| Theme: | |
| Format: | |
| Date: | Feb 19, 2015 6:00–7:00pm |
| Organized by: | Netherlands-Flemish Institute Cairo (NVIC) |
| Venue: | Netherlands-Flemish Institute Cairo (NVIC) |
| Address: | 1 Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek |
Herodotus preserves a story of how a Persian army of 50.000 soldiers was sent into the desert and disappeared in a sandstorm. This tale has always captured the imagination and many expeditions have searched for the remains of this army. Recent excavations at Amheida, Dakhla Oasis, have unexpectedly shed light on this mythical event. An Egyptian insurgency, led by a certain Petubastis, may have been much more important than was previously believed, and we may have to search for a battlefield rather than the remains of an army buried in sand.
Olaf E. Kaper is professor of Egyptology at Universiteit Leiden / Leiden University and Associate Director of the mission of New York University at the site of Amheida, Dakhla Oasis. Previously he worked as assistant Director at the NVIC.
