The first Zoom session on May 14th had Dr JP Scherman speaking about ancient military intelligence as recounted in the Bible and the Amarna Tablets - 3 000 to 5 000 BCE.
The familiar story of the twelve spies sent into Canaan for 40 days at the start of the harvest season to assess the land for suitability and defensive weaknesses, was used as a foundation for why amateur, untrained, intelligence gathering was inferior to that of organised and trained operatives. Public pressure on Moses led to him abandoning reliance on God (who, after all, had led the Israelites though the Red Sea to safety from Egyptian slavery) and as a result the Israelites wandered in the desert on the eastern side of the River Jordan for 40 years.
The second spy story he used is that of the two spies sent by Joshua to assess the city of Jericho, who were assisted by Rahab in return for sparing her family when the Israelites proceeded to attack.
Third was the emergence of Judas Iscariot as an embedded spy, being typical of a person turning on his leader (or organisation) for monetary gain.
The clay tablets found at Amarna were covered with cuneiform writing, which when translated revealed that Egypt with its many vassal states in the Middle East had some external threats from some of those states: not all subjugated peoples were friendly towards Egypt. The need to be informed of friends' and enemies' intentions was as clear then as in the 20th century conflicts.
The second session saw the speaker turn his attention to Greek military intelligence exploits, starting with Odysseus. He and another man from Athens went to Troy in disguise and stole the Palladium - a wooden statue covered in precious metal, rumoured to have fallen from the sky from Zeus onto the plain of Troy. As long as it remained in the city nobody would be able to conquer Troy. It was installed in Athens - with the same promise of protection. The Trojan wars also saw the famous hollow wooden horse sent by Odysseus from Athens which was allowed into Troy only to open up full of Athenian soldiers who thus captured the city by subterfuge.
Invasion by the Persians against Greek city states in 480BC would not have succeeded at Thermopylae had a traitor not revealed a goat track to them, which allowed them to get behind the 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and wipe out the defenders to a man.
The use of a double agent led to the defeat of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis where the much fewer, but smaller and more manouverable Greek ships were able to sink nearly ten times as many invading vessels.
A special feature of the Greek ages was their reliance on oracles (eg Delphi) and seers whose prophesies greatly influenced the waging of their campaigns. Athens, claiming moral superiority over Sparta, scorned secrecy, surveillance and strategic deception. This 'intelligence blind spot' contributed to Athens' ultimate defeat.
The disastrous invasion of Sicily in 413 BC showed the dangers of invading without even basic intelligence about the target of the invasion.
In Aristotle's day he warned tyrants to know about the thinking of ALL their subjects; at this time female spies reported on private parties and drinking.
JP finished his lecture by telling of the way Alexander the Great's victorious campaigns spread the Greek ideas about organised intelligence gathering. By using the established routes of the Persian empire across their considerable distances, message transmission for a centralised power was able to warn of even distant uprisings, eventually to the benefit of caliphs many centuries later.
His video recording is, as usual, recorded in the Society's Video Library on the website.
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS - ZOOMINARS
Johannesburg
Thursday 11th June 2026 at 19h30 and then 20h15
Speaker: Brian Adams
Subject: The Bushmen Battalion
based on his personal experiences with the Bushmen Battalion during the Border War This was one of the elite units formed by South Africa during the Border War, which harnessed the unique talents of the San/Bushmen who were being forced from their age-old way of life into the rough and tumble of the modern world by the events unfolding in Angola with the collapse of the Portuguese colonies.
If you would like invitations to the ZOOMinars send an email to joan@rfidradar.com
Eastern Cape Branch (SAMHSEC)
SAMHSEC Zoominars
Monday 8th June 2026 19h30 and then 20h15
Speaker: Alan Mantle
Subject: The Suez Canal 1956: the Crisis, the Invasion, the Aftermath.
SAMHSEC RPC
The next RPC (Request the Pleasure of your Company) Zoominar will be on
Monday 29th June.
Details will be in the invitations
Next KwaZulu-Natal Branch Meeting
Saturday 13th June at 1-30 for 2pm
THE 1906 ZULU (BAMBATHA) REBELLION/UPRISING
The month of June is remembered by historians for the 1906 "Bambatha Rebellion". The event will be commemorated at the June Meeting of KZN Branch of SA Military History Society. The main speaker will be Warren Loader, well known on Facebook for his prolific posts on local history. He will be joined by Col Pat Acutt, who will reflect on the 2006 Centenary and reconciliation event.
The venue is St Cyprians Church Hall off Umbilo Rd, with secure parking and liquid refreshments available for cash. Entry is free and open to all, with visitors welcome, but a donation of R20 for the car guard which also gives entry into the monthly raffle is requested from all attendees. Enquiries to Phil Everitt, Chair KZN Branch, SAMHS, Cell or WhatsApp: 0844371636.
BRANCH CONTACT DETAILS
Eastern Cape details contact Malcolm Kinghorn 041-373-4469 culturev@lantic.net
Gauteng details contact Joan Marsh 010-237-0676 scribe@samilitaryhistory.org
KwaZulu-Natal details contact Prof Phil Everitt 084-437-1636 everitt@iafrica.com