As anticipated, a most interesting post, Agesilaos ! Did this information come from Engels, someone else, or has your opisometer been working overtime ?
The problem with this sort of table is that it gives a rather misleading impression of precision. Xenophon for the most part quoted his march distance using a Persian measure called a ‘parasang’ loosely translated as ‘stage’ because it was not a terribly precise distance measure. Herodotus (v.53) speaks of an army traveling the equivalent of five parasangs per day. Other references include Histories ii.6, vi.42, and he defines the measure to be equivalent to 30 stadia. This comparison is also made by several later Greek and Roman writers (10th c. Suidas and Hesychius, 5th/4th c. BC) and Xenophon (Anab. ii.2.6). However, this latter paragraph is regarded as a later interpolation by many editors.
A similar problem arises with the stade ....linear measures varied from place to place ! Thus whilst a stade was agreed to be 600 feet, a foot could be a number of measures, the 3 common Greek ones being the “Doric” at c.327mm/ 13 inches, the “Attic” at c.294/11.75 ins, and the “Salamine’ a.k.a “common foot” at 307 mm/12.25 ins. Strabo (xi) also notes that some writers considered it to be 60, others 40, and yet others 30 stadia. The 1st century AD Pliny (Natural History vi.26) noted that the Iranians themselves assigned different lengths to it. On the authority of older sources, the 14th century Moslem historiographer Mostofi records that in the 10th century the north-eastern parasang was 15,000 paces, the north-western one was 18,000 paces, and the one of the south-west was merely 6,000 paces, but the "true" parasang, so Mostofi claims, was 9,000 paces. Recalling local legend, Mostofi also states the unit was defined to be equal to 12,000 cubits .
Following the 30-stadia definition of Herodotus and possibly Xenophon, the Greek version of the parasang would be equal to either 5.9 km (Doric stade measure) or 5.3 km (Attic stade measure). In 1920, Kenneth Mason of the Royal Geographical Society reckoned that the parasang used in Xenophon's Babylonian travel accounts was equal to only 2.4 miles (3.9 km/). More recently, Bivar ( 1985) concluded "[empirical tests] reckoning ten stades to the mile/1.609 km), and three miles/4.827 km to the parasang have given excellent results in practice. Whatever the basis of calculation, theoretical values for the stade and the parasang must be sought which do not greatly exceed [those] estimates.” Bivar's Ten stades is 2,000 ‘yards’, rather than the actual 1,760 yds to the English mile, so only an approximation !
One Stade ( Doric) is 196 m/212 yds, and a parasang of 30 stades thus 5.9 km/3.65 miles, or 1 stade (Attic) is 176m/191 yds, and a parasang of 30 stades thus 5.3 km/3.25 miles.....and of course we don’t know if Xenophon actually correctly quoted Attic measures, or was told in Persian measures and converted them himself to Attic, or what !!
Thus our ‘mileage’ is very approximate. For comparison here is an alternate list/table of the march, using an average of Doric and Attic measures of 3.45 miles to the parasang, as opposed to the rather short 3 miles ( presumably drawing on Bivar) to the parasang that the table Agesilaos produced utilises :-
BLAST! THE FORUM LAYOUT HAS RUINED MY CAREFULLY LAID OUT TABLE - THE SAME AS AGESILAOS TABLE ! SORRY IT IS NOW SO HARD TO READ, EVERYONE...
MARCHING DISTANCES AND SPEEDS OF THE TEN THOUSAND
March from Sardes to Cunaxa, 401 B.C.
Distance
Route Parasangs Miles Days Avge/day in miles
Sardes to Maeander 22 75.9* 3 25.3
Maeander to Colossae 8 27.6 1 28
Rest at Colossae 7
Colossae to Celaenae 20 69 3 23
Rest at Celaenae 30
Celaeanae to Peltae 10 34.5 2 17.25
Rest at Peltae 3
Peltae to Potters' Market 12 41.4 2 21
Potters' Market to Plain of
Cayster 30 103.5 3 34.5**
Rest in Cayster Plain 5
Cayster to Thymbrion 10 34.5 2 17
Thymbrion to Tyriaeum 10 34.5 2 17
Rest at Tyriaeum 5
Tyriaeum to Iconium 20 69 3(Jan) 23
March via Lycaonia 30 103.5 5(Jan) 20.7
March to Tyana 25 86.25 4 21.6
Battle at Cilician Gates 1
Day of Waiting 1
Day of Crossing 1***
Cil. Gates to Tarsus 25 86.25 4 21.6
Rest at Tarsus 20
Tarsus to Psaros 10 34.5 2 (Jan) 17.25
Psaros to Pyramos 5 17.25 1 17.25
Pyramos to Issus 15 51.75 2 25.9
Rest at Issus 3
Issus to Syrian Gates 5 17.25 1 17.25
Syr. Gat. to Myriandros 5 17.25 1 17.25
Myriandros to Chalos 20 69 4 17.25
Chalos to Dardas 30 103.5 5 20.7
Dardas to Euphrates 15 51.75 3 17.25
Rest at Thapsacus 5
Crossing Euphrates 1
Euphrates to Araxes 50 172.5 9 19.2
Araxes to Corsote 35 120.75 5 24.2
Rest at Corsote 3
March down Euphrates 90 310.5 13 23.9
March to Babylonia 12 41.1 2 20.7
Review and Rest 1
Advance to Median Wall
in battle array 3 10.4 1 10.4
BATTLE OF CUNAXA 1
•*Note that distance estimates here vary from those given by Agesilaos, but not significantly so, due to Bivar’s ‘2000 yard’ miles....Thus Bivar/Agesilaos first line of 66 miles x 2,000 yds = 132,000 yds while the other table has 75.9 miles x 1,760 yds = 133,584 yds - a relatively small difference of just under a mile.
•**Some editors think that Xenophon erred somehow at this point. Since the rate of march averaged 17-20 miles per day, perhaps Xenophon intended to write that the advance took five rather than three days. For myself, I think that the distance quoted of 34.5 miles per day is within the parameters whereby armies could move up to 50 miles per day on a ‘forced march’
•*** The distance from the Anatolian plateau to the Cilician plain is around 68-70 miles/110 km, descending over 1,000 m with defiles and heavy going and could take up to
5 days for armies to traverse , rather than the 1 given in both tables !!
Table from website of Turlane University