The Immortals: An Elite Army of the Persian Empire That Never Grew Weak

Great as the immortals were in battle they were done in twice by their Emperor Cambyses madness ,well according to Herodotus anyway,but I liked the way the Ethiopian Kush ite king punked him into action .

"The king of the Persians Cambyses, desiring to become a friend and guest to thee, sent us with command to come to speech with thee, and he gives thee for gifts these things which he himself most delights to use." The Ethiopian however, perceiving that they had come as spies, spoke to them as follows: "Neither did the king of the Persians send you bearing gifts because he thought it a matter of great moment to become my guest-friend, nor do ye speak true things (for ye have come as spies of my kingdom), nor again is he a righteous man; for if he had been righteous he would not have coveted a land other than his own, nor would he be leading away into slavery men at whose hands he has received no wrong. Now however give him this bow and speak to him these words: The king of the Ethiopians gives this counsel to the king of the Persians, that when the Persians draw their bows (of equal size to mine) as easily as I do this, then he should march against the Long-lived Ethiopians, provided that he be superior in numbers; but until that time he should feel gratitude to the gods that they do not put it into the mind of the sons of the Ethiopians to acquire another land in addition to their own."

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Are these the bones of a legendary Persian army lost in the Sahara 2,500 years ago?


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This was the result of the King's madness in Siwa and in the desert of Kush after these disasters he unfairly blamed then decimated his officer corps punished the priest of Egypt and killed celebrating Egyptian civilians.

a reply to: Spider879

I vaguely remember something about this, very nice post it also show's how far and powerful the persian's influence became at time's, was'nt there a greek army that died out there as well.

originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: Spider879

I vaguely remember something about this, very nice post it also show's how far and powerful the persian's influence became at time's, was'nt there a greek army that died out there as well.

Well as far as I recall the Greeks and the Kush were not outwardly hostile not to say that Kush or at this time Meroe did not try to undermine the power of the Ptolemies by fermenting revolt among the Egyptians,but they did cooperate with Greek explorer expeditions to lands beyond their southern borders,the only time there were hostile contacts was when Greeks fought as mercenaries for an Egyptian king that sought to punish them for cross border raids,but that was before the Persians came into the picture at the 26th dynasty.matter of fact the Greeks were welcome as liberators in Egypt when Alexander drove out the Persians,and he was able to make his way without disaster to Siwa and became a son of Amun or Zeus so the Greeks fared much better,

Head of A statue Of Augustus taken away from Thebes and buried at the entrance of a Kush ie temple so he will be trampled on for all times

Captured Romans and Egyptians from Thebes

Their Roman successors had problems however as they tried to bullied their way across the border of Egypt into Kush they were stopped in their tracks,the Kush burnt Thebes and haul off Romans and Egyptians as slaves,the Romans returned the favor and burnt Napata capital of Kush and hauled off who ever they could carry and the slug fest continued until Augustus sued for peace,promised to stay on his side of occupied Egypt and renounced all tribute he sought to impose on them,further more he made the Island of Philae an open city which was important to the worship of the Gods to both Egyptians and Kush ites,but still they remained a pain in the ass to the Romans through out their history in Egypt eventually extracting bribes from them to keep the southern border peaceful.

originally posted by: WineWithIce5
a reply to: 727Sky

Immortals were just another group of killers.

Think about it.

Romans
Greeks
British
Nazis
Mongolians
Japanese

ALL KILLERS, nothing more, nothing less.

Funny when people speak of Alexander the great with reverence. He is just ANOTHER ANCIENT KILLER

I have no respect for any of those bastards, be they Spartans, Immortals, US Army etc.

I just made an account just to answer you although you definately are a troll.

You better educate yourself before posting such laughable opinions but as the saying says opinions are like ***holes everyone has one.

If the greeks didnt fight back the persian invasion which led to a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia the World as we know it would be much different right now.You should be thankfull these brave men back then bleed for their country else you wouldnt even exist

Ok for all you ancient military buffs out there , In my mind's eye the Immortals were heavy and tank like meant to march over the bodies of their enemies going forever forward without care for life and limb but,did they have any special skill sets that truly separate them for the regular rank and file except bravery and a sprite of the corp.

ATTENTION

Take a look at the forum folks..

Ancient and Lost Civilizations...

NOT Current Military Policy

Enough said

Semper

originally posted by: bdancer111

originally posted by: WineWithIce5
a reply to: 727Sky

Immortals were just another group of killers.

Think about it.

Romans
Greeks
British
Nazis
Mongolians
Japanese

ALL KILLERS, nothing more, nothing less.

Funny when people speak of Alexander the great with reverence. He is just ANOTHER ANCIENT KILLER

I have no respect for any of those bastards, be they Spartans, Immortals, US Army etc.

I just made an account just to answer you although you definately are a troll.

You better educate yourself before posting such laughable opinions but as the saying says opinions are like ***holes everyone has one.

If the greeks didnt fight back the persian invasion which led to a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia the World as we know it would be much different right now.You should be thankfull these brave men back then bleed for their country else you wouldnt even exist

That may have been true regarding the Persian invasion, but note that the poster said ALEXANDER. Do you not think that Alexander was committing evil and murder by trying to take over much of the known world at the time. He conquered as far as Egypt. Probably hundreds of thousands or millions dead.

as far as india and that was retribution

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

There are no reliable estimate's for population from the time but a guess would be about 5 to 15 million, the macedonian's were barbaric but not that barbaric, there is however rough estimate's for depopulation under the mongol invastion about 1800 years' later, it was a far larger area of invasion and they simply murdered and moved on not even settling the land in most cases or having any ancient enmity with those who they murdered but still interesing in a macabre way.
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Didn't the Spartans whoop their butts?

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The Immortals? These guys, caught in a relief against Alexander's army...


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