Persian warriors, a detail from the frieze in Darius' palace in Susa. Pergamon Museum / Vorderasiatisches Museum, Germany. Image credit: Mohammed Shamma / CC BY 2.0.
Posted on 06/21/2014 7:05:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Cambyses II, the oldest son of Cyrus the Great, sent his army to destroy the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis. 50,000 warriors entered the Egypt’s western desert near Luxor. Somewhere in the middle of the desert the army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and destroyed.
Although many scientists regard the story as a myth, amateur as well as professional archaeologists have searched for the remains of the Persian soldiers for many decades.
Prof Kaper never believed this story. “Some expect to find an entire army, fully equipped. However, experience has long shown that you cannot die from a sandstorm,” he said.
Prof Kaper argues that the lost army of Cambyses II did not disappear, but was defeated.
“My research shows that the army was not simply passing through the desert, its final destination was the Dakhla Oasis.”
“This was the location of the troops of the Egyptian rebel leader Petubastis III.”
“He ultimately ambushed the army of Cambyses II, and in this way managed from his base in the oasis to reconquer a large part of Egypt, after which he let himself be crowned Pharaoh in the capital, Memphis.” ...
During the past ten years, Prof Kaper has been involved in excavations in Amheida, in the Dakhla Oasis.
Earlier this year, he deciphered the full list of titles of Petubastis III on ancient temple blocks.
“That’s when the puzzle pieces fell into place,” Prof Kaper said.
“The temple blocks indicate that this must have been a stronghold at the start of the Persian period. Once we combined this with the limited information we had about Petubastis III, the excavation site and the story of Herodotus, we were able to reconstruct what happened.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
Persian warriors, a detail from the frieze in Darius' palace in Susa. Pergamon Museum / Vorderasiatisches Museum, Germany. Image credit: Mohammed Shamma / CC BY 2.0.
As good a theory as any.
Note: remains of small groups of Persian soldiers have indeed turned up, and none of them AFAIK show any sign of death in combat. Also note that the archaeologist claims that it’s not possible to die in a sandstorm, a claim that is ridiculous on its face. It’s unlikely that an entire 50,000 man army will be found in formation buried in the desert — it’s perfectly reasonable to figure that zero visibility led to groups of various sizes going off in various directions. Also, given the details in Herodotus’ account — and we know that he was basically always reliable as a reteller of what he hear or a when he described what he saw — suggests that a small number of survivors managed to return to make report, and that’s not surprising at all.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cambyses/index
Mystery...
The Butler usually did it. Or Colonel Mustard in the Den with a lamp.
Having read the account of Alexander’s troop march home from the Indus through southern Persia, I can totally believe that.
video from 2009:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ENizFYf96Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzsi1LFZV4w&feature=player_embedded
They're all black and curly hair.
from the grouch:
http://rogueclassicism.com/2009/11/13/cambyses-lost-army-found-dont-eat-that-elmer/
Sandstorm? If Obama were there he would have blamed a youtube video.
Yes indeed.
The idea that the Persians would undertake a march through a pretty daunting desert would also not be surprising, given the conditions in much of their empire in Asia.
:’)
Thanks. The Egyptians used re-curved bows as well.
“the oldest son of Cyrus the Great, sent his army to destroy the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis. 50,000 warriors entered the Egypt’s western desert” under the command of general Gorges Bushtes. And the rest is, as we say, history according to Democritus.
That’s my shower wall!
Just remember Desert One in the Iranian desert and it is clear what a sandstorm can do even to modern armies.
Hmm, under George Bush?
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