? Ave Maria Gracia V | Main | Gun ?
February 14, 2004
Cambyses
An Egyptian tour operator is offering visitors a 10 to 22 day excursion to look for remains of the 50,000-man army of King Cambyses II.
Herodotus reported that after the Persian occupation of Egypt in 525 B.C., Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers west from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun, who, according to legend, would have predicted his death. 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.
"As they were at their midday meal, 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," Herodotus wrote.
"As they were at their midday meal, 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," Herodotus wrote.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 14, 2004 08:57 AM