1. The Macedonian author of Stratagems
of War, tells us that Persian King Cambyses learnt of the Egyptians’ deep
reverence for cats, symbol of their goddess Bastet, and of their unwillingness
to harm them. To kill a sacred cat brought the punishment of death. So the
Persian ruler dreamed up a novel stratagem. He ordered his front line troops to
hold up cats in order to protect his army from Egyptian arrows. His
sacrilegious act against the cats of Egypt paralyzed the Egyptian archers and
Cambyses was able to win the battle with ease.
2. The King of
Mitanni used biological warfare against Thutmosis. He released mares in heat
into the path of pharaoh’s chariots, causing hormonal chaos among his
horses and surprised the Egyptians before an attack.
3. The Egyptians did
not play fair either.
Another story of biological warfare has the desperate Egyptians
turning to the use of rats in warfare. Greatly outnumbered by the enemy, Ptah
saved the city of Pelusium from the Assyrians by sending out a horde of rats to
gnaw through the attackers’ bowstrings and their leather shield handles,
turning attack into defeat.
And of course the Egyptians reached for an even bigger stick.
They employed potent execration texts and rituals against enemies, believed to weaken and flatten them... 'esoteric weapons of mass destruction'... (Could they still be deadly today? See "'The Smiting Texts', the archaeological mystery thriller.)
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