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lotophagis or lotus-eaters on another and the androphagis, the friendly neighborhood cannibals, the ones who would eat him if they could, on yet another, though perhaps in a bold or a red font.

Now, applying arbitrary appellations is never a good idea even in the best of times. A ‘Thomas’ who was also called ‘Jude’ may unwittingly assume separate identities in the unsuspecting hands of a later-date researcher. In other words, the generic-named kingdom ‘Ethiopia’ could easily find itself resurrected alongside its proper-named counterpart. There is a risk here for an inadvertent duplication to take place.

At any rate, it is here, at his makeshift interview stand, that Herodotus hears the faded narrative of the Deserters. The settlement appears to have long since disappeared and what still flickered about was merely a legend, presumably the most memorable deeds of this people. The dying tale of the Deserters appealed to the quintessential historian and he did not fail it. Gently, ever so carefully, Herodotus rescued this lone voice, possibly of millions, and enshrined it in his history, giving it a precious life-extension. He liked quaint tales; they added romance and color to his history. And, as he gazed into the tumbling river before him, lost in reverie by what he had just done, he perhaps felt a strange sense of premonition. Possibly, he saw the glimmer of destiny in his actions. He was merely reporting of course, doing what historians do best. But who can tell, some intrepid future explorer might just be able to make sense of it, use this very documentation to anchor something truly extraordinary.

Little else is recorded of the Deserters. What was the original name of the kingdom, who were their illustrious kings, their conquests, their defeats... details with which we can identify them, were already devoured by inexorable time.

Regarding the Deserters, Herodotus writes:

On leaving this city and again mounting the stream, in the same space of time, which it took you to reach the capital from Elephantine, you come to the Deserters, who bear the name of Asmach. This word, translated into our language, means “the men who stand on the left hand of the king.” These Deserters are Egyptians of the warrior caste, who, to the number of two hundred and forty thousand, went over to the Ethiopians in the reign of King Psammetichus. Now, it happened, that on one occasion the garrisons were not relieved during the space of three years; the soldiers, therefore, at the end of that time, consulted together and having determined by common consent to revolt, marched away towards Ethiopia. Psammetichus informed of the movement, set out in pursuit and coming up with them, besought them with many words not to desert the gods of their country, nor abandon their wives and children. [Herodotus 2.30]

‘The Deserters’ refers to a non-indigenous settlement on the banks of the Nile in Ethiopia. As the appellation implies, they were soldiers who had deserted their king, Psammetichus and country, Egypt, to establish a settlement in Ethiopia. A sizeable company was involved: three garrisons, totaling two hundred and forty thousand soldiers. The cause of desertion was political harassment. Apparently, these soldiers were neglected by the king, shunted off to border postings and not relieved for long stretches—in this particular instance for three years. Clearly and deliberately harassed, the soldiers concurred amongst themselves and decided to seek fresh pastures. The king made a half-hearted attempt to stop this veritable exodus with sweet words, but failed.

Before I go on, I would like to make it clear that this is not a stray or solitary documentation. Other ancient world secular sources too offer almost the exact same fare, giving the distinct impression that the historians concerned were all documenting a very familiar topic. For example, Strabo, the 64 BC Greek scholar, who independently recorded the above fragment of history in his book, titled ‘Geography,’ wrote:

Above the confluence of the Astaboras and the Nile, he says, at a distance of seven hundred stadia, lies Meroe, a city bearing the same name as the island; and there is another island above Meroe, which is held by the Aegyptian fugitives who revolted in the time of Psammitichus, and are called “Sembritae,” meaning “foreigners.” [Strabo, Geography 17.1.2]

Notice here that Herodotus’ Deserters are referred to as ‘Aegyptian fugitives’ and called ‘Semebritae’ or ‘foreigners’ by Strabo. Both the terms are, everyone would readily agree, nearly synonymous to and unambiguously present the ‘deserters’ theme. The Egyptian king mentioned here too is Psammetichus. The contextual topographical and political settings (discussed in forthcoming chapters) too are consistent with that of Herodotus’ version. Although documented later than Herodotus’ ‘History,’ this one is clearly an independent presentation. Strabo, according to his own admission, picked it up from Eratosthenes, the 276 BC Greek mathematician, geographer cum astronomer.

Reverting to Herodotus’ version, the given meaning of the term, ‘Asmach’ is ‘the men who stand on the left hand of the king.’ This indicates that perhaps the Asmach were elite warriors who served as the king’s personal guards. As is generally the case, foreign mercenaries usually fill this role. Mercenaries help a strongman become king and for their troubles, they are given a share of the spoils. This often translated to lavish land grants and other concessions, including perhaps the elite ‘Asmach’ status.

Be that as it may, Psammetichus did not much care for his Asmach warriors, for here he is, contriving to drive them off. The plausible explanation could be that Psammetichus ‘inherited’ this lot of mercenaries. Possibly, the Asmach belonged to a former king and they became Psammetichus’ along with the rest of the retinue when he ascended the throne. This would well explain the Asmach predicament. Indeed, having lived off the fat of the land possibly for generations, “and multiplied and waxed mighty,” this corpulent body was a scourge on the land and was probably right at the very top of Psammetichus’ ‘get rid of them’ list.

Being thus harassed, these soldiers took matters in their own hands and voluntarily moved out, or deserted their king and kingdom in search of fresh pastures. After journeying for months, presumably avoiding unnecessary confrontation en-route, ‘slinking through the wilderness’ so to speak, this veritable exodus of elite soldiers eventually reached Ethiopia.

