The Battle of Faiyum was fought in 48 BC during the Alexandrine Civil War. The people of Faiyum rose in revolt against the occupying (predominantly Greek) Ptolemaic army under Stavros Galanou, under whom the Greek soldiers frequently extorted grain from the native Egyptians. While the townspeople protested and drew many of the fortified garrison's soldiers away, Bayek and Uer-mu Ah's rebel force assaulted the garrison itself. While most of the rebels were killed, Bayek succeeded in assassinating the commander and freeing the region from the regime he embodied.
Background[]
During the 1st century BC, the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt fell into turmoil as the young Ptolemy XIII came to the throne and a secret society known as the Order of the Ancients began to exert its control over the country through recruiting several powerful people both in Ptolemy's inner circle and throughout the kingdom. No part of Egypt suffered as much as the Faiyum Oasis region, where the Nomarch Berenike the Crocodile (an Order member) presided over a tyrannical, racist, and corrupt Greek minority regime. Under Berenike, the Ptolemaic military presence in the Faiyum was increased, Egyptian farmlands were taken over by wealthy Greek settlers, the native Egyptians were taxed unfairly while the Greeks were exempted, the Greeks destroyed or segregated Egyptian slums, and the Euhemeria food merchant Theseus Mallakis even donated rancid vegetables to the Egyptian slum dwellers with the goal of killing them off and taking their lands. The medjay Bayek, commissioned by Ptolemy's sister and rival Cleopatra, dismantled this cruel regime by assassinating Mallakis and Berenike, ending the Okteres Blockade, and wiping out several military camps across the Faiyum.
Battle[]
Andronikos Miskilis' body
However, Berenike's death did not end the Ptolemies' corrupt rule in the Faiyum, as the commander of Fort Boubastos, Stavros Galanou, allowed for his men to extort grain from the locals. The incident that sparked the uprising was Captain Andronikos Miskilis' attempted extortion of the Egyptian farmer Met-su-khons User-t. The local official Khenut, the wife of the merchant Hotephres and an associate of Bayek, confronted the Captain and threatened to inform his commander of his breach of Egyptian law. An infuriated Miskilis decided to mark her for death, and, sensing this, Bayek followed him into a grassy field and ambushed him. Bayek was soon joined in the fight by local Egyptians, and the approximately five rebels killed the Captain and around 15 of his men, including several charioteers and horse patrols. Bayek then recruited Met-su-khons to rally the townspeople in rebellion against the fort; while Met-su-khons was initially hesitant to join Bayek, his learning of the Captain's death inspired him.
Galanou responded by sending troops to Hotephres' home, where they hoped to find Khenut and Bayek. However, Bayek and Hotephres ambushed and killed the three soldiers sent to search the Philadelphia Farm, and Khenut arrived shortly after. While Hotephres suggested that he could use some of his wealth to hire a private army, Khenut instead suggested that they win the support of a rebel faction hiding in the desert of Haueris Nome. She took Bayek with her to meet Khaba Harpakrut, the second-in-command of the rebels, but Khaba initially refused to help, as the rebel commander Uer-mu Ah had been captured and taken to Cleon's Dam. Bayek decided to rescue him, and, in the process, he infiltrated both Cleon's Wharf and Cleon's Dam and single-handedly wiped out their garrisons and assassinated their captains. He brought Uer-mu back to the rebel camp, where he agreed to help Bayek, as he owed him his life. Bayek then told Uer-mu that he was going to head to the fortress alone, where he intended to assassinate Galanou.
The main battle occurred when Bayek arrived at the fortress. He was surprised to already hear horns blowing and men shouting, and he saw that a handful of rebels had made it into the fort and had begun their assault. Meanwhile, the farmers were rallied to hold a protest, diverting troops from the fortified garrison and making it easier to capture. While all of the attacking rebels were overpowered and killed by the guards, Bayek succeeded in killing the remaining Ptolemaic troops and assassinating Galanou from behind. With Galanou's death, his corruption had ended. Bayek then returned to Hotephres, who told him of the farmers' help, the rebels' amazement at Bayek, and that the farms of Faiyum would now be well protected. From that moment forwards, the people of Faiyum refused to let another Crocodile plague them again, and the people of Faiyum were freed of Ptolemaic occupation.