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Link to Steven L. Ossad Google+ Profile... photos, research files, archival documents, visits to battlefields, staff ride materials, drawings, collected images, maps ...,
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Finalist, 2011 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award
A hero who faced down Pancho Villa with only a pistol and turned the tide of battle during the Salerno Operation in late 1943, John Lucas discovered at Anzio that his comrades were more dangerous than his enemies.
Brevet Colonel, Commander of the 30th Indiana Volunteers, and recipient of the Medal of Honor - all by the age of 23 - Henry Lawton's career spanned four decades until he fell in battle "bringing democracy to a distant land." Featured on the Center of Military History Civil War Website
When Joseph K.F. Mansfield fell at the Battle of Antietam, he was the ranking casualty on either side, the oldest general and West Point graduate to die in battle.
William and James Terrill of Virginia chose opposing sides in the Civil War, each rose to general and fell in battle. Theirs is a unique story of "brother against brother".
The only American armored division commander to die in battle, Maurice Rose was the son and grandson of rabbis who rose from private to general to lead the premier American armored force to victory over the Nazi empire.
Winner, 2003 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award
Thomas Macdonough faced Arab terrorists with steel and musket - in 1804
Russia's Rommel, General Ivan Chernyakhovsky survived brutal Anti-Semitisim, Stalin's madness, and German tanks to achieve a stunning combat record only to fall with final victory in sight.
Daniel Judson Callaghan's heroic sacrifice off Guadalcanal saved the embattled defenders of Henderson Field at the cost of his life and the destruction of his fleet.
Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle's leadership in and out of the cockpit made him one of the most admired men in the Eighth Air Force and one of the architects of daylight precision bombing.
The only physician ever to rise to Army Chief of Staff, Leonard Wood's path to success produced as many enemies as admirers.
Creator of the modern American Rangers, Darby led his men to great victories and a catastrophic defeat, but was always in the thick of the action.
Martin Blumenson spent his life writing the history of an institution he respected greatly and knew intimately, the United States Army. He inspired generations of his students and successors to the highest standard of excellence.
Described by some pretty eminent art historians as perhaps his greatest work, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Battle of Anghiari" defined for centuries the way artists portray the fury of battle and the anatomy and motion of warriors and horses in combat. The lost work sparked intense and on-going debate, and inspired many other great masters working in a variety of media. But, the battle has disappeared from history. Why?
Historian, biographer, memoirist, "novelist", and companion of Socrates, at the end of his life Xenophon wrote a small book of advice about reforming the Athenian cavalry. A discussion of specific suggestions, Xenophon's Hipparchicus reflects decades of the author's experience as an army commander. The wily survivor offers subtle insights on leadership as well as observations valuable to modern theorists and practioners of the "mounted service" that will always resonate.
The Battle of Kadesh, the greatest chariot clash in all recorded history, pitted the war-hardened Hittites against an untested Pharaoh in a struggle that shaped the destinies of the two dominant empires of the early Iron Age. Recorded as a great Egyptian victory, it is a case study of how a brilliant and well-executed public relations campaign can trump performance - and reality.
Born to greatness, Peirce ended his life in poverty, obscurity, and disappointment. Afflicted by illness, pain, drug-addiction and the suffocating moral intolerance of 19th Century America, the time to tell his story to a broad audience has finally arrived.
More than 3,500 years ago, Abraham, the leader of the Hebrews, led his men on a daring, long-distance, commando raid to rescue hostages. Hidden in a very brief passage of Genesis is the story of the first organized military action and victory of the Jewish people, a tale of courage and inspired leadership, and battle far from their borders. One cannot help but think of Operation THUNDERBALL, the Israel Defense Forces dramatic rescue of Jewish hostages at Entebbe, Uganda on July 4, 1976.
Does it make any sense to talk about a "philosophy of war?" What kinds of things would be discussed in such an academic sub-category? Whose works would make up the canon of study? On that point, why is it that Carl von Clausevitz's early 19th century book "On War" is virtually the only work generally accepted as a work of philosophy? In a world where war is so common, why is there so little systematic examination of its "first principles?" These are only a few of the questions that spark this general inquiry.
