Aristobulus, another friend of Alexander who later wrote a biography, tells a similar story as Ptolemy, but substituting the snakes for crows ( Curtius also gives credit to the crows). According to Ptolemy (one of Alexander's closest generals who became the ruler of Egypt after his death) snakes appeared once they became lost and led them to the oasis.
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But, according to Plutarch (who relied heavily on Callisthenes - Alexander's official court historian), ravens intervened in this catastrophe and helped guide them to the oasis.Īrrian, in In The Campaigns of Alexander, also mentions two extraordinary accounts (one from Ptolemy and the other from Aristobulus) of how their group survived the trip and found Siwa. The weather was unbearable and the winds covered any signs of their path, leaving the guides lost. So how did Alexander's group reach Siwa? Apparently, it was not easy. *Camyses was a Persian king of the 6th century BCE, whose army was allegedly wiped out by a sandstorm on their march to Siwah. The second arises if a strong south wind should overtake the traveller as he is crossing the vast expanse of deep, soft sand, as is said to have happened to the army of Camyses* long ago: the wind raised great billows of sand and blew them across the plain so that 50,000 men were swallowed up and perished" (309). The first was the lack of water, of which there was none to be found along the route for many days' march. "This was a long and arduous journey, which was beset by two especial dangers. Here is Plutarch's description, from The Life of Alexander: It's regarded as strange for a couple of reasons: (1) it represents one of the few times Alexander seemed to make a detour to a place with no obvious strategic significance to his campaign, and (2) a variety of supernatural legends and rumors came out of the trip that continue to puzzle historians today.Īlexander's path to Siwah was quite dangerous. According to Oxford historian Robin Lane Fox, this trip represented the "strangest strand in Alexander's life and legend" ( Alexander the Great, 201). In 331 BCE, after successfully reaching Egypt and "liberating" its people from Persian rule, Alexander and a small group of followers embarked on his own desert excursion to speak to the famous oracle. It was widely believed by that time that the Greek mythological hero Heracles (and probably Perseus) had made a pilgrimage there to consult Zeus Ammon. Alexander, a student of the lives of the mythological heroes, knew these stories. This Oracle of Ammon was located in the Siwah Oasis - a 50-mile stretch of trees and vegetation found deep in the northern Sahara desert. Siwah had first become an important sacred site in the Mediterranean world in the 7th century BCE, three centuries before Alexander's time. This connection allowed them to forecast the future, which was an ability in especially high demand among the great royals and warriors of the day. This hybrid god called Zeus-Ammon had an oracle who was located deep in the Libyan desert, a few hundred miles west of Memphis, the Egyptian capital city. The oracles of antiquity were prophets believed to possess a unique connection to the gods. A god could take on different forms depending on the place and circumstances. By Alexander's time, Zeus-Ammon was a well-known deity in Greece - basically a hybrid of these two chief gods. Unlike many religions, the religion of ancient Greece was capable of incorporating foreign deities into their belief system. Amun, called "Ammon" in Greece, was the parallel "king of the gods" in the religion of ancient Egypt.
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Zeus was considered the ruler of the Olympian gods in ancient Greece and Macedon.
![gods of sand mythology gods of sand mythology](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101212215330/dune/images/0/07/NICHOLASKAY.LetoII.jpg)
This article will use the ancient evidence and modern analysis to try and separate the truth from the myth. Alexander's relationship with the ancient deity known as Zeus-Ammon is one of the great mysteries of his life.