Cunaxa
Cunaxa, located on the left bank of the Euphrates River, is notable for being the site of a significant battle in 401 BC during the power struggle within the Persian Empire. The battle pitted the Persian king Artaxerxes II against his younger brother, Cyrus the Younger, who had enlisted a large force of Greek mercenaries. Initially, the Greek troops, heavily armed and commanded by the Spartan Clearchus, achieved success by routing the left wing of Artaxerxes' forces. However, the tide turned when Cyrus made a bold charge at the center, wounding Artaxerxes but ultimately losing his life in the encounter. This defeat for Cyrus led to a significant retreat of the Greek mercenaries, famously chronicled by Xenophon in his work "Anabasis." The event marked a critical moment in Persian history and illustrated the complexities of intra-family conflict and the role of mercenary troops in ancient warfare. Cunaxa remains a focal point for understanding the dynamics of power, military strategy, and the experiences of soldiers in the ancient world.
Cunaxa
On the left bank of the Euphrates, perhaps Kunish near Felluja, forty miles north of Babylon (now in Iraq)
Cunaxa was the scene of a battle in 401 BC between the Persian monarch Artaxerxes II and his brother Cyrus the Younger, who had mobilized a substantial body of Greek mercenaries, ostensibly for operations in Asia Minor, but in reality to fight against his brother the king, as was clear when he led them across the Euphrates.
They came unexpectedly upon Artaxerxes at Cunaxa, and battle was joined. The Greek heavily armed troops on Cyrus' right, under the Spartan Clearchus, routed the opposing left wing, but a strong Persian cavalry contingent threatened their rear and Cyrus' left wing's inner flank: whereupon Cyrus charged Artaxerxes' center with his bodyguard and wounded him, but lost his own life, and his army was decisively defeated. The Greek mercenaries, however, as one of their number Xenophon described, succeeded in closing ranks and escaping; and so began their historic Retreat of the Ten Thousand (Anabasis) to the Black Sea.