It is generally dated to May 1274 BC, as accounted by Egyptian chronology,[14] and is the earliest pitched battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known. It is believed to be the largest battle ever fought involving chariots, a total of 5,000 to 6,000.[15][16][17]
After being outmaneuvered, ambushed, and surrounded, in the critical moment Ramesses personally led his body guard to charge the Hittite ranks, and broke through to stem the tide of disaster.
Many of the Egyptian campaign accounts between c. 1400 and 1300 BC reflect the general destabilization of the Djahy region (southern Canaan). The reigns of Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III were undistinguished, except that Egypt continued to lose territory to the Mitanni in northern Syria.[citation needed]
During the late Eighteenth Dynasty, the Amarna letters tell the story of the decline of Egyptian influence in the region. The Egyptians showed flagging interest here until almost the end of the dynasty.[18]Horemheb (d. 1292 BC), the last ruler of this dynasty, campaigned in this region, finally beginning to turn Egyptian interest back to the area.[citation needed]
This process continued in the Nineteenth Dynasty. Like his father Ramesses I, Seti I was a military commander who set out to restore Egypt's empire to the days of the Tuthmosid kings almost a century before. Inscriptions on the Karnak walls record the details of his campaigns into Canaan and ancient Syria.[19] He took 20,000 men and reoccupied abandoned Egyptian posts and garrisoned cities. He made an informal peace with the Hittites, took control of coastal areas along the Mediterranean Sea and continued to campaign in Canaan. A second campaign led to his capture of Kadesh (where a stela commemorated his victory) and the Amurru kingdom. His son and heir Ramesses II campaigned with him. There are historical records that record a large weapons order by Ramesses II in the year before the expedition he led to Kadesh in his fifth regnal year.[citation needed]
However, at some point both regions may have lapsed back under Hittite control. What exactly happened to Amurru is disputed. HittitologistTrevor R. Bryce suggests that although it may have fallen once again under Hittite control, it is more likely Amurru remained a Hittite vassal state.[20]
The immediate antecedents to the Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II into Canaan. In the fourth year of his reign, he marched north into Syria, either to recapture Amurru[21] or, as a probing effort, to confirm his vassals' loyalty and explore the terrain of possible battles.[20] In the spring of the fifth year of his reign, in May 1274 BC, Ramesses II launched a campaign from his capital Pi-Ramesses (modern Qantir). The army moved beyond the fortress of Tjel and along the coast leading to Gaza.[22]
The recovery of Amurru was Muwatalli II's stated motivation for marching south to confront the Egyptians.
Contending forces
The Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II (green) bordering on the Hittite Empire (red) at the height of its power in c. 1279 BC.
Ramesses led an army of four divisions: Amun, Re (pRe), Set, and the apparently newly-formed Ptah division.[23]
There was also a poorly documented troop called the nrrn (Ne'arin or Nearin), possibly Canaanite military mercenaries with Egyptian allegiance[24] or even Egyptians,[25] that Ramesses II had left in Amurru, apparently in order to secure the port of Sumur.[citation needed] This division would come to play a critical role in the battle. Also significant was the presence of Sherden troops within the Egyptian army. This is the first time they appear as Egyptian mercenaries, and they would play an increasingly significant role in Late Bronze Age history, ultimately appearing among the Sea Peoples that ravaged the east Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age. Healy in Armies of the Pharaohs observes:
It is not possible to be precise about the size of the Egyptian chariot force at Kadesh though it could not have numbered less than 2,000 vehicles spread through the corps of Amun, P'Re, Ptah and Sutekh, assuming that approx. 500 machines were allocated to each corps. To this we may need to add those of the Ne'arin, for if they were not native Egyptian troops their number may not have been formed from chariots detached from the army corps.[26]
On the Hittite side, King Muwatalli II had mustered several of his allies, among them Rimisharrinaa, the king of Aleppo. Ramesses II recorded a long list of 19 Hittite allies brought to Kadesh by Muwatalli. This list is of considerable interest to Hittitologists, as it reflects the extent of Hittite influence at the time.
Battle
Rameses II in the Battle of Khadesh.
