The Lost Army
Authors: Valerio Massimo Manfredi
V
ALERIO
M
ASSIMO
M
ANFREDI
is professor of classical archaeology at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. Further to numerous academic publications, he has published twelve works of fiction, including the Alexander trilogy, which has been translated into thirty-four languages in fifty-five countries. His novel
The Last Legion
was released as a major motion picture. He has written and hosted documentaries on the ancient world and has written screenplays for cinema and television.
Also by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
A
LEXANDER:
C
HILD OF A
D
REAM
A
LEXANDER:
T
HE
S
ANDS OF
A
MMON
A
LEXANDER:
T
HE
E
NDS OF THE
E
ARTH
S
PARTAN
T
HE
L
AST
L
EGION
H
EROES
(
formerly
The Talisman of Troy)
T
YRANT
T
HE
O
RACLE
E
MPIRE OF
D
RAGONS
T
HE
T
OWER
P
HARAOH
ALERIO
M
ASSIMO
M
ANFREDI
Translated from the Italian by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi
PAN BOOKS
First published 2008 by Macmillan
First published in paperback 2009 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2009 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd
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www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-230-73839-3 in Adobe Reader format
ISBN 978-0-230-73838-6 in Adobe Digital Editions format
ISBN 978-0-230-73840-9 in Mobipocket format
Copyright © Valerio Massimo Manfredi 2008
Translation copyright © Valerio Massimo Manfredi 2008
The right of Valerio Massimo Manfredi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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To my mother
If the venture of the Ten Thousand was extraordinary, that of the women who followed them was nothing short of incredible.
W. W. Tarn
Abira
is the novel’s narrator
Abisag –
one of the girls who saves Abira
Agasias of Stymphalus (the Stymphalian) –
Greek army general
Agias of Arcadia (the Arcadian) –
Greek army general
Anaxibius –
Spartan admiral stationed at Byzantium
Archagoras –
Greek officer
Ariaeus –
commander of the Asian contingent of Cyrus’s army
Aristonymus of Methydria –
valiant Greek soldier
Artaxerxes –
the Great King, Cyrus’s brother and Emperor of the Persians
Callimachus –
Greek soldier
Cleanor of Arcadia (the Arcadian) –
Greek army general
Clearchus –
Spartan commander of the mercenary expeditionary force
Cleonimus of Methydria –
valiant Greek soldier
Ctesias –
Greek physician to Artaxerxes
Cyrus –
second son of the King of Persia, governor of Lydia
Demetrius –
young Greek soldier
Dexippus –
Greek soldier
Durgat –
Persian prisoner, one of Queen Parysatis’s ladies in waiting
Epicrates –
Greek officer
Eupitus –
Proxenus’s second-in-command, from Tanagra
Eurylochus of Lusia (the Arcadian) –
young Greek soldier
Glous –
one of Ariaeus’s cavalrymen
Lycius of Syracuse –
cavalry commander with Xeno
Lystra –
young prostitute following the army
Masabates –
Persian eunuch
Melissa –
one of Cyrus’s concubines
Menon of Thessaly (the Thessalian) –
Greek army general
Mermah –
one of the girls who saves Abira
Mithridates –
Persian general
Neon of Asine –
officer in Socrates’s battalion and Sophos’s field adjutant
