In 522 BC (or thereabouts), the Persian Emperor Cambyses II sent an army of 50,000 men to subdue a temple at Siwa Osis, and crush an Egyptian rebellion. Famously, according to Herodotus, our only source, the army disappeared, swallowed by a sandstorm. But, what really happened to the Lost Army of Cambyses II?

SOURCES:

“Petubastis IV in the Dakhla Oasis: New Evidence about an Early Rebellion Against Persian Rule & its Suppression in Political Memory", Olaf Kaper