Muwatalli had positioned his troops behind "Old Kadesh", but Ramesses was misled by two captured nomads who said the Hittite army was still far off at Aleppo;[16] but in fact the nomads were Hittite spies sent to mislead the pharoah. Remesses ordered his forces to set up camp, and he marched hastily towards Kadesh, completely unaware of the large enemy force waiting for him.[27]
Ramesses II describes his arrival on the battlefield in the two principal inscriptions concerning the battle, the so-called "Poem" and the "Bulletin":
(From the "Poem") Now then, his majesty had prepared his infantry, his chariotry, and the Sherden of his majesty's capturing... in the Year 5, 2nd month of the third season, day 9, his majesty passed the fortress of Sile. [and entered Canaan] ... His infantry went on the narrow passes as if on the highways of Egypt. Now after days had passed after this, then his majesty was in Ramses Meri-Amon, the town which is in the Valley of the Cedar.
His majesty proceeded northward. After his majesty reached the mountain range of Kadesh, then his majesty went forward... and he crossed the ford of the Orontes, with the first division of Amon (named) "He Gives Victory to User-maat-Re Setep-en-Re". His majesty reached the town of Kadesh... The division of Amon was on the march behind him; the division of Re was crossing the ford in a district south of the town of Shabtuna at the distance of one iter from the place where his majesty was; the division of Ptah was on the south of the town of Arnaim; the division of Set was marching on the road. His majesty had formed the first ranks of battle of all the leaders of his army, while they were [still] on the shore in the land of Amurru.
[From the "Bulletin"] Year 5, 3rd month of the third season, day 9, under the majesty of (Ramesses II)... The lord proceeded northward, and his majesty arrived at a vicinity south of the town of Shabtuna.[28]
Shasu spies shown being beaten by the Egyptians.
As Ramesses and the Egyptian advance guard were about 11 kilometers from Kadesh, south of Shabtuna, he met two Shasu nomads who told him that the Hittite king was "in the land of Aleppo, on the north of Tunip" 200 kilometers away, where, the Shasu said, he was "(too much) afraid of Pharaoh, L.P.H., to come south".[29] This was, state the Egyptian texts, a false report ordered by the Hittites "with the aim of preventing the army of His Majesty from drawing up to combat with the foe of Hatti".[29] An Egyptian scout then arrived at the camp bringing two Hittite prisoners. The prisoners revealed that the entire Hittite army and the Hittite king were actually close at hand:
When they had been brought before Pharaoh, His Majesty asked, "Who are you?" They replied "We belong to the king of Hatti. He has sent us to spy on you." Then His Majesty said to them, "Where is he, the enemy from Hatti? I had heard that he was in the land of Aleppo." They of Tunip replied to His Majesty, "Lo, the king of Hatti has already arrived, together with the many countries who are supporting him... They are armed with their infantry and their chariots. They have their weapons of war at the ready. They are more numerous than the grains of sand on the beach. Behold, they stand equipped and ready for battle behind the old city of Kadesh."[30]
The Hittite chariots attack the Ra division.
After this, Ramesses II called his princes to meet with him and discuss the fault of his governors and officials in not informing the position of Muwatalli II and his army. As Ramesses was alone with his bodyguard and the Amun division, the vizier was ordered to hasten the arrival of the Ptah and Seth divisions, with the Re division having almost arrived at the camp.[31] While Ramesses was talking with the princes and ordering the Amun division to prepare for battle, the Hittite chariots crossed the river and charged the middle of the Ra division as they were making their way toward Ramesses' position. The Ra division was caught in the open and scattered in all directions. Some fled northward to the Amun camp, all the while being pursued by Hittite chariots.
The Hittite chariotry then rounded north and attacked the Egyptian camp, crashing through the Amun shield wall and creating panic among the Amun division. However, the momentum of the Hittite attack was already starting to wane, as the chariots were impeded by the obstacles of such a large camp; some were killed in chariot crashes.[32] In the Egyptian account, Ramesses describes himself as being deserted and surrounded by enemies: "No officer was with me, no charioteer, no soldier of the army, no shield-bearer[.]"[33]
Ramesses was able to defeat his initial attackers and to return to the Egyptian lines: "I was before them like Set in his moment. I found the mass of chariots in whose midst I was, scattering them before my horses[.]" The pharaoh, now facing a desperate fight for his life, called upon his god Amun and faced the enemy. Ramesses personally led several charges into the Hittite ranks with his personal guard beside him, some chariots from his Amun division, and survivors from the routed Re division.[32]
Ramesses counterattacks.