A stamp "album" that illustrates the military history of the United States as depicted in postage stamps. From the US first official postage stamp showing George Washington in uniform (1857) to the present day, the nation has remembered its wars and battlefields - both famous and forgotten - and honored its heroes, its weapons, and its victories. |
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Introduction
Xenophon, son of Gryllos of Athens, was a handsome, well-born and practical man with a talent for survival against very long odds. An expert on horsemanship and an experienced combat veteran, he gained his reputation during a relatively short time when he served as an elected “strategos” (στρατηγός, or, general), during one of the critical moments of the Persian Empire in the 4th century BC. His memoir of his great adventure, Anabasis, or, The March Up Country, remains one of the classics of world literature and has long been described by literary critics as an important precursor to the novel. It recounts with colorful detail, a true and rivetting story: a group of desperate soldiers, adrift after a defeat, their leaders murdered, facing a long, bloody, hopeless retreat through the heart of Mesopotamia, across hundreds of miles of hostile terrain, surrounded and constantly harried by a myriad of ruthless tribes. This account Sheds Direct light on the human spirit that not only endured but triumphed against unimaginable odds.
Head of a Horse, Parthenon Frieze, British Museum, London
Born into a politically inactive, but prominent family of Athens in 431 BC, Xenophon began his service in 409 BC as a young cavalry officer from the deme of Erchia. By the time Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404 BC, he was already a veteran of several campaigns and may have been a prisoner-of-war held in Boetia. He was at least an observor - and probably a participant on the wrong side - in the political conflict surrounding the murderous reign of the Thirty Tyrants in the years following Athen's defeat.
A companion of Socrates, and at ease in the circle of young aristocrats who flocked around the philosopher, Xenophon was invited by a well-placed friend to serve a Persian prince as a high ranking mercenary. After consulting the oracle on how to insure his success - rather than asking whether he should even undertake journey - Xenophon left Athens in 401 BC to pursue his fortune. Decades later, around 365 BC, he wrote the Hipparchicus, often translated as "Cavalry Commander", but actually a discourse on the specific duties and responsibilities of an Athenian commander of cavalry.
At the time he wrote Hipparchicus, war loomed between Thebes and Athens, which had been at peace for some time and was reportedly suffering from a decline in the quality of its standing cavalry. The Hipparchicus was intended to convey Xenophon’s advice about how to restore the force to its previous excellence. It incidentally also contains the only surviving extended description of the organization and many other details of the Athenian cavalry, including its very important ceremonial functions. Any viewer of the surviving Parthenon sculptures needs no further evidence of the importance of the cavalry to the full life of a city-state like Athens.
Fully armed Hippeus, Attic Black Figure Amphora, @550 BC, Louvre, Paris
The tone and specific suggestions of the Hipparchicus echo the concerns of the time when alliances were once again shifting, and Xenophon saw an opportunity to press his advantage of great knowledge and reputation to gain favor in his home city. Fortune favored Xenophon in the end. He reached a degree of reconciliation with Athens including a revocation of his degree of banishment, and reportedly ended his life in relative comfort in Corinth. The very respectable showing of the Athenian cavalry during the Battle of Mantinea (361 BC) just a few years after circulation of the Hipparchicus, undoubtedly reflects the debate about the old professional’s suggestions. In one of the powerful ironies of history - and literature - Gryllos, elder son of Xenophon, and educated in Sparta, died a hero's death in the service of Athens at Mantinea.
Hippeus, Rider Painter, Lakonian Black Figure Cup, @540 BC, British Museum, London
Xenophon’s reputation as a soldier, memoirist, and historian has been established by centuries of authority, and his texts have been valued greatly for two thousand years by students of military history as well as the classics. As a historian, however, Xenophon’s contributions have been dwarfed by his predecessor, Thucydides. Still, Xenophon’s Hellenica does complete the narrative of the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath in credible fashion - picking up the story at 411 BC and taking it to the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC.
While the reputation of Xenophon as a powerful, or even reliable witness on Socrates has varied over centuries, that issue is moot in this discussion. No one will mistake the Hipparchicus as a work of philosophy. Socrates is not present or mentioned. The subject matter could not be more practical, or farther from theoretical discussion. Still, there is no doubt that the philosopher exerted an enormous impact on Xenophon, and that he was an actual witness to conversations between Socrates and the political elite and ordinary citizens of Athens. Those discussions most certainly included military matters as is evident in many of Plato's dialogues, and Socrates's reputation as a valorous soldier who had risked his life to save comrades (especially Alcibiades) was well known, and acknowledged even by his adversaries. He was known to be particularly reliable in retreat or in difficult field conditions.
