
The battle of Qadesh


| Ramses’s most impressive undertaking was the battle in Qadesh against the
Ittiti. Returning from the military campaign, the pharaoh ordered to engrave the scenes on the walls of the Ramesseo (in western Tebe), in Abu Simbel, in Karnak and in Luxor. Great representations represent the warriors, the Egyptian encampment, the clash, the enemies enslaved and mostly Ramses, while alone he defeated the enemy. Of the battle we have two accounts, the most important of which, the Pentaur Poem accompanies the scenes in the temples. The chronicle according to the Egyptian 1275 before Christ, the end of the month of April, the pharaoh marches toward the volley of the Oronte river to conquer Qadesh city, one of the main ittite forts in Syria.
The “final blow” is the arrival of an Egyptian contingent that helps the pharaoh and his guards. At this point the result of the fight is overturned: from an easy victory, the Ittiti find themselver in difficulties. At sunset the hostilities are suspended, but during the night other Egyptian regiments reach the pharaoh. The morning after, a series of valiant officers of the Egyptian army force the ittita king to ask an armistice. It’s probable that things went a bit differently: Muwatallish loses a lot of his carts (more numerous but heavier and hard to drive than the light Egyptian war carts), but he keeps the infantry intact that isn’t involved. To Ramses, instead, the surprise attack by the ittita troops, cost at least the destruction of at least one oh his four regiments. The result was so a draw that forces Ramses to renounce to conquer Qadesh. But his propagandist ability is able to transform a defeat he barely avoided to an heroic undertaking of a great leader.. ![]() |