the baggage animals, cooking them over fires made with the arrows, wicker and wooden shield they had collected from the battle field.

The Greeks, too Arrogant

With the battle over and Cyrus now dead, the Greeks now showed themselves too arrogant and too stubborn to accept their defeat and insensitive of the Persians and their way of thinking.

The Persians, unlike the Greeks, had always sort to avoid battle if other means could achieve the same result. To the Greeks, and especially to Clearchus , a Spartan, a victory in this manner was totally alien. Clearchus could not accept the frustration at losing in this manner and was too insensitive to appreciate how Artaxerxes had actually honoured the military skill of the Greeks by choosing not to engage them in combat. So when Artaxerxes' heralds came to discuss their surrender, Clearchus chose war with the King, even though be had no personnel reason to do so, and his alliance with Cyrus had been for the money. When Artaxerxes could have made them Kings of Egypt, Clearchus wasted the opportunity and the result was the death of half of their numbers in their famous retreat to Greece.

Summary

In contrast to popular understanding, Artaxerxes, with the help of Tissaphernes, won at Cunaxa by deliberately isolating and neutralizing the Greek hoplites and forcing Cyrus into a desperate suicidal attack on the King. Unfortunately the stubborness of the Greeks to accept defeat, and the inability of both sides to overcome ethnic and cultural biases, led to the unneccessary loss of many lives in the Greek's courageous, but wasted retreat.