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Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Fexingo History. I'm Lucas, and with me is Luna. Today we're tackling perhaps the single most famous military event of Ramses the Great's reign—the Battle of Kadesh. If you've listened to our earlier episodes on his chariot army and his Hittite diplomacy, you know this battle is the hinge everything swings on. But we haven't yet walked through the battle itself, moment by moment, and it's a wild story. Luna: I've heard it called the 'first recorded battle in history'—is that right? Lucas: Close. It's one of the best-documented battles of the Bronze Age, largely because Ramses covered every temple wall he could with his own version of events. But the real story is more complicated, and more human, than the propaganda suggests. So let's set the stage: it's the spring of 1274 BCE, in the fifth year of Ramses's reign. He's determined to recapture the city of Kadesh, a strategic stronghold on the Orontes River in modern-day Syria. The Hittite king, Muwatalli II, has other plans. Luna: Ramses was what, around thirty years old then? Lucas: About that, yes. Young, ambitious, and leading an army of perhaps 20,000 men divided into four divisions named after gods: Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seth. Ramses himself marched with the Amun division. They crossed into Hittite territory, moving north along the Orontes. And that's where things went wrong. Lucas: Two bedouin nomads were captured by Egyptian scouts and brought before Ramses. Under interrogation, they claimed the Hittite army was far away, up near Aleppo. It was a lie—a deliberate piece of Hittite disinformation. Ramses believed them. He pushed ahead with just the Amun division, leaving the other divisions strung out behind him, and set up camp west of Kadesh, completely unaware that Muwatalli had positioned his entire army—thousands of chariots and infantry—east of the city, hidden behind the hills. Luna: Oh no. So he walked right into an ambush. Lucas: Exactly. The next morning, as Ramses was preparing to besiege Kadesh, two more Hittite spies were captured—and this time, under beating, they confessed the truth: Muwatalli's army was already deployed, waiting to strike. Ramses realized his mistake, but it was too late. The Hittite chariots launched a surprise attack, crossing the Orontes and slamming into the flank of the Ra division, which was still marching toward the camp. The Ra division was annihilated almost instantly. Soldiers scattered, many drowning in the river. Luna: And Ramses was alone in his camp with just the Amun division? Lucas: Worse than that. The Hittite chariotry, after routing Ra, swept into the Egyptian camp. The Amun division panicked. Ramses found himself nearly surrounded, with only his personal bodyguard and a handful of chariots. According to the Egyptian account—the so-called 'Poem of Pentaur'—he prayed to the god Amun and then charged into the enemy alone, fighting like a god. Now, that's obviously propaganda. But what likely happened is that Ramses rallied a small counterattack, buying precious time. Luna: That's incredible. But what saved him? Lucas: Two things. First, the Hittite charioteers, instead of pressing their advantage, paused to loot the Egyptian camp. That gave Ramses a breather. Second—and this is the key—a contingent of Egyptian troops called the Ne'arin, who had been marching separately by the coast, arrived unexpectedly. They hit the Hittite flank. At the same time, the Ptah division finally came up from the south. The tide turned. Muwatalli's forces, now facing a rejuvenated Egyptian army, withdrew across the Orontes. Luna: Wait, the Ne'arin—I've read they were Canaanite mercenaries, not Egyptians. Lucas: You're right. The Ne'arin were likely allied troops from Syria-Palestine, perhaps from the kingdom of Amurru. They weren't part of the main Egyptian divisions, which is why Ramses didn't expect them. Their arrival was a stroke of luck—or, as Ramses would have it, divine intervention. Luna: So the battle ended in a draw, but Ramses claimed victory. Lucas: That's the standard reading. Militarily, neither side achieved its objective. Ramses didn't capture Kadesh, and