Persia news stories on Newser

Roman Soldiers Likely Hit by Chemical Weapon

Kevin Spak — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:52:05 CDT

When archaeologists first found the bones of the 19 ancient Roman soldiers and one Persian buried under the ancient Syrian city of Dura-Europos in the 1930s, they assumed they’d died in some kind of fierce underground melee—when the Persians attacked the city, they’d dug tunnels under the walls. But...

Vanished Persian Army Turns Up in Sand

Harry Kimball — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:21:04 CST

Italian archaeologists in Egypt claim to have unearthed evidence of a 6th-century BC Persian military folly once thought mythical. Herodotus described an army of 50,000 Persians sent by their emperor, Cambyses, to destroy an oracle that had spoken ill of his ambitions. The army was, according to lore, beset...