How the beast conquered Egypt
King Cambyses II of Persia was able to conquer Egypt using the most unusual tactics of any kind in history.
I think even today it's hard to find someone who doesn't like cats (or any other animals). For the ancient Egyptians, however, cats were more than just cute furs. They are considered sacred animals, and killing a cat is punishable by death. When a house cat died, the residents of the house shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning.
Buster is one of the main goddesses of the Egyptian Pantheon and has the appearance of a cat. She is worshipped as the embodiment of harmony, good fortune and happiness. She is considered the patron saint of doctors. To this day, there is evidence of how the Egyptians saved cats from burning temples at the cost of their lives.
The Persian conquerors knew this and decided to exploit the "weakness" of the Egyptians. They attacked the Egyptian city of Pelusium, considered the "gateway to Egypt," with cats, dogs, and herons, and protected the country from invasion from the east.
In 525 BC, it was under the city's walls. The armies of King Cambyses II of Persia and the young pharaoh Psamétic III gathered.
After several unsuccessful attempts at attack, repelled by the city's defenders, the Persians took an extraordinary step. The Persian army entered a new offensive, leading cats, dogs, and ibises before them as "cover detachments.". The Egyptians were stunned by this scene and hesitated. After all, the cat is the embodiment of the goddess Buster, the daughter of the god Ra, the dog is the symbol of the god Anubis, who judges the souls of the dead in the afterlife (he is depicted as a dog or jackal head), and ibis is considered a symbol of the god Thoth, "responsible" for writing and knowledge.
The Persians treated these animals cruelly in front of the discouraged Egyptians. They tied cats to shields, knowing that the Egyptians would not hit them, and threw cats against walls, distracting the city's defenders during the attack.
Persian tactics worked. The Egyptians, who revered sacred animals, were paralyzed and unable to defend the "Gate of Egypt," the strategically important Pelusium. After the fall of the city, the entire country was conquered.
However, it is believed that the revenge of the gods still surpassed that of the Persians.
Their army was killed while crossing the desert, and the Persian king himself died suddenly on his way from Egypt to Persia three years later.
