Toxic honey and the march up-country

摘要

This article gives an account of the Greek warrior-historian Xenophon and his Anabasis (The March Up-Country), one of the most famous events in military history. It includes a description of how the Greek soldiers, after reaching apparent safety near the south-eastern Black Sea, were felled by a strange honey that rendered them as if dead for a day. Modern understanding of the toxicology of this honey is given, then an epilogue summarizing the rest of Xenophonapos;s life.