The Hittites, who believed their enemies to be totally routed, had stopped to plunder the Egyptian camp and so became easy targets for Ramesses's counterattack. He drove the looters back towards the Orontes River and away from the Egyptian camp,[34] and in the ensuing pursuit, the heavy Hittite chariots were easily overtaken and dispatched by the lighter, faster Egyptian chariots.[16]
Final phase of the battle.
Although he had suffered a significant reversal, Muwatalli II still commanded a large force of reserve chariotry and infantry, as well as the walls of the town. As the retreat reached the river, he ordered another thousand chariots to counter-attack, led by the high nobles close to the king. As the Hittite forces approached the Egyptian camp again, the Ne'arin troop contingent from Amurru suddenly arrived, surprising the Hittites. Finally, the Ptah division arrived from the south, threatening the Hittite rear.[35]
After six charges, the Hittite forces were almost surrounded, and the survivors were pinned against the Orontes.[36] The remaining Hittite elements, which had not been overtaken in the withdrawal, were forced to abandon their chariots and attempt to swim the river "as fast as crocodiles" (according to Egyptian accounts), and many drowned.[37]
There is no consensus about the overall outcome, with views ranging from an Egyptian victory to a draw,[38] or, in the view of Iranian Egyptologist Mehdi Yarahmadi, an Egyptian defeat, with the Egyptian accounts being simply propaganda.[39] The Hittite army was ultimately forced to retreat, but the Egyptians could not capture Kadesh.[35]
Battle scene from the Great Kadesh reliefs of Ramses II on the walls of the Ramesseum
Logistically unable to support a long siege of the walled city of Kadesh,[3] Ramesses gathered his troops and retreated south towards Damascus and ultimately back to Egypt. Ramesses proclaimed he had routed his enemies, but he had not even attempted to capture Kadesh.[2] However, the battle was a personal triumph for Ramesses, since after blundering into the chariot ambush and facing defeat and death, the young king had managed to rally his scattered troops and saved the day. His new lighter and faster two-man chariots had shown their superiority in catching the slower three-man Hittite chariots from behind.[3]
Hittite records from Hattusa, however, tell of a very different conclusion to the greater campaign in which a chastened Ramesses was forced to depart from Kadesh in defeat. Modern historians conclude that the battle ended in a draw from a practical point of view but was a turning point for the Egyptians, who had developed new technologies and rearmed to pushing back against the years of incursions by the Hittites.[3]
The Hittite king, Muwatalli II, continued to campaign as far south as the Egyptian province of Upi (Apa), which he captured and placed under the control of his brother Hattusili, the future Hattusili III.[40] Egypt's sphere of influence in Asia was now restricted to Canaan.[40] Even that was threatened for a time by revolts among Egypt's vassal states in the Levant, and Ramesses was compelled to embark on a series of campaigns to uphold his authority in Canaan before he could again attack the Hittites.[citation needed]
In the eighth and ninth years of his reign, Ramesses extended his military successes. This time, he successfully captured the Hittite-ruled cities of Dapur and Tunip,[41] where no Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III almost 120 years earlier.