The presence of the veteran heavy infantryman and philosopher - the most famous victim of Athen's postwar murderous political divisions - is palpable in the text.
Socrates Defending Alcibiades at Potidea, Canova, 1797, Marble, Gipsoteca Canoviana, Possagno
Having spent a half century looking at life from horseback, Xenophon turned in retirement to consider the preoccupations of a Hipparch, a cavalry commander in Athens, in peace and war. His credentials for addressing those issues are beyond dispute. While the original purpose and writing style of the Hipparchicus may be narrow in scope, even shamelessly self-aggrandizing, the book reflects the author’s vast experience of cavalry and command, men and horses. It should be read, at least in part, as a response in word and actions to questions posed by Socrates to another young man who had just been appointed Hipparch; Xenophon gives the conversation the authority of his own presence in his Memorabilia, Book III, iii, 1-2.
“Again, when someone had been chosen a leader of cavalry, I remember that Socrates conversed with him in the following manner:
“Young man,” he said, “can you tell us why you hankered after a cavalry command? I presume it was not to be first of the cavalry in the charge; for that privilege belongs to the mounted archers; at any rate they ride ahead of their commanders even.”
“True.”
“Nor was it to get yourself known either. Even madmen are known to everyone.”
“True again.”
“But perhaps you think you can hand over the cavalry in better condition to the polis when you retire, and can do something for the good of the polis as a cavalry leader, in case there is any occasion to employ that arm?”
“Yes, certainly,” said he. (Xenophon, Memorabilia, III, iii, 1-2)
The Hipparchicus is practical, a "how to" pamphlet of military advice with some innovative ideas – like, for example, permanently attaching light infantry units directly to cavalry, thus formalizing the traditional attachment of the state-owned "mounted archer" auxiliaries. The booklet has no grand theoretical intent and cannot be read as a great work of strategy or the operational art. A valid question is how broad the advice is, or whether any of it has relevance today, either to the professional soldier or serious student of classical civilization. But, what cannot be challenged is Xenophon's reputation as a great cavalry commander and a battlefield leader of incomparable personal bravery, initiative, daring, resourcefulness, and luck. In that sense, the Hipparchicus still has immense authority and must be approached as a serious work. From that perspective, the work has relevance to the modern armored reconnaissance commander and the student of leadership, both of whom will read it with respect as well as admiration for a colleague.
Socrates, Brancusi, 1922, Oak, MOMA, New York
The Athenian Cavalry, 400 BC
Organization
At the time of the Peloponnesian War, the standing cavalry of Athens was a 1,000 man force organized into ten “squadrons” each raised from a levy drawn from the demes, or districts, of Attica and the city of Athens. A force of 200 mounted archers (hippotoxōtœ), slaves of the state, was integrated into the main body and served as mobile light infantry, skirmishers, and scouts. The cavalry was commanded by two equal rank “hipparchs”, each responsible for commanding five squadrons, or one half of the force, and both subservient to the overall commander, or (strategos). Each hundred man squadron was commanded by a “phylarch” (from υλή, "clan, race, people). The term is translated as “colonel,” but that is misleading in modern usage as the unit ("phyle") is closer in size to a modern armored cavalry troop usually commanded by a captain. The entire cavalry force of Athens was equivalent in size, organization, and impact on the battlefield to a Civil War-era cavalry brigade, eg. Union Col. John Farnsworth’s 2nd brigade of cavalry at the Battle of Antietam (1862) which mounted 850 men organized into 10 troops.
Weapons and Tactics
The typical equipment of an Athenian heavy cavalry trooper of the late 5th/4th centuries BC, was light leather body armor, helmet, 2 throwing javelins, and defensive edged weapons. Light cavalry consisted of mounted archers, who frequently rode at the front of columns or line of cavalry. Lightly armed infantry were also occasionaly used as auxiliaries. The saddles did not include stirrups, nor were horses shod, so some of the maneuvers described in the text were difficult to perform, especially accurate mounted javelin throwing.
