Posted on 11/09/2009 5:18:05 PM PST by LibWhacker
Herodotus wrote of a 50,000-man strong army that set out on foot into the Egyptian desert in 525 B.C. and was never heard from again ... until today.
A pair of Italian archaeologists have uncovered bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are hopeful that they've finally found the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II.
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Cambyses II and his armied were buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C. He wrote, "a wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Wasn’t this report by Herodotus one of those that were considered fables by historians for centuries?
Darn you.
Fascinating. Thanks.
True, but that's just a reflective response to dissociate themselves from the current Islamic Republic of Iran.
After 1979 for many Americans Iran equated the Ayatollah, so saying you are "Persian" was a convenient way of dissociation.
This pattern continued with imperialist Britain and Russia, while Iran remained continually the internal term.
1935 was a year of great reforms in Iran (the veil was abolished, men were ordered to wear Western dress, the language was cleaned of arabisms, Ferdowsi the author of "Shahname", where BTW Iran was the name used, was celebrated the year before) and the Shah decided that in order to shed of the past of being a semi-colony of Britain and Russia, "Persia" was only to be used to describe the inglorious past of weakness, while the hitherto internal term "Iran" was to be used also by the outside to mark a new beginning.
After studying primary sources, I stumbled upon the memoirs (published in the 1950's) of Wipert von Bluecher, the German ambassador to Persia from 1932-1935. He and Reza Shah hated each other, because the Germans back then were involved in numerous scandals in Iran. Bluecher makes many accusations against Reza Shah in his memoirs. He seems to be the primary source of the rumor that "Iran" was chosen to please the Germans. His "source" reveals the reliability of that claim: Allegedly he heard after the war from an unnamed friend that the suggestion of renaming the country internationally came from the Persian embassy in Berlin.
Given that... I think the official Iranian reason given above is more veritable than von Bluechers rumor.
Given the people and religion there live in the 7th century, anything from a short time of the 1900’s would not be recognized.
In my discussions with “iranian’s” here - they call it persia because they are embarrassed by their home country because after 1,000’s of years of history, its only achievement was to create a place they had to flee.
Yessir. The MSNBC link I posted mentions that briefly. You’ve got to wonder how many other historical fantasies are true.
Wow...I never knew that. I heard the German story in school & Wikipedia. The need updating...
I was in Europe at the time of the hostage crisis and met a Kurd from Iran who said he was from “Persia.” He was apologetic over the hostage outrage, but more concerned with the mistreatment of Kurds in Iran, naturally.
There are cyberbullies and web brigades of the islamic regime, plus assorted iranian and western leftists who removed all my (and other) changes and injected their bias everywhere.
Since some months I observed that someone (probably regime agents) is simply removing Pahlavi history from Iran related articles, as if it never happened. There are articles (for example on women's rights) where half a century of progress under the Pahlavi's simply doesn't exist. It's 19th century... and blammo! Islamic Revolution 1979.
Maybe when I find some time, I'll try it again. *sigh*
If you are interested, there are three excellent books on Iranian history 1921-41 I'd recommend:
Yair P. Hirschfeld, Iran und Deutschland 1921-1941 (Israeli author, but the book is only in German. This is an excellently sourced book on German-Iranian relations and debunks thoroughly the "Shah was pro-Nazi" propaganda.)
Richard Stewart, Sunrise at Abadan (an US Marine officer and historian has meticulously researched the circumstances of the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran. It's a military history primarily, but a very good read.)
Donald Wilber, Riza Shah (from the 1970's but still the best biography of Reza Shah. Some facts have been updated by more recent research, but Wilber talked to many primary sources and witnesses, and the book is enjoyable and has information that was neglected by other works.)
Awesome. I’ll check out those books.
wildbill: “Wasn’t this report by Herodotus one of those that were considered fables by historians for centuries?”
I think there were those who thought he’d repeated a tale that had grown in the telling. I’m surprised at times how much hostility is sometimes directed at Herodotus, or rather, at a straw man version of Herodotus (or sometimes, the straw man of a straw man).
Thanks exit82 for the ping to the other one:
Is this the legendary lost Persian army
Daily mail | 10th November 2009 | Cher Thornhill
Posted on 11/09/2009 8:05:43 PM PST by Charlespg
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2382726/posts
Thanks USOTOS.
Tourists to Look for Ancient Persian ArmyTourists traversing Egypt's desert may solve a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries: what happened to the 50,000-man Persian army of King Cambyses... After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to El-Khargeh, presumably intending to follow the caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis to Siwa. But after they left El-Khargeh, they were never seen again... Nessim will continue the Cambyses expeditions for the next five years. "If we discover anything about the lost army, it will be the discovery of the century," he said.
News Service: Iran
2/14/2004 6:24:00 PM
“I coulda had guard duty at the Hanging Gardens but my detailer sent me here instead...”
???
Dem bones Dem bones Dem dryyyyy bones
Curse of Amun.
If the historical description is anywhere close to accurate, there will be a lot of mummified bodies, just desiccated after being buried alive.
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