Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Battle of Kadesh: The Truth Behind the Propaganda
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses II — his temples, his family, his diplomacy — but I think it's time to get into what is arguably the defining military event of his reign: the Battle of Kadesh. Luna: Kadesh — that's the big one he plastered all over his monuments, right? Lucas: Exactly. It's everywhere — the Ramesseum, Abu Simbel, Karnak, Luxor — but the thing is, what Ramses tells us in those reliefs and inscriptions isn't exactly what happened. It's a heavily filtered version, a propaganda masterpiece. Lucas: The battle took place in 1274 BCE, in the spring, near the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, in what is now western Syria. Ramses was leading his army — four divisions named after gods: Amun, Re, Ptah, and Seth — against the Hittite king Muwatalli II, who had gathered a huge coalition of allies. Luna: So a classic showdown between the two superpowers of the day. Lucas: Exactly. But here's where it gets interesting — and where the propaganda kicks in. According to Ramses' account, the Hittites ambushed him. He says he was marching north with the division of Amun, and he captured two Hittite spies who told him the Hittite army was far away, near Aleppo. So Ramses advanced quickly, crossed the Orontes, and set up camp west of Kadesh. Lucas: Then, lo and behold, Egyptian scouts captured two more Hittite spies — who, under torture, revealed that the Hittite army was actually right there, hidden behind the city. Muwatalli had set a trap. Luna: So Ramses walked right into an ambush. Lucas: That's exactly what happened. The Hittite chariotry smashed into the division of Re, which was still crossing the river, and routed it. Then they hit the Egyptian camp, and Ramses found himself surrounded with only his personal guard. The reliefs show him single-handedly fighting off waves of Hittite chariots, calling out to the god Amun, who hears him and gives him strength. Luna: And that's probably the most famous scene — Ramses alone in his chariot, shooting arrows. Lucas: Right. And the text that accompanies those reliefs — called the Poem of Pentaur, after the scribe who supposedly wrote it — describes Ramses saying to Amun: 'I call to thee, my father Amun, I am in the midst of multitudes unknown to me. All foreign lands have banded together against me, while I am alone, no other with me.' It's incredibly dramatic. Lucas: But here's the key: the Egyptian account says that Ramses' bravery turned the tide — that he rallied his troops, and then reinforcements arrived. Those reinforcements were a contingent called the Ne'arin, which were probably elite troops from the Egyptian-controlled coast of Canaan. They hit the Hittites from the flank, and the battle ended in a stalemate. Luna: So Ramses didn't actually win — he just survived and claimed victory. Lucas: Exactly. And we know that because we have the Hittite version too. At the Hittite capital Hattusa, archaeologists found a cuneiform letter from Muwatalli to his ally, which describes the battle differently. The Hittites claim they won, that they captured the Egyptian camp and took many prisoners. Both sides claimed victory, which is classic ancient propaganda. Lucas: But the reality is: Ramses lost the element of surprise, his division of Re was shattered, and he failed to capture Kadesh. After the battle, he retreated south into Egypt. Muwatalli held the field and held Kadesh. Strategically, it was a Hittite victory. But Ramses spun it as a personal triumph — his god Amun saved him, and he returned home a hero. Luna: And he spent the rest of his reign putting that story on every temple wall he could. Lucas: Precisely. The Kadesh reliefs are not history; they're a theological and political statement. Ramses is showing that the pharaoh, as the embodiment of divine power, can overcome any odds. The battle became a kind of template for pharaonic kingship: the lone hero against chaos, restored by divine intervention. Lucas: And it's worth noting that the Egyptian account survives in two main versions: the Bulletin, a shorter prose account, and the Poem, a longer poetic version. Both were inscribed at multiple temples. The Poem is attributed to a scribe named Pentaur, but it was likely composed by Ramses' court propagandists. Luna: So the story we have is essentially a piece of royal spin doctoring. Lucas: Exactly. And it worked. For centuries afterward, Kadesh was remembered as a great Egyptian victory. But modern historians, comparing Egyptian and Hittite sources, see it as a tactical draw that led to a strategic stalemate. In fact, the battle set the stage for the world's first known peace treaty — the Treaty of Kadesh, signed about 15 years later between Ramses and the Hittite king Hattusili III. Luna: And we've talked about that treaty before — it's a fascinating document. Lucas: Right. But the battle itself — the way it was fought, the way it was remembered — tells us so much about how Ramses ruled. He was a master of image. He could take a near-disaster and transform it into a foundation myth for his kingship. Lucas: Speaking of image and authenticity — this is actually a good moment to mention that we put these episodes together without any ads. No sponsors, no commercial breaks, just the history we want to share. If that kind of approach resonates with you, and you'd like to help keep it going, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep this independent and ad-free. Lucas: So back to Kadesh: one of the most interesting details is the size of the armies. Ramses says he had about 20,000 men, and the Hittites had maybe 40,000 to 50,000, but those numbers are probably inflated. Chariot counts are given as around 2,500 for the Hittites — which would be huge. But again, these are propaganda numbers. Luna: So we can't even trust the scale of the battle from the Egyptian sources. Lucas: No. But we can learn from the tactics. The Hittite ambush was a classic move — using spies to feed false information. Ramses fell for it because he was overconfident. He wanted to race ahead and claim the glory of capturing Kadesh before his other divisions arrived. It was a rookie mistake from a pharaoh who was about 35 years old at the time and already an experienced warrior. Lucas: He had fought in campaigns in Nubia and Libya, but Kadesh was his first major set-piece battle against a peer adversary. And it showed — he made a serious tactical error. But his personal courage and the timely arrival of the Ne'arin saved him from total defeat. Luna: And that's what he chose to emphasize — his bravery, not his mistake. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the key to understanding Ramses II. He was a brilliant propagandist, maybe the best Egypt ever had. He knew that what people remember is more important than what actually happened. And for 3,300 years, we've remembered Kadesh as Ramses' victory. Lucas: There's also a fascinating detail about the Poem of Pentaur: it includes what's called the 'Prayer of Ramses' — a long speech where he calls on Amun before the battle. This prayer was copied and recopied for centuries, used as a kind of talisman. Schoolboys in Egypt learned it as a text. It became a classic of Egyptian literature. Luna: So the battle story had a life beyond the monuments. Lucas: Absolutely. It was a cultural touchstone. And it reinforces the idea that for Ramses, war and religion were inseparable. Victory came from the gods, and the pharaoh was their instrument. Luna: One thing I've always wondered: did the Hittites have any similar propaganda about Kadesh? Lucas: They did, but we have less of it. The Hittite archives at Hattusa include a letter from Muwatalli to his vassal king in Ugarit, where he boasts of his victory. And there's a fragmentary account from the Hittite perspective that says the Hittites 'overthrew' the Egyptians. But the Hittites didn't build monumental reliefs like the Egyptians did — their propaganda was mostly in cuneiform tablets. Lucas: So the Egyptian version survives more vividly. And that's part of why Ramses' view of Kadesh has dominated history. He had the stone, the temples, the scribes. The Hittite empire collapsed around 1180 BCE, and their records were buried. Egypt's survived. Luna: So the stone literally wrote the history. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a reminder that what we know about the ancient world is shaped by what survived — and who had the resources to carve their story into rock.