Xenophon, Syrian Resistance fighters and cultural continuity

I am reading Xenophon's March by John Prevas. All historical reconstructions are subject to the criticism that they do not hue closely enough to the historical record, or that they do so too closely. How much context to provide, how much to assume the reader already holds. How many words to spend providing nuance to points held in contention by historians or how often to simply provide a readable narrative. These are not insignificant challenges and I think Prevas has done a good job of reaching a balance that yields a reasonably factual story that captures one of the classical world's greatest adventures, the march of the 10,000 mercenary Greek soldiers from Asia Minor into the heart of the Persian Empire and back out again. One of the most famous lines from The Anabasis by Xenophon is when the Greeks, after some 2,000 miles of marching through the mountains and plains of the Persian Empire, finally crest a pass in eastern Anatolia and cry out to those at the rear of the march, "The Sea, The Sea!" The promise of home and the prospect of survival.

What was very striking to me though was something having almost nothing to do with Prevas as an author. In the past week or so there have been horrifying videos coming out of Syria (a land through which Xenophon and the Greeks marched on their way to Babylon). These videos show the Syrian resistance fighters beheading captured Assad paramilitary soldiers. One element that caught my eye and made me wonder, was that the Syrian resistance fighters appeared to have not only beheaded their captives but to have cut off one of their hands as well. In none of the written accounts was this addressed and so I was left to wonder what might have been the significance.

Then I came across this passage in Xenophon's March, page 97. Cyrus, the renegade seeking to unseat his brother King Artaxerxes from his throne, has led his own army and the Greek army of mercenaries to the gates of Babylon where his armies and those of Artaxerxes clash. The Greeks fare well and defeat the Persians in their part of the battlefield but Cyrus is less successful. Charging deep into the ranks of the Persians, in an attempt to reach his brother, Cyrus became separated from his guard and fell to a javelin.

So strong had the hatred between the royal brothers grown, that even with Cyrus dead and the battle raging all about him, Artaxerxes took time to participate in the mutilation of his brother's body. Cyrus's head and right hand were cut off by the king's men. The "offending hand" that had dared to strike a blow against the royal personage of the king, and the head that had dared to plot against him, were placed in a basket. Artaxerxes ordered them sent to Babylon so that after the battle, he might preserve them as trophies and display them in celebration of his victory.

Is what the Syrian resistance fighters are doing some preserved cultural artifact from those distant times 2,500 years ago? It seems improbable but it was striking to read that passage and to see blurred videos seeming to illustrate that there are all sorts of legacies that live on.