Talk:Battle of Thymbra

Military history: Middle East / Classical B‑class

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Strength Figures

For the Persian strength figure wouldn't 30,000 be easiest? It was considered to be the standard formation of Cyrus' armies. It it is listed by Alxander Campbell as the strength and Paul Davis' 20,000-50,000 range coincides withe 30,000 figure. Even with an average, Davis arguing 35,000.--Arsenous Commodore 19:25, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Don't forget Xenophon

Tommorow I will have a better description of the battle and describe Xenophons account of it too. Also I might make a second article about the Siege of Sardis in 547 B.C which lasted 14 days, or two weeks!--Ariobarza 11:09 p.m, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Didn't happen

Nowhere in this article is any mention of the fact that the battle never actually took place. It is a fiction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.247.34.93 (talk) 18:06, 26 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also why does the article describe Xenophon's account as being 'confirmed' by Herodotus, when he was Xenophon's predecessor and was indisputably read by Xenophon? 131.247.34.93 (talk) 18:10, 26 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just came across this article (and fixed the errors and misunderstandings) and it appears to be be historical. Xenophon's characters and their dialogue may be fiction, but in terms of battles and sieges, they are mostly true in a historical sense. They match each other historian's accounts, mainly Herodotus'. Herodotus book 1, section 80 describes the battle (Thymbra) after the Battle of Pteria, but does not give a name to the plain near Sardis where it was fought (Xenophon calls it Thymbra, and if you read Xenophon, he describes it as a plain near Sardis or the capital of Lydia). Thymbra was both used for the name of the area near Troy and Sardis. In 1.81 Herodotus talks about the Siege of Sardis. It is generally known in history that sometimes historians omit entire battles from their history (for various reasons), but in our case both historians included this battle down to the last detail of how Cyrus's camel cavalry (first noticed by Harpagus of how the Lydian horses reacted to camels in the battle Pteria) enveloped Croesus's horse cavalry and won the battle. Basically Xenophon was describing Cyrus's last battle against Lydia, and so was Herodotus. Plus, from a book which the name now escapes me, archaeologists have found since the 70's, Persian spear heads and other things dated to 546 BC near Sardis, further confirmation of a battle outside of Sardis before the siege. Here is link to Herodotus' account, please read it carefully [1]. Thanks!--Eirione (talk) 14:01, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why is Herodotus being taken as gospel truth? 93.97.193.226 (talk) 16:59, 21 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]