Theches: an elusive mountain

This article deals with the location of Mount Theches, the vantage point from which Xenophon’s Ten Thousand famously got their first sight of the sea after a long and arduous march across eastern Anatolia. It discusses what the written sources can and cannot tell us about this iconic spot, comment...

Whakaahuatanga katoa

Ngā taipitopito rārangi puna kōrero
Kaituhi matua: G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher
Hōputu: Tuhinga
Reo:Ingarihi
I whakaputaina: Cambridge University Press 2025
Urunga tuihono:https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/671
_version_ 1857448962733113344
author G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher
author_facet G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher
author_sort G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher
collection institutional Repository
description This article deals with the location of Mount Theches, the vantage point from which Xenophon’s Ten Thousand famously got their first sight of the sea after a long and arduous march across eastern Anatolia. It discusses what the written sources can and cannot tell us about this iconic spot, comments on the currently favoured identification (stressing its dependence on an assumption about the route the army followed to and from the vantage point), and presents three other places that can come into contention if different assumptions are made about the route. The aim is not to insist that one or other of these is the correct solution but rather to underline the point that, since we do not (and are never likely to) know how the Ten Thousand approached Theches, and since there are many points in the Pontic Mountains behind Trabzon from which the sea can be glimpsed in the far distance, the identity of Theches is a problem that does not admit of more than conjectural solution. This prompts broader reflections on the textual and the topographical, and the relationship between landscape and narrative.
format Article
id 123456789-671
institution Asian University for Women
language English
publishDate 2025
publisher Cambridge University Press
record_format dspace
spelling 123456789-6712026-02-18T06:15:31Z Theches: an elusive mountain G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher This article deals with the location of Mount Theches, the vantage point from which Xenophon’s Ten Thousand famously got their first sight of the sea after a long and arduous march across eastern Anatolia. It discusses what the written sources can and cannot tell us about this iconic spot, comments on the currently favoured identification (stressing its dependence on an assumption about the route the army followed to and from the vantage point), and presents three other places that can come into contention if different assumptions are made about the route. The aim is not to insist that one or other of these is the correct solution but rather to underline the point that, since we do not (and are never likely to) know how the Ten Thousand approached Theches, and since there are many points in the Pontic Mountains behind Trabzon from which the sea can be glimpsed in the far distance, the identity of Theches is a problem that does not admit of more than conjectural solution. This prompts broader reflections on the textual and the topographical, and the relationship between landscape and narrative. 2025-07-21T06:24:31Z 2025-07-21T06:24:31Z 2023 Article https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/671 en application/pdf Cambridge University Press
spellingShingle G. Brennan and J. Tuplin, Shane, Christopher
Theches: an elusive mountain
title Theches: an elusive mountain
title_full Theches: an elusive mountain
title_fullStr Theches: an elusive mountain
title_full_unstemmed Theches: an elusive mountain
title_short Theches: an elusive mountain
title_sort theches an elusive mountain
url https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/671
work_keys_str_mv AT gbrennanandjtuplinshanechristopher thechesanelusivemountain