Chapter 1187: Siwa Oasis

There are several outstanding figures in history who died young. One of them is Alexander the Great. He studied under Aristotle and was one of the greatest military commanders in world history.

Back then, after Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire and entered ancient Egypt, in order to become a pharaoh recognized by the ancient Egyptians, he personally led an army deep into the western desert to visit the Temple of Amun in the Siwa Oasis.

Before that, the Persians were also troubled by this matter. Although they occupied ancient Egypt for two hundred years, the ancient Egyptians did not recognize the legitimacy of their rule, did not recognize the Persians as their own pharaohs, and resisted for two hundred years.

In order to solve this problem, long before Alexander the Great, the Persians sent an army of up to 50,000 people into the Great Western Desert. They also wanted to find the Temple of Amun in the Siwa Oasis. The temple was razed to the ground.

The straight-line distance from Alexandria to Siwa Oasis is about 500 kilometers, which is not far from today's perspective, but in the hundreds of years BC, this road was completely treacherous and barren.

It is said that after the Persian army entered the great western desert, it encountered a terrible storm. All 50,000 people were buried in the yellow sand, and none of them left the desert alive... It sounds a bit like the Mongolian army's fleet expedition to Fusang and encountered at sea Kamikaze annihilation of the plot.

The talented Alexander the Great knew the lessons learned by the Persians, but he set foot on this road again without hesitation.

His army also lost his way in the desert, but he seemed to be really favored by the Egyptian gods. Two crows appeared in front of him and guided him in the direction. After a fantastic journey full of myths, he finally arrived In the Siwa Oasis, he received divine revelation in front of the statue of Amun, and was recognized by the temple priests as the son of Amon, that is, the son of the sun god, and officially became the pharaoh of ancient Egypt.

Why is the status of the Temple of Amun so high? Because the oracle of the Temple of Amon is very accurate, but it is a pity that it is not known whether the god Amon foresaw the future of Alexander the Great's untimely death.

The road from Mahru Port to Siwa Oasis is very boring, with only endless desert and low bushes in sight.

Lush greenery begins to appear at the end of the monotonous desert, and the tall date palm trees bear green fruits, which will take about two months to mature, and slowly turn from green to pink to yellow, and finally to floating Boozy reddish brown.

Pieces of calm lakes reflected dazzling white light under the sunlight, and the white flowers around the lakes looked like frost and snow, which were salt precipitated by the evaporation of water.

Siwa Oasis has arrived.

In just a few hours, Zhang Zian crossed the desert that buried the 50,000 Persian army and almost buried Alexander the Great.

However, this is also the end of the road.

From here to the west and south, there is no road, at least there is no flat road, only the endless Sahara Desert.

There was gradually movement on the road. Except for the occasional bus carrying tourists passing by, the most common ones were donkey carts. The Berber men who live in this oasis sit on two-wheeled carts and drive donkeys with whips.

When Zhang Zian slowed down the car and cast a curious look, the middle-aged man who couldn't tell the exact age showed a shy smile. In order to hide his shyness in front of strangers, he beat the poor donkey desperately.

If there are still a small number of tourists going to Mahru Port for the beautiful beach, there are very few tourists here. After all, the straight-line distance from Luoyang is more than 700 kilometers, which is close to the Libyan border.

However, this does not mean that there are no places to visit here. On the contrary, Siwa Oasis ranks 17th among the world's 50 natural wonders selected by CNN, and it is also the highest-ranked place in Egypt.

Due to fewer tourists, the indigenous Berbers here are not as smooth-talking as the Egyptians in Cairo and Alexandria, and retain most of their simplicity.

An abrupt hill is located next to the oasis. When Zhang Zian drove past, he noticed that the surface of the hill was full of moth-eaten holes.

This is the famous "Mountain of the Dead", and there are many tombs on the mountain from the Ptolemaic period to the Roman period.

Siwa Oasis is about ten kilometers long, six to eight kilometers wide, and has a permanent population of about 20,000. In winter, wealthy Europeans come here for the winter.

Next to the road stands a yellow mud-tiled house with a black letter on the wall: Welcome to Siwa Oasis.

There are no tall buildings in the town, and the tallest building is about four floors, all of which look disgraced.

In the current off-season of tourism, there are not many people on the street, most of the hotels are empty, and donkey carts, motorcycles, three-wheeled motorcycles, buses, pickups and even convertibles are randomly passing through the streets - see In this chaotic traffic situation, you know you haven't left Egypt.

Salim parked in front, got out of the car and asked Zhang Zian if he wanted to go sightseeing here. He was familiar with this place and volunteered to act as a tour guide.

Zhang Zian also intends to visit the Siwa Oasis to see what is commendable about the place rated so highly by CNN, but he has a task ahead of him today, first go to the Bedouin tribe to contact the people who can go into the desert Guide, if you have time later, it will not be too late to visit Siwa.

Salim expressed his understanding, reminded him of what he had said before, and returned to the car to continue driving.

Walking through the small town, this time I really entered the desert no man's land.

There was no longer a proper road ahead, and the vast desert was unobstructed in front of my eyes, and there were countless barren hills scattered in the desert. The two cars rushed up the sand hill and then slid down the sand valley, similar to surfing in the sand sea. A long cloud of sand and dust was raised behind each car, like a tornado.

Zhang Zian, who was wearing a seat belt, was fine, but the elves in the car were not wearing seat belts, and they were confused, complaining about whether he could drive or not.

I don't know how long I have been driving in the desert and Gobi. Zhang Zian has already lost his way, because the surroundings are all the same, and he can't tell the difference between hills and sand dunes. I only hope that Salem has not lost the Bedouin's pathfinding instinct , Don’t lead everyone into the depths of the desert.

Salim's car slowed down slowly, and he stretched out his arm from the car window, indicating that he was about to reach his destination.

A row of low huts appeared in front, and the Bedouin men in long robes leading camels walked slowly, the camel bells jingling, as if returning to the world of Arabian Nights.

Zhang Zian and Salim stopped one after another.

There are also several off-road vehicles parked near the entrance of the village. Could it be that other tourists have also visited this Bedouin settlement?

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