Xenophon

Xenophon of Athens was an Athenian-born mercenary and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected a commander of the Ten Thousand, a force of Greek mercenaries in the service of Cyrus the Younger. He wrote the Anabasis, which recounts the adventures of the Ten Thousand during Cyrus's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from Artaxerxes II and the return of the mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the Battle of Cunaxa. Xenophon established precedents for many logistical operations, and was among the first to use flanking maneuvers and feints. As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior".