Pelusium
Pelusium, located at the easternmost mouth of the Nile in Egypt, is an ancient city known for its historical significance and cultural heritage. Originally called Sainu and Per-Amun, after its principal deity, Pelusium became a vital fortress and customs post on the border with Judaea during Pharaonic times. The city was particularly famous for its flax production. It witnessed several notable military events, including Cambyses' conquest in 525 BC and later sieges involving Athenian assistance and attacks from various rulers, such as Artaxerxes III and the Seleucid king Antiochus IV.
After Alexander the Great's death, Pelusium served as an important customs station under the Ptolemies. It was also the site of significant conflict during the Roman period, particularly during the rise of Octavian (Augustus) following the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra. The residents of Pelusium had a rich cultural life, venerating Isis, the goddess of sea voyages, and considering onions sacred, which has led to diverse interpretations of their practices. Under the later Roman Empire, Pelusium was incorporated into the province of Augustamnica, affirming its enduring importance in the region’s history.
Pelusium
(Tell Farama)
A city in Egypt on the easternmost (Pelusiac) mouth of the Nile; the Egyptians probably called the place Sainu and Per-Amun, `House of Amon,’ after its principal deity, whose name was also later preserved in the Coptic name of the place, Peremun, and perhaps in the modern Tell Farama. Pelusium was famous for its flax. In later Pharaonic times it replaced Sile as the key fortress and customs post on Egypt's frontier with Judaea.
Cambyses, the Achaemenid king of Persia, defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium in 525 BC on his way to conquer their country, which regained its independence by 404. In 374 a further attack on the stronghold (with Athenian assistance) was frustrated by floods, but in 343 it fell to Artaxerxes III Ochus. After the death of Alexander the Great Pelusium was an important customs station of the Ptolemies. The Seleucid monarch Antiochus IV Epiphanes captured it in 170/169, but was obliged by the Romans to return it to Ptolemy VI Philometor.
Antony, as a twenty-five-year-old cavalry officer of Aulus Gabinius, occupied the fortress in 55, while restoring Ptolemy XII Auletes to the Egyptian throne. Then in 30 Octavian (the future Augustus), after defeating the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra VII at Actium, took Pelusium by storm as a prelude to invading and annexing Egypt: whereupon Cleopatra put the wife and children of its defeated garrison commander Seleucus to death; the assertion that she deliberately betrayed the town was hostile propaganda. In Roman times it was a station on the route to the Red Sea. Its population venerated Isis as goddess of sea voyages, as well as her drowned foster son Pelusius, whom they regarded as their founder. They also regarded onions as sacred, thus giving rise to Christian assertions that breaking wind was their religion. Under the later empire Pelusium belonged to the province of Augustamnica.