Peltasts and chariots at Cunaxa

[Sean Manning]

One often reads in email or conversation the idea that the Greeks at Cunaxa who opened their ranks to avoid the scythed chariots were the psiloi or peltasts, or at least that there were some psiloi in front of the phalanx to break up the chariot charge. The main difficulty here is that the account of the Greek fight at Anabasis 1.8 seems to deal exclusively with the hoplites, the peltasts being returned to at Anabasis 1.10 when Xenophon has the occasion to mention Tissaphernes. It is not improbable that Xenophon would mislead in this way, but that is not a positive argument.

Has anyone gone over this in detail? Maybe Otto Lendle? For my thesis work I have been avoiding Cunaxa because I believe there are much more interesting questions to ask about Cyrus' revolt.