army that vanished 2,500 years ago is found

[ensho]

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.html?dtc=dsc-hp-drl-dn-news


Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert

Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains of Cambyses' army that vanished 2,500 years ago.


The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

-snip-

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"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," wrote Herodotus.
-long snip-
------------------------------

there is a video and slide show

wow! what a find.

[izquierdista]

1. What future discoveries?

What will archaeologists find in Afghanistan in another 2500 years?

[opihimoimoi]

4. They will find the dialysis machine partially rusted/corroded still connected to some bones

[ensho]

8. his family says he didn't need dialysis that its a myth

nt

[Odin2005]

10. DUzy!

LOL! :rofl:

[Jackpine Radical]

2. That is absolutely amazing.

In that era, an army of 50,000 was GIGANTIC!

Thanks!

[ensho]

7. I was thinking the same thing. bet is wasn't volunteer.

nt

[enlightenment]

9. Mostly conscription - though that didn't mean that they were

unwilling . . .

http://books.google.com/books?id=y1ngxn_xTOIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+great+armies+of+antiquity#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Go to page 160.

:)

[eppur_se_muova]

17. One should take numbers from ancient authors with a large grain of salt.

They had a tendency to use, say, 10,000 to mean "a whole lot" without having a remotely accurate estimate of the real numbers. 10,000 is a myriad, so they would use an expression like "myriads" as sloppily as we might use, say "dozens and dozens". Granted, Herodotus aimed for accuracy, but who gave him these numbers?

[icymist]

20. Sort of like theTea Baggers and Faux News of today, huh?

n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

21. VERY much so. ;^) nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. One famous saying of Herodotus about the Scots is absolutely spot on - and the Scots

would be the first to admit it - when he said of them, that they were unbearable in victory and inconsolable in defeat!

I remember reading that, during the 100 Years War, in the battle over a particular French town, the English won a battle against a combined force of French and Scottish troops defending it. Upon which, the citizens were said to have expressed considerable relief, because of the way the Scots would have carried on, had they and their French comrades won! As Churchill put it in his History of the English-speaking peoples: "generations of an idle and predatory life had led the Highlanders into the vices of barbarians."

[tekisui]

3. That is really interesting.

Thanks.

[rug]

5. The President should re-read Herodotus this weel.

[dalaigh lllama]

6. This is just amazing

I imagine the dudes at the Temple of Amun, waiting for this army to get there and attack, were thinking their gods were teh awesome.

[architect359]

12. Did they even know?

That would have been something. I don't know the history, but I wonder if they even knew at that time that a huge army had been dispatched to attack them. Probably after the fact, I guess, when later travellers / visitors came by and may have expressed surprise that they were still there.

You're right though, it is amazing.

[Odin2005]

11. Cool!

[madokie]

13. Yup, what a find

[stopbush]

14. Yet in the same desert region, not a trace has ever been found of the

supposed exodus of 1.5 million Jews from Egypt, as depicted in the Bible.

For starters, where's the 40 years worth of garbage?

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. Cambyses must have had a really bad "Exit Strategy" - nm

[DFW]

16. This is amazing stuff!!

I could follow stories like this all day long

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Yeah, but they'll just blow all their back pay on the mother of all benders. nt

:evilgrin:

[whistler162]

19. PROOF that Iran wants to invade Israel!

[kickysnana]

23. Anyone else catch a program about another guy who was searching for them..?

Claimed to be a professor. He made a documentary about looking for them. He had desert people guiding him and helping him live in the desert. He had his fiance with him.

He was so annoying and stupid that the desert people moved their camp out of earshot of his and before long his fiance had joined them. I think he went up in a small plane to look further and came down and pointed proudly to an ancient campfire he had discovered "left 2500 years ago" only it was a campfire from their previous stops encampment.

You could almost hear the commentary of the Mystery Science Theater guys.

I am guessing that nobody ever funded him for anything again.