The cavalry was funded and managed by the Council of Athens, and its level of support rose and fell with the political realities of the time. Each year, the city conducted an inspection and registered each mount to faciliatate payment to each hippeus of the annual maintenance allotment. These records, uncovered in the Agora training area, include descriptions of horse color, brand, and value and were used partly for determining war-related compensation.
At all times, the standing cavalry played a major role in religious celebrations, especially the every four year Panathenaic rites honoring Athena - portrayed on the Frieze of the Parthenon. Its professionalism, especially in performance of public civil and religious duties was essential to the political life of the city.
By 365 BC, the cavalry's strength was down by a third, and reports of low troop morale and poor quality horses were widespread and had undoubtedly reached Xenophon. Some of the advice offered in the Hipparchicus clearly relate to details of those reports and are reflected in specific recommendations.( Hipparchicus, I, 13-16)
Parthenon Horsemen, British Museum (London) & Acropolis Museum (Athens)
The highly orchestrated and greatly anticipated participation of the Athenian Cavalry was an important part of the procession of the Panathenaia festival, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess, and the occasion of active decoration of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon. The current locations of the blocks displayed are Athens (A), or London (L). Labels (of varying quality) are from British Museum Galleries.
Block I (L)
Block XXXI (A)
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Block XXXIII (L)
Block XXXIV (A)
Block XXXV (A)
Block XXXVII (L)
Block XXXVIII (L)
Block XXXVIIII (L)
Block XL (L)
Block XLI (L)
Blocks XLII-XLIII (L)
BLOCK XLII (L)
Block XLIII (L)
Block XLIV (L)
The holes drilled in the marble surface - used to mount decorative bronze bits and bridles - are visible close to the horse's polls and corners of their mouths. The horse on the right, reigned back to a walk, dramatically portrays the discomfort caused by the bits.
Block XLV (L)
Block XLVI (L)
Block XLVII (L)
South Frieze
The South Frieze, like the North, includes a procession of riders, chariots, musicians, men carrying water jars or sacrificial implements, and leading sacrificial animals. The direction flow is from left to right (or, west to east). The riders are divided into ten ranks of six riders each, probably representing the actual Athenian cavalry of the mid-5th century BC, which was organized into ten regiments of a hundred men, mustered from each of the ten demes of Athens, and distinguished by distinctive dress and kit. The figures are carved over a total of twenty-four blocks, their composition less varied than those of the North.
Block II (L)
The block shows a horseman, wearing a chlamys - a dark wool cloak worn pinned to one shoulder leaving the right arm free - tunic, knee-length boots, and an animal skin cap with ear and neck-flaps.
Block III (L)
The block represents riders in the second rank wearing the chlamys. Especially dramatic is the rider whose cloak has blown backward indicating speedy movement, as do the manes of the horses. The nudity highlights the division between the first and second rank of riders.
Block V (L)
Block VI (L)
Block VII (L)
Block VIII (L)
Blocks IX (L)
Blocks X - XI (L)
Block X (L)
Block XI (L)
Block XI represents parts of three horsemen. They are dressed identically to the ones on Block X: body armor worn over a short tunic and boots. The armor is fashioned from two metal parts hinged at the sides, beaten to the shape of a male torso. Metal reins, which are now lost, were inserted in drill-holes. The remains of the three horsemen on this block are uniform in style. However those of the previous Block X, although part of the same group, are carved differently and probably the work of a different hand.
Block XII (L)
Block XIII (L)
The block includes parts of three horsemen wearing armour. They form a group of six with the ones on the previous block. The armour is of the kind made of plates of reinforced leather, comprising a corselet, shoulder straps and waistband hung with a series of straps worn over a short tunic. The riders wear animal skin boots with top flaps and a cap with a long tail. Metal reins, now lost, were inserted in drill-holes.
Block XV (L)
Block XXIII (L)
Block XXVI (L)
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"Cavalry", from the French, cavalerie, and the German, kavallerie, and derived ultimately from the vulgar Latin, caballus.
