Campaign against the Oasis of Siwa

E347010

The Campaign against the Oasis of Siwa was a legendary and ill-fated Persian military expedition ordered by Cambyses II into the Egyptian desert, reputedly ending in the mysterious disappearance of an entire army.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Campaign against the Oasis of Siwa canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf legendary event
military campaign
alsoKnownAs Cambyses II’s expedition to Siwa
Lost Army of Cambyses
associatedWith Egyptian desert
Lost Army legend
Oracle of Amun
Siwa Oasis
country Achaemenid Empire
culturalImpact subject of documentaries and popular history works
describedBySource Herodotus
estimatedForceSize about 50000 soldiers (traditional account)
genre ancient historical tradition
hasCause Cambyses II’s hostility toward the Oracle of Amun at Siwa
desire to control the Siwa Oasis and its oracle
hasInterpretation may reflect a smaller historical disaster in the desert
possibly exaggerated or mythical account
hasLegend army buried by a sudden sandstorm
influenced modern theories about lost armies in deserts
location Egyptian desert
surface form: Egyptian Western Desert

Oasis of Siwa
objective punish or consult the Oracle of Amun
reach the Oracle of Amun at Siwa
orderedBy Cambyses II
outcome mysterious loss of an entire army in the desert
participant Achaemenid Empire
Persian army
partOf Conquest of Egypt
surface form: Achaemenid conquest of Egypt
primaryLiterarySource works of Herodotus
surface form: Histories by Herodotus
relatedTo Conquest of Egypt
surface form: Achaemenid conquest of Egypt

Cambyses II
works of Herodotus
surface form: Herodotus’ Histories

Oracle of Amun
surface form: Oracle of Amun at Siwa
researchedBy archaeologists
historians of the Achaemenid Empire
result disappearance of the Persian army
failure of the expedition
status historicity disputed
timePeriod 6th century BCE
reign of Cambyses II
topic Achaemenid military history
Egyptian history
desert expeditions
military disasters

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Cambyses II campaign Campaign against the Oasis of Siwa