anabasis

[ uh-nab-uh-sis ]

noun

, plural a·nab·a·ses [uh, -, nab, -, uh, -seez].

1. a march from the coast into the interior, as that of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II, described by Xenophon in his historical work Anabasis (379–371 b.c.).
2. Literary. any military expedition or advance.

anabasis

/ əˈnæbəsɪs /

noun

1. the march of Cyrus the Younger and his Greek mercenaries from Sardis to Cunaxa in Babylonia in 401 bc , described by Xenophon in his Anabasis Compare katabasis
2. any military expedition, esp one from the coast to the interior

Word History and Origins

Origin of anabasis¹

1700–10; < Greek: a stepping up. See ana-, basis

Word History and Origins

Origin of anabasis¹

C18: from Greek: a going up, ascent, from anabainein to go up; see anabaena

Example Sentences

Yurick wrote the novel as a contemporary take on Xenophon’s “Anabasis,” the famed war expedition of 10,000 soldiers in ancient Greece.

From Los Angeles Times

Maps, photographs, explanatory notes, extracts from related documents, extensive bibliographies and an encyclopedic index consequently add deep context to “Anabasis,” Xenophon’s eyewitness account of the 10,000 Greek mercenaries who, in the 5th century BCE, trekked across half of Asia Minor as they battled to return home.

From Washington Post

That night, he remembers, “I dumped my gear in my quarters, pulled books off the shelves, and began studying campaigns in Mesopotamia, starting with Xenophon’s ‘Anabasis’ and books on Alexander the Great – working my way forward.”

From Washington Post

Hill’s screenplay with David Shaber adapts Sol Yurick’s novel of the same name, which itself reworked Xenophon’s ancient Greek myth of Anabasis; the film condenses the Greek army’s nation-spanning trek on to a compact scale befitting a city that fosters a new, fully independent sense of identity every four blocks or so.

From The Guardian

He based the story on “Anabasis,” written by the Greek soldier Xenophon, who helped lead the retreat of 10,000 Greek soldiers after their failed conquest of Persia about 400 B.C.

From New York Times

Related Words

• advance
• breakthrough
• development
• evolution
• growth
• headway
• improvement
• increase
• momentum
• movement
• pace
• process
• rise
• stride