Pascal Couchepin's reading: Xenophon's «Anabasis

Each month, we feature a column by one of the personalities who give us the pleasure of alternating between the two. Current affairs, history, politics and philosophy: former Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin's readings.

The publisher Phoebus had the good sense—and the courage—to publish a new translation of Xenophon’s (431–355 B.C.) *The Ten Thousand* or *The Anabasis*. Texts translated from ancient Greek are often off-putting to the non-specialist. Too many unfamiliar place names, a style heavy enough to remain faithful to the original text… Pascal Charvet and Annie Collognat have chosen to make life easier for the modern reader by indicating distances traveled in kilometers, adding the current names of the sites, and providing a glossary of the characters mentioned. Xenophon becomes for us what he truly is: the author of a thrilling adventure novel, raco