ABSTRACT
Egypt is an exotic country today, and it was in antiquity. The Greeks knew about it, above all from traders. Alexander intended to go to Egypt for a number of reasons, including its wealth and trading connections. The sieges of Tyre and Gaza had cost him dearly in time as well as manpower, and he sent Amyntas, commander of the phalanx corps, to Macedonia for more troops. Alexander's deference to local religion was far different from his attitude at Tyre, but the difference between the two places needs to be borne in mind. The oracle of Zeus Ammon in the Oasis of Siwah in Libya was the main sanctuary of the god in the Greek world. The Libyan Ammon was identified with Zeus, and as a boy growing up in Macedonia Alexander probably visited the temple to Zeus Ammon at Aphytis in the Chalcidice.