Ramesses's victory proved ephemeral, however. The thin strip of territory pinched between Amurru and Kadesh was not a defensible possession. Within a year, it had returned to Hittite control, and Ramesses had to march against Dapur once more in his tenth year. His second success was just as meaningless, since neither Egypt nor Hatti could decisively defeat the other in the region.[36]
An official peace treaty with the new Hittite king Hattusili III[3] was signed some 15 years after the Battle of Kadesh, in the 21st year of Ramesses II's reign (1258 BC), which finally concluded the borderland conflicts. The treaty was inscribed on a silver tablet, of which a clay copy was found in the Hittite capital Hattusa, now in Turkey, and is on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. A large replica hangs on a wall at the headquarters of the United Nations, as the earliest international peace treaty known to historians.[3] Its text, in the Hittite version, appears in the links below. An Egyptian version survives on papyrus.[citation needed]
There is more evidence in the form of texts and wall reliefs for this battle than for any other in the Ancient Near East, but almost all of it is from an Egyptian perspective. Indeed, the first scholarly report on the battle, by James Henry Breasted in 1903, praised the sources that allowed the reconstruction of the battle with certainty.[42] However, some historians argue that the battle was a draw at best and that Egyptian influence over Amurru and Qadesh seems to have been lost forever.[43]
The main source of information is in the Egyptian record of the battle for which a general level of accuracy is assumed, despite factual errors and propaganda.[44] The bombastic nature of Ramesses' version has long been recognized.[45] The Egyptian version of the battle is recorded in two primary forms, known as the Poem and the Bulletin. The Poem has been questioned as actual verse, as opposed to a prose account similar to that recorded by other pharaohs. Likewise, the Bulletin is simply a lengthy caption accompanying the reliefs.[46] The inscriptions are repeated multiple times (seven for the Bulletin and eight for the Poem, in temples in Abydos, Temple of Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum).[47]
In addition to these lengthy narratives, numerous small captions point out elements of the battle. Besides the inscriptions, there are textual occurrences preserved in Papyrus Raifet and Papyrus Sallier III,[48] and a letter from Ramesses to Hattusili III written in response to a scoffing complaint by Hattusili about the pharaoh's claims of victory in the battle.[49]
Hittite references to the battle, including the above letter, have been found at Hattusa, but no annals have been discovered that might describe it as part of a campaign. Instead, there are various references made to it in the context of other events. That is especially true of Hattusili III for whom the battle marked an important milestone in his career.[citation needed]
Hittite allies
Sources: Goetze, A., "The Hittites and Syria (1300–1200 B.C.)", in Cambridge Ancient History (1975) p.253; Gardiner, Alan, The Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II (1975) pp.57ff.; Breasted, James Henry, Ancient Records of Egypt; Historical Records (1906) pp.125ff.; Lichtheim, Miriam, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 2: The New Kingdom (1978), pp.57ff.
The 1270s BC is a decade which lasted from 1279 BC to 1270 BC.
Menmaatre Seti I was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c. 1294 or 1290 BCE to 1279 BCE. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.
Kadesh, or Qadesh, was an ancient city of the Levant on or near the headwaters or a ford of the Orontes River. It was of some importance during the Late Bronze Age and is mentioned in the Amarna letters. It was the site of the Battle of Kadesh between the Hittite and Egyptian empires in the 13th century BC.
The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, was the ancient Egyptian nation between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. This period of ancient Egyptian history covers the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties. Through radiocarbon dating, the establishment of the New Kingdom has been placed between 1570 BC and 1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was the most prosperous time for the Egyptian people and marked the peak of Egypt's power.
The Battle of Megiddo was fought between Egyptian forces under the command of Pharaoh Thutmose III and a large rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by the king of Kadesh. It is the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. Megiddo is also the first recorded use of the composite bow and the first body count. All details of the battle come from Egyptian sources—primarily the hieroglyphic writings on the Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thebes, by the military scribe Tjaneni.
The siege of Dapur occurred as part of Pharaoh Ramesses II's campaign to suppress Galilee and conquer Syria in 1269 BC. He described his campaign on the wall of his mortuary temple, the Ramesseum in Thebes, Egypt. The inscriptions say that Dapur was "in the land of Hatti". Although Dapur has often been identified with Tabor in Canaan, Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen argues that this identification is incorrect and that the Dapur in question was in Syria, north of Kadesh.
Muwatalli II was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology.
Mursili III, also known as Urhi-Teshub, was a king of the Hittites who assumed the throne of the Hittite empire at Tarhuntassa upon his father's death. He was a cousin of Tudhaliya IV and Queen Maathorneferure. He ruled ca. 1282–1275 BC or 1272–1265 BC.
Tudhaliya IV was a king of the Hittite Empire, and the younger son of Hattusili III. He reigned c. 1245–1215 BC or c. 1237–1209 BC. His mother was the great queen, Puduhepa.
