Read Online The Sahara by Eamonn Gearon - Free Book Online

Ammonians... report. It is certain they neither reached the Ammonians, nor even came back to Egypt. Further than this, the Ammonians relate as follows: That the Persians set forth from Oasis across the sand, and had reached about half way between that place and themselves when, 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. Thus, according to the Ammonians, did it fare with this army.”
    The failure of these military campaigns was an embarrassing failure for the new Pharaoh, especially after the early promise of his swift initial conquests. The country was never fully subdued and after just three years Cambyses was forced to head back to Persia, to deal with a pretender to his throne. He never got there, being accidentally killed in 522 BCE on the homeward journey. In spite of their best efforts, Cambyses’ successors never entirely quelled the periodic uprisings that occurred, including those launched by the desert tribes.
    Persian rule came to an end with the arrival of Alexander of Macedon in 333 BCE. Alexander’s conquest of Egypt was carried out with the same relative ease as Cambyses’ two hundred years earlier. The local population saw Alexander as a liberator, particularly welcome because he was happy to leave most aspects of domestic, non-military administration in the hands of the Egyptians. Alexander also demonstrated a high regard for Egyptian religious and cultural traditions, which made a favourable impression on local priests and the population at large.
    The year after arriving in Egypt, Alexander and a small band of followers marched eight days through the Sahara to Siwa, to consult with the Oracle of Ammon, one of the ancient world’s most venerated sources of prophecy and wisdom, which Cambyses’ army signally failed to destroy. First-hand reports of the expedition were made by two of Alexander’s friends, Callisthenes and Aristobulus of Cassandreia; the former was Alexander’s court historian, the latter an architect and military engineer. Unfortunately, these accounts have not survived but the historian Arrian, whose account of Alexander’s Saharan expedition is now the best available source, consulted them.
    For Alexander, the journey to the Oracle was a shrewd political move that endeared him to his new subjects. It also fulfilled his own personal ambition to show himself the equal of Perseus and Hercules, who had similarly consulted the gods. Alexander’s mother, Olympias, was the first person to encourage him to identify himself as the son of the Greek god Zeus. (Although it is common for mothers to think well of their children, persuading a boy that he is the son of a god must invite psychological disorders that would require lifetimes of therapy to unravel.)
     

    Alexander the Great as the god Zeus-Ammon
     
    In keeping with Alexander’s supposedly divine mission, the chroniclers were excited to report miracles that accompanied their journey to Ammon. Travelling along the Mediterranean coast to Paraetonium, today the seaside resort of Marsa Matruh, Alexander’s party turned south into the desert. Arrian writes that although this route is largely waterless, Alexander’s small band enjoyed plentiful rain as they went. While rain is not unknown here, Arrian also records other more remarkable details to demonstrate the divine nature of Alexander’s mission. Arrian tells us there were “two crows flying in advance of the army [that] acted as guides to Alexander.” Arrian further notes that Ptolemaeus son of Lagos claimed: “two serpents preceded the army uttering speech, and Alexander bade his leaders follow them and trust the divine guidance; and the serpents did actually serve them as guides for the route to the oracle and back again.”
    Whatever talking beasts might or might not have accompanied Alexander, upon his arrival he