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Siegecraft and spoliation, c. 500 BC: a tale of two cities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

G. R. H. Wright  and
D. White
G. R. H. Wright
Affiliation:
Avignon, France
D. White
Affiliation:
Philadelphia, USA
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Abstract

At some date shortly after the Persian conquest of Egypt (525 BC) a Persian army dispatched by the satrap of Egypt, Aryandes, was encamped on the Lykaian Hill outside the city of Cyrene, threatening its capture. How far hostilities had advanced is not known, but very soon the army abandoned its position and marched off on the return way to Egypt (Herodotus IV, 16–67, 200–203). Herodotus' account is an involved story how the Persian force came to be in Cyrenaica, and it is not clear why it departed from Cyrene with little achieved there. The episode would be of limited substance except for the chance discovery of some antiquities in the region of the Persian camp. About 20 years later, in 498 BC, a Persian force was deployed in Cyprus to reduce the city of Paphos in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Cypriote uprising to support the Ionian revolt. A siege mound was raised against the city wall employing an unexpected variety of material. Latterly the mound has been excavated and afforded wide ranging information. Hitherto these archaeological facts have not been considered in conjunction, and an attempt to do so may be instructive.

Type
Articles
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 36 , 2005 , pp. 21 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2005

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