Maathorneferure was an ancient Egyptian queen, the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II.
Retjenu, later known as Khor, was the Ancient Egyptian name for the wider Syrian region, where the Semitic-speaking Canaanites lived. Retjenu was located between the region north of the Sinai Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia. The term Retjenu was used to refer to this geographical area since the Middle Kingdom. The geographical area of Retjenu were defined during the New Kingdom and considered to have been a collection of small states ruled by princes. The boundaries of the area considered Retjenu shifted throughout time due to military, political, and economic factors. Retjenu was divided into two geographical regions. Djahy the southernmost region covered the area between Askalon and Mount Lebanon stretching inland to the Sea of Galilee. Amurru the northern region stretched between the Lebanon and Taurus Mountains. During Thutmose III's military campaigns in West Asia the area of Djahy was referred to as Upper Retjenu and generally covered the area of Canaan. Lower Retjenu was used to refer to the area of Amurru but also incorporated the cities located along Phoenician coast.
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the northern reaches of the Nile River in Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia. Its history occurred in a series of stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as intermediate periods. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle during the New Kingdom, after which it entered a period of slow decline. Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign powers in the late period, and the rule of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC, when the early Roman Empire conquered Egypt and made it a province. Although the Egyptian military forces in the Old and Middle kingdoms were well maintained, the new form that emerged in the New Kingdom showed the state becoming more organized to serve its needs.
Upu or Apu, also rendered as Aba/Apa/Apina/Ubi/Upi, was the region surrounding Damascus of the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Damascus was named Dimašqu / Dimasqu / etc. (for example, "Dimaški"-, in the letter correspondence.
Ramesses II, commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom, which itself was the most powerful period of ancient Egypt. He is also widely considered one of ancient Egypt's most successful warrior pharaohs, conducting no fewer than 15 military campaigns, all resulting in victories, excluding the Battle of Kadesh, generally considered a stalemate.
The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Ramessid dynasty, is classified as the second Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th Dynasty and the 20th Dynasty furthermore together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period. This Dynasty was founded by Vizier Ramesses I, whom Pharaoh Horemheb chose as his successor to the throne.
The Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, also known as the Eternal Treaty or the Silver Treaty, is the only Ancient Near Eastern treaty for which the versions of both sides have survived. It is also the earliest known surviving peace treaty. It is sometimes called the Treaty of Kadesh, after the well-documented Battle of Kadesh that had been fought some sixteen years earlier, although Kadesh is not mentioned in the text. The treaty was concluded between Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and king of the Hittite empire Ḫattušili III in c. 1259 BC. Both sides of the treaty have been the subject of intensive scholarly study. The treaty itself did not bring about a peace; in fact, "an atmosphere of enmity between Hatti and Egypt lasted many years" until the eventual treaty of alliance was signed.
Amurru was an Amorite kingdom established c. 2000 BC, in a region spanning present-day Northern Lebanon and north-western Syria.
Kadašman-Turgu, inscribed Ka-da-aš-ma-an Túr-gu and meaning he believes in Turgu, a Kassite deity, was the 24th king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty of Babylon. He succeeded his father, Nazi-Maruttaš, continuing the tradition of proclaiming himself “king of the world” and went on to reign for eighteen years. He was a contemporary of the Hittite king Ḫattušili III, with whom he concluded a formal treaty of friendship and mutual assistance, and also Ramesses II with whom he consequently severed diplomatic relations.
The Kadesh inscriptions or Qadesh inscriptions are a variety of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions describing the Battle of Kadesh. The combined evidence in the form of texts and wall reliefs provide the best documented description of a battle in all of ancient history.
References
↑ Lorna Oakes, Pyramids, Temples & Tombs of Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Atlas of the Land of the Pharaohs, Hermes House: 2003, p. 142.
1 2 Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books, 1992, p. 256.
↑ Near the modern village of Al-Houz in Syria's Al-Qusayr District. see Kitchen, K. A., "Ramesside Inscriptions", volume 2, Blackwell Publishing Limited, 1996, pp. 16–17.
