How the Persians defeated the Egyptians by throwing cats at them: The Legendary Battle of Pelusium

Throughout history, it has not been enough for people to kill each other in their endless wars. They also destroyed innocent animals. Traditionally, sled animals such as horses, mules, and elephants suffered. Dogs, birds, pigs, and snakes are less common. Different species used them in various ways.

They were probably one of the most unheard-of assistants in military affairs… Cats! It was the striped mustachios that helped the Persians defeat the Egyptians. The details of the most unusual battle involving the world’s first psychic attack are further discussed in the review.

Fighting cats?

It is difficult to imagine such a fighting Vaska. After all, cats are not large or even formidable animals—not Lions’ tea! The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, for example, had a trained lion. He fought on his side at the Battle of Kadesh. There are similar cases with tigers or leopards. A cat is unlikely to have the strength to resist a warrior. However, history knows of at least one case where this species was responsible for capturing a city: the Battle of Pelusium.

Pelusium was a significant Lower Egypt city located in the Nile Delta. Although this name came from Greek, it was later given to the town. Its real name was Per-Amun. By the middle of the 6th century BC, little remained of the ancient Egyptian splendor. At that moment, the Egyptian Pharaoh did not have enough power to resist the expansion of the Persians. The historian Herodotus tells the extraordinary story of the fall of Pelusium. The cats defeated the Egyptians.

Weakening of Egyptian rule

In 526 BC, Psammetiko III, son of Amasis II from the 26th Dynasty, ascended the throne. The period of the latter’s rule was prosperous and long, more than forty years, which indicates that he was a good ruler. After all, he did not belong to the royal family but came to power due to a military coup. The influence of Egypt under Amasis was significant and extended to all directions of the world. However, another powerful and ambitious empire, the Persian Empire, had already emerged in the east.

The historian Herodotus describes a curious reason that triggered all subsequent events. Amasis sent his physician to the court of King Cambyses II of Persia. Egyptian healers enjoyed great fame and respect worldwide at that time. The doctor did not want to go there and was outraged that he was being sent to Persia against his will.

He decided to take revenge by sowing enmity between the rulers. The doctor suggested to his new master that he ask Pharaoh for his daughter’s hand in marriage, knowing he would not like this offer very much. Amasis responded by sending the daughter of his deposed predecessor to the king under his guise, but she revealed the truth to Cambyses. The Persian king felt very insulted.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were hopelessly damaged. Among other things, the Pharaoh’s advisor, a Greek mercenary named Phanes from Halicarnassus, fell out of favor at the court of Amasis. After disagreements with the Pharaoh, he began to seek refuge in Persia. Phanes convinced Cambyses that there would be no better moment to conquer Egypt. Of course, there were deeper reasons for this—economic and political. During the reign of Psammetichus III, the son of Amasis, a catastrophe occurred.

The young and inexperienced Pharaoh could not even be compared with the influential figure of Cambyses II, the heir of Cyrus the Great, who was ambitious and warlike. Egypt was already the only state that remained independent of the Persians in this region, so its conquest was only a matter of time.

In 525 BC, the Persian army launched an offensive and crossed the Sinai Peninsula. The only way for the Pharaoh to save the country was to get help from Greece. He maintained good trade relations with the Greeks, but they had joined Cambyses with their entire fleet. Egypt’s fate was sealed.

The fate of Pelusium

Psammetichus personally led his army to try to stop the enemy’s advance. Pelusium became the scene of a clash. The number of troops on both sides is unknown. The Greek historian Ctesias wrote that the Egyptians and the Persians had foreign allies and mercenaries. The battle was bloody, and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. At that time, the Achaemenid Empire was the main power of the ancient world. Egypt was not a military rival.

The Persian troops devastated the Egyptian formations and showed terrible confusion when they saw that the enemy was wearing the image of Bastet on their shields. Depicted as a cat or a woman with a cat’s head, Bastet was revered as the goddess of fertility, love, fun, home, and childbirth at various times.

She was considered the all-seeing eye of the great Ra and his faithful companion in the fight against Apophis. According to another version, these were not painted images but real live cats. The Persians used them as shields, from which they threw down their weapons, accepting defeat.

Herodotus gloomily describes piles of Egyptian skulls. Ctesias tells us in more detail that the Persians killed fifty thousand Egyptians against seven thousand of their soldiers. Unable to withstand the onslaught of the enemy, Psammetichus and the survivors had to retreat dramatically and take refuge behind the walls of Pelusium.

The Egyptians were ready for a long siege. But there was no need for that. Thanks to the cats again. In the 2nd century AD, the Macedonian military commander Polyenos wrote a military treatise in eight books called “Stratagems” (of which only references remain because they have been lost).

There, he talked about how the Persians threw cats at the Egyptians. The high, impregnable battlements protected the besieged from the enemy. When the sacred animals, the incarnations of the goddess Bastet, flew through the walls, it completely paralyzed the Egyptians and forced them to leave the fortress. They continued their escape and went on to Memphis.

The Fall of Memphis

Nothing is written about this in Herodotus. He mentioned another, no less demoralizing story. Cambyses desecrated the tomb of Amasis and burned his mummy. Then, having captured Pelusium, he sent a messenger to Memphis to negotiate a surrender, but the Egyptians killed him. After that, the real revenge began. For every Persian killed, ten Egyptians died. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M .For the full article. Who was killed in battle, and who was executed later? More than 2,000 members of Memphis’ elite were executed, all senior military and high-ranking officials, even one of the Pharaoh’s sons.

Memphis has fallen. Psammetiko was captured and humiliated. His daughter was forced to carry water from the Nile for the horses of the Persians, and his son was chained and harnessed like an animal before he died. After all this, Herodotus describes a fascinating epilogue. He tells how the Persian army was sent to capture the Siwa oasis. There was the famous oracle of Amun, which Alexander the Great later visited to become the world’s ruler.

This place is located inside the country, in the middle of the desert. Cambyses’ soldiers were caught by a terrible sandstorm and stayed there forever. This is a typical legend, but it is so fascinating that many have tried to find evidence. In 2009, an Italian archaeological expedition finally found human bones, weapons, and bronze jewelry. The remains were identified as Achaemenids.