The abandoned village of Aghurmi, once Siwa’s main settlement, boasts two ancient Egyptian temples. Both are dedicated to Amun, known to the Greeks as Zeus. The famed Temple of the Oracle, also known as the Temple of Amun, was home to one of the most revered oracles in the classical world. It was here that the sibyls addressed Alexander the Great as deity and established his right to rule Egypt. The nearby Temple of Umm Ubayd likely played an important role in Amun and oracle rituals. While little remains of either, the ruins provide an interesting spot to recount ancient stories. The legend of the lost army of the Persian King Cambyses, reputedly swallowed by a sand storm en route to Siwa in 525 BC, is but one.