I should tell here and now that there is in fact no record of them ‘slinking through the wilderness.’ Herodotus does not report it. But the point is, how else would a rogue army of deserters move through a neighborhood on high alert? Minor kingdoms along the way would most certainly have kept a watchful eye on them. They would very likely have had their armies lining their respective borders to ensure that the deserters did not enter or even pass through their territories. Even from the rogue army’s point of view, it would make eminent sense to avoid unnecessary confrontation and therefore ‘slinking through the wilderness’ would be the textbook way to go.

At any rate, they could not have reached Ethiopia at a better time, for a wonderful stroke of luck awaited them. On seeing this wayward army of deserters, a quick-thinking Ethiopian king of the region promptly engaged them for a military mission. Herodotus writes, “Arrived in Ethiopia, they (the Deserters) placed themselves at the disposal of the king. In return, he made them a present of a tract of land, which belonged to certain Ethiopians with whom he was at feud, bidding them expel the inhabitants and take possession of their territory.” [Herodotus 2.30]

The Ethiopian king invited the Deserters to evict a minor king who had usurped a portion of his land. In return for their assistance, which they smartly executed, he allowed them to retain that very same tract of land. The Deserters could not have hoped for a better deal. Readymade homes, standing crops, livestock and vineyards were handed to them on a platter. Indeed, they had inherited a promised land!

To recapitulate a story that is getting increasingly familiar: we see an elite class of warriors, possibly foreign mercenaries, who had served Egypt with their life-blood in some manner. In turn, they were given grand concessions and presumably ‘lived off the fat’ of the land for generations. Eventually, a new Egyptian king, a native Egyptian and representing a new lineage, Pharaoh Psammetichus, harassed these foreign mercenaries, in the hope of evicting them. Fed up with the king’s shamefaced political maneuverings, the mercenaries deserted Egypt. Their departure is notably without bloodshed. To avoid unnecessary confrontation with minor neighboring kingdoms, this rogue army slinked through the wilderness and eventually reached Ethiopia, Egypt’s southern neighbor. Here they were engaged by an Ethiopian king to expel his enemies from a certain tract of land. The Deserters did as bid and were invited to take possession of that very same tract. The Deserters could not have asked for more. They inherited a ready-made paradise, complete with standing crops, cattle, vineyards and what not. In case you have forgotten, this is from Herodotus and Strabo.

The likeness between the story of the Deserters of Herodotus or Sembritae of Strabo, with that of the Exodus of Jews as recounted by the Bible, is indeed hard to miss. The two versions are uncannily similar. However, they are by no means exact copies of each other, thereby betraying proliferation from a single source. Intrinsic differences exist between the two, suggesting that they are independent perspectives and that too from opposite camps. In fact, the two versions are very like the opposite sides of a coin. The biblical version is the Jewish side of the story, whereas Herodotus-Strabo version is actually the Egyptian side of the story. Even the word ‘Deserters’ used, echoes the marked difference of mood in the Egyptian camp. Derogatory and implicating, it conveys a sense of outrage, which starkly contrasts with the triumph and exhilaration associated with the Bible version.

Is the ancient world secular historian’s version the long sought Egyptian record of the Exodus? Were the Deserters of Herodotus, or Sembritae of Strabo, the Jews of the Bible? Could the revolt-desertion described by these historians, be a fleeting glimpse of the Exodus? After many days of pondering, the questions disquietingly coalesced into a single but seemingly silly one. ‘Had Thomas, who was also called Jude, assumed separate identities in the unsuspecting hands of later-date researchers?’ Deciphered of course, there was nothing remotely silly about it. For it asked, ‘Have modern-day scholars inadvertently recreated a separate Ethiopia and a separate Canaan when in reality they were one?’ If true, it points to an unthinkable archaeological reconstruction error of gargantuan proportions.

A complete list of history similarities are given below. Those that require elaboration are dealt with in forthcoming chapters.
HISTORY SIMILARITIES
ETHIOPIA	CANAAN
Elite Asmach soldiers desert from Egypt	Jews footmen or men of war desert from Egypt
The Asmach were harassed by a new king	The Jews were harassed by a new king
The Asmach were professional mercenary soldiers	The Jews too were clearly ‘men of war’
The king makes a last minute effort to make them stay	The Egyptian king negotiates with Moses and Arnon to stop them from going
Bloodless exit	The Jews exit out of Egypt without reprisal or bloodshed
A large number of Asmach soldiers (250,000) deserted	Large numbers of Jews soldiers (603,550) are said to have deserted
Went to Ethiopia, Egypt’s immediate southern neighbor.	Went to Canaan, Egypt’s immediate southern neighbor.
The Asmach were engaged by an Ethiopian king to expel his enemies from a certain tract of land (which belonged to him)	The Jews were (apparently) engaged by Moab to get rid of Sihon and Og who clearly were usurpers of Moab’s territories
The Ethiopian king allows them to retain the very same stretch of land that the Asmach help win back	The Jews are seen to retain the territories of Sihon and Og which they won in battle
The desertion, attack and gaining of territories all hint at a secret alliance the Asmach had with the Ethiopian king in question	The Exodus from Egypt, attack and gaining of territories, all speak of a secret alliance the Jews, especially Moses had with the Canaanite king in question. Moses, is even said to have married ‘Tharbis’ daughter of the said king
The Asmach gains a  ‘promised land,’ one that was promised to them, and one that was a ready-made paradise with standing crop and all	The Deserters gain the ‘Promised Land,’ which was a ready-made paradise, and one that was perhaps promised to them by the Canaanite king with whom they had a secret alliance
The Asmach abandoned their families in Egypt	The Jews too had clearly abandoned their families in Egypt and their first order of business in their new kingdom was to find replacement wives in Canaan
Psammetichus was the Egyptian king in question	The new king mentioned was called Pharaoh King of Egypt and even ‘Palmanothes,’ both of which refer to Psammetichus