↑ Around "Year 5 III Shemu day 9" of Ramesses II's reign (James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. III, p. 317) or more precisely: May 12, 1274 BC based on Ramesses' commonly accepted accession date in 1279 BC.
↑ Moran, William L., "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992
↑ Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak. (Second Edition Revised), Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1990, ISBN0-918986-67-2
1 2 Bryce, Trevor, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford University Press, new edition 2005, ISBN0-19-927908-X, p. 233.
↑ Grimal, Nicolas, A History of Ancient Egypt (1994) pp. 253ff.
↑ Gardiner, Sir Alan (1964). Egypt of the Pharaohs. Oxford University Press. p.260.
↑ Goedicke, Hans (December 1966). "Considerations on the Battle of Kadesh". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 52: 71–80 [78]. doi:10.2307/3855821. JSTOR3855821.
↑ Schulman, A.R. (1981). "The Narn at Kadesh Once Again". Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. 11 (1): 7–19.
↑ Pritchard, James B. (1969). Ancient Near Eastern Texts. Princeton, ISBN978-0-691-03503-1. (ANET), "The Asiatic Campaigning of Rameses II", pp. 255–56
1 2 Wilson, John A, "The Texts of the Battle of Kadesh", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 34, no. 4, July 1927, p. 278.
↑ Ancient Discoveries: Egyptian Warfare. History Channel Program: Ancient Discoveries: Egyptian Warfare with panel of three experts. Event occurs at 12:00 EDST, 2008-05-14. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
↑ Hasel, Michael G (1998). Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 B.C. (Probleme Der Agyptologie). Brill Academic Publishers. p.155. ISBN978-90-04-10984-1.
↑ یاراحمدی, مهدی (2011). پارادوکس قادش: پیروزی رامسس بزرگ یا برتری مواتالی دوم ؟[Kadesh paradox: the triumph of the great Ramses II Mvataly?] (in Persian). دانشگاه فردوس ی مشهد: شماره 44 -45 فصلنامه تاریخ پژوهی. pp.141–151.
↑ De Mieroop, Marc Van (2007). A History of Ancient Egypt. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. p.400. ISBN9781405160704.
↑ TG James, Pharaoh's People: Scenes from Life in Imperial Egypt, 2007. "This romanticized record of the Battle of Qadesh cannot be treated as a truthful account of what happened, and I doubt whether many ancient Egyptians would have accepted it wholly as an historical record (p. 26)". He notes however that the "broad facts" are "probably reported with a fair degree of accuracy" (p. 27).
↑ Some of the harshest criticism of Ramesses has come from Egyptologists. "It is all too clear that he was a stupid and culpably inefficient general and that he failed to gain his objectives at Kadesh" (John A. Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt (1951) p. 247. However, Wilson recognises the personal bravery of Ramesses and the improvement of his skills in subsequent campaigns.)
↑ Gardiner, Alan, The Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II (1975) pp. 2–4. However, Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 2: The New Kingdom (1978) p. 58, maintains that the Poem is truly just that, contra Gardiner, and prefers to maintain the older tripartite division of the documentation.
↑ Lichtheim, Miriam (1976). Ancient Egyptian Literature. Vol.II:The New Kingdom. Berkeley: University of California Press. p.57.
↑ Breasted, James Henry, Ancient Records of Egypt: Historical Documents" (1906) p. 58.
↑ Kitchen, Kenneth A., Ramesside Inscriptions, Notes and Comments Volume II (1999) pp. 13ff.
↑ "Review: Some Recent Works on Ancient Syria and the Sea People", Michael C. Astour, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 92, No. 3, (July–September, 1972), pp. 447–59 writing about someone who identified the Dardanians with the Trojans: "Which is, incidentally, not so: the Iliad carefully distinguishes the Dardanians from the Trojans, not only in the list of Trojan allies (11:816–23) but also in the frequently repeated formula keklyte meu, Tr6es kai Dardanoi ed' epikuroi (e.g., III:456)
↑ A problematical name. Gardiner translates the title as "chief of suite of suite". If the Chief of the Royal Bodyguard is meant here, then that position was held by his brother Hattusili, who quite clearly did not die.
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