Timeline of Xenophon of Athens
432 Socrates distinguishes himself at the siege of Potideia
431 The Peloponnesian War begins
430 Xenophon, son of Gryllus, born in the Deme of Erchia
429 Pericles dies of the plague
Pericles, Roman, 2nd Century BC, British Museum, London
424 Socrates distinguishes himself at the Battle of Delium
--- Plato born
422 Battle of Amphipolis
421 "Peace of Nicia"
416 Subjugation of Melos
415 Athens launches the Sicilian expedition which ends in disaster
411 Oligarchic revolution against the Democracy
410 Democracy is restored
409 Xenophon becomes a hippeis
408 Athenian cavalry defeats Spartan King Agis before the walls of the city
406 Battle of Arginusae; Trial and Execution of the Generals
--- Xenophon ships from Athens with the Mytilene rescue party
405 Defeat of Athenian Navy by Lysander at Aegospatami
--- Xenophon back in Athens participates in the siege
404 Spring: Athens surrenders
--- Autumn, Sparta installs the oligarchic Thirty Tyrants and the Peloponnesian War officially ends
404-3 Midwinter: Thrasybulus seizes Phyle
403 Spring: The Thirty Tyrants are overthrown
--- Summer: Democracy is restored and a general amnesty declared
Cavalry at Cunaxa, 401 BC
401 Xenophon asks the Delphic Oracle which god to pray to for success
--- Xenophon invited by Proxenus to join Cyrus at Sardis
--- Cyrus killed at the Battle of Cunaxa
--- Greek mercenary commanders murdered by Tissafernes
--- Xenophon elected strategos and begins the epic retreat of 10,000 men described in his Anabasis
The Death of Socrates, David, 1787, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum, New York
399 Socrates is executed by Athens
--- Xenophon leads the 10,000 to safety
396 Xenophon is exiled from Athens, settles at Scyllus in Elis, near Olympia
396-394 Xenophon is in the service of Spartan King Agesilaus
394 Spartan victory over Athens at Battle of Coronea
386 Athens revokes Xenophon's exile
385 Xenophon writes Anabasis
371 Athenian victory over Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra
--- Xenophon is deported, probably to Corinth
365 Hipparchicus is written and circulated in Athens
362 Xenophon’s son Gryllus, fighting in the Athenian cavalry, is killed in action at the Battle of Mantinea
@355 Xenophon dies, probably at Corinth
Note on the Title
British scholar H.G. Dakyns’ 1897 translation of the title of Xenophon's pamphlet, “Duties of a Hipparch, or Commander of Cavalry at Athens” is based on the traditional description of the text, esp. by the Greek grammarians at the time of Cicero (1st century BC) who described the text as, ιππαρχικος (Hipparchicus), s. de Magistro Equitum Libellus, or, ιππαρχικος a λόγος (word) about the ιππαρχ (Hipparch), i.e. “a treatise about the Hipparch, a cavalry commander of Athens” (Google edition of Dakyns, xviii).
E.C. Marchant (1923) used the title “The Cavalry Commander,” a clear shift away from the specific Athenian office and the notion of discourse, and a reversal of emphasis (Loeb, xxviii). WWII combat veteran Edouard Debecque’s French edition (1975) is titled “Le Commandant de la Cavalerie”, or Commander of Cavalry, returning to the original Roman order of emphasis. The title used here maintains the original sense that the work was somewhat specific, i.e. “about the things of a Hipparch”, a distinctly defined Athenian cavalry function, as well as broader command issues and general cavalry precepts.
Available English & Greek Texts of Hipparchicus
The English text for this study is based on the on-line, Perseus Project's Loeb Classical Library's Xenophon, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London, translation by E.C. Marchant, revised 1968 (available at www.perseus.tufts.edu/). H.G. Dakyn’s translation with introduction and notes (1897) is also available through a number of on-line sites and is cited where appropriate. All citations from other Xenophon works are based on Perseus Project texts.
The most authoritative MSS source is the Vaticanus 989, 13th Century.
"Hippeis", Achilles Painter, Black Attic, 450-40 BC
Xenophon References
Leo Strauss: Seminar on Xenophon's Works [Chicago 1962]... Lectures on Xenophon, Univ of Chicago, Jan-Jun 1962 ... original transcript
Britannica 1911 Edition... especially good for early 20th century bibliography
Lord Elgin's Casts of Parthenon Horsemen in Athens
Block II (A)
Block III (A)
Updated May 15, 2013
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