Discovery of an Iranian Garrison from the Achaemenid Era in Northern Israel

Israeli media reports the discovery of a 2500-year-old Iranian garrison in northern Israel, likely involved in Cambyses' successful campaign to conquer Egypt in 525 BC. According to Haaretz and other sources, other Achaemenid kings may have also utilized this garrison in their territorial expansions. The military camp from the Achaemenid period is located in the Tel Kisan area, a hill 28 meters above sea level near the city of Akko in what is now northern Israel. David Schloen from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, along with a team from Ben-Gurion University led by Gunnar Lehmann, is conducting the excavations at Tel Kisan. Professor Lehmann confirms that Cambyses and his forces were stationed here for the attack on Egypt, and Tel Kisan was likely one of several gathering points for Iranian forces preparing for the invasion. According to Lehmann, the Egyptians, who ruled this area from 637 to 605 BC, managed their governance through three regions including Tel Kisan, Akhziv, and Tel Kabri, with Cambyses initially taking control of Tel Kisan. Haaretz reports that in two archaeological excavation rounds at Tel Kisan in 2016 and 2018, in addition to artifacts from the Achaemenid period in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, remnants from the late Iron Age seven centuries before Christ and later periods were found, which require further expert study. Cambyses II, like his father, Cyrus the Great, whose empire expanded from 580 BC due to the fall of previous empires like the Medes, Lydia, and Chaldeans (or Neo-Babylonians), pursued his father's dream and entered into conflict with the Pharaohs of the Nile. Cambyses II prepared for the campaign against the land of the Pharaohs long after inheriting his father's legacy; historians suggest that in 525 BC, he likely chose a location on the Mediterranean coast and set up his forces there to battle the Egyptians. However, Cambyses' battle was brief, and his troops successfully crossed the Sinai desert, adding Egypt to the vast territories of the powerful Iranian empire. The battle of Cambyses and his forces to traverse the arid, waterless deserts in 525 BC is the same as the Battle of Pelusium, which Herodotus described as leading to Cambyses' swift victory over Pharaoh Psamtik III, noting that he was the first king of Persia to 'conquer both Egypt and the sea.' After the victorious Battle of Pelusium, Egypt became one of the satrapies of Iran, and Cambyses was recorded in history as the founder of the 27th dynasty of Egypt. After Egypt, he campaigned towards Libya and Carthage and likely died in 522 BC. However, Artaxerxes II, the tenth king, and Artaxerxes III, the eleventh king of the Achaemenid dynasty, also fought against the Egyptians. Besides Herodotus, two other historians mention the establishment of Achaemenid kings in their military preparations against the Egyptians in Akko; one is Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who noted both Cambyses' army stationed in Akko in 520 BC and Artaxerxes II's military preparations in 374 BC aimed at expanding Iranian dominance. The Greek philosopher and geographer Strabo also referred to the deployment of Iranian forces in Akko in his famous geographical writings describing the battle of the Persian imperial forces against the Egyptians. Recent archaeological excavations in the Tel Kisan plain have uncovered the remains of a structure dating back to the 7th century BC, likely a building from the 26th dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs, with multiple rooms used for storing and distributing provisions among government forces or possibly a government building by today's standards. Jars and ceramic cooking vessels in the style of Eastern Greece and Phoenicia, which were used during the Iranian dominance over the region, as well as baskets similar to those used in the 7th century BC, have been found at this site. These vessels strengthen the possibility that in the decades when Egypt was freed from Achaemenid control, Greek warriors serving the Egyptians competed for control over this structure in the battle against Artaxerxes II. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus describes the battle of the Persian forces during Artaxerxes II's time, mentioning 200,000 Iranian warriors led by Pharnabazus (Greek pronunciation: Parnabazos) and about 20,000 Greek warriors under the command of the Athenian general Epicrates, with the presence of 200 ships and significant food supplies. Artaxerxes II apparently had to withdraw his forces back to Persia due to Egypt's alliance with rebels in Asia Minor and the Cypriots and their efforts to fortify Memphis, the capital of Egypt, as well as the slow movement of his troops despite the hard-fought battle of Pharnabazus and some successes. However, his son, Artaxerxes III, continued the conquests of his ancestors to compel the Egyptians, who had broken away from the Achaemenid empire, to submit. Artaxerxes III entered this campaign less than 200 years after Cambyses, founding the 31st dynasty of Egypt with the conquest of the Nile Valley. The collective writings of Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo indicate that during the attacks of Cambyses, Artaxerxes II, and Artaxerxes III on Egypt, they utilized locations such as Tel al-Fakhar (or Akko), Tel Kisan, Tel Kurdana (or by its other name Tel Afek), and Tel Abu Hawam (or present-day Haifa) to station their military forces. The Iranian fortifications at Tel Kisan were later severely damaged in Alexander the Great's campaign against the Achaemenids.