photo credit: h.koppdelaney

The place is the famous Siwa Oasis in Egypt. The time is 525 B.C.  Ancient Egypt is but a former shadow of itself. Tutankhamun has been dead and buried for 800 years (and his tomb plundered twice already by now). Slowly but surely, Egypt’s power was fading as it was drawn into the orbit of mightier empires in the region.

During the 6th century B.C., Egypt was plagued by massive internal unrest. Egyptian armies were involved in expeditions heading south into Nubia, as well as into southern Palestine. Greek-speaking mercenaries were now gainfully employed in Egypt. Greek merchants even received permission to settle in their own city, Naucratis, in the Nile delta. Things were definitely different in Egypt and they were about to take a turn for the worse in 525 B.C.

Cambyses II, ruler of the Persian Empire, invaded Egypt in that year. Psammetichus III faced the Persian army at the great frontier fortress of Pelusium eastern gateway into Egypt. The Egyptian forces and their Greek mercenaries were no match. The king fled to Memphis, where he was captured and taken to Susa, the Persian capital. One can only imagine what his fate was.

photo credit: marfis75

Greek historian Herodotus, father of history writing, lived a mere 75 years later and wrote about this momentous event. He relates how the Persian king sent off an army – of 50,000 soldiers no less – to destroy the oracle located in the Siwa Oasis. It is alleged that the oracle had predicted the king’s downfall, and Cambyses was having none of it. Yet the oracle proved to be right. The army never reached its destination and was swallowed up by the desert. Cambyses did eventually bite the dust as well in 522 B.C.

Then the sands of time and the desert covered up the story of the army that set off to destroy the oracle. Eventually, it was relegated to the realm of legend. Numerous expeditions were launched to find it, but without success.

Until….

Until relatively recent discoveries in the desert now seem to have located the unfortunate Persian army. Relatively recent indeed; it appears that for the last 13 years two Italian brothers, Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, undertook five expeditions in search of Cambyses’ troops. They claim they have found good evidence of Persian-era and Persian-style military gear in the Egyptian desert. The media are buzzing with the news. Numerous online videos have popped up on the subject, showing the Italian and Egyptian teams working at a rock shelter in the desert and finding Persian arrow heads, a partial sword or dagger and bits and pieces of horse gear.

Is this for real? Are we dealing with something else altogether? Time will tell. For now, it appears very likely that the lost army has been found. As they say, stay tuned. I am sure a documentary will soon appear on TV. I wonder if a book is coming out soon as well….