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A classical education includes extensive learning about ancient history, particularly Greek history. This is not just so a person can sound intelligent by quoting Herodotus or Plato, but because much of our Western civilization is built on this knowledge. The past is the key to the present, as the old saying goes. The fact that some of this history is military history and very exciting to read is just icing on the cake, as far as I am concerned. The interactions of the Greek people with the expanding Persian Empire, in the years 490 BC to 480 BC, is inspiring. This is a generation or two after the fall of Babylon in the Book of Daniel. The small Greek city-states held off the attacks of the huge Persian Empire through bravery, good leadership, and good tactics. King Xerxes led these failed attacks and is thought to be the same king of the Persian Empire as Esther’s husband in the Book of Esther in the Bible. It is known from secular history that Xerxes “sought comfort in his harem” after these failures, and this is what the opening chapters of Esther are all about. These historic defeats of the Persian Empire by the Greeks, such as the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, made the Persians realize that the Greeks were really good warriors. Therefore, in 400 BC, a pretender to the throne of the Persian Empire hired 10,000 of these elite Greek warriors as mercenaries to help him. This pretender’s attempt to take the throne failed miserably. Suddenly, 10,000 hated Greek warriors were trapped in the middle of the Persian Empire, surrounded by hostile people, hundreds of miles from home. A man named Xenophon took charge and led the 10,000 men safely all the way back to Greece, facing many geographic, logistic, and military barriers. Ten Thousand Heroes by James Barbary is a junior historical novel, middle school to high school level, that tells the story of this amazing march through hostile territory from the point of view of a young boy with the Greek army. It is a fascinating story and hopefully, once read, it will lead the reader to Xenophon’s own account of this march, which has been preserved to this day. At West Point, our school for future army leaders, this march is still studied for the valuable lessons it teaches in leadership and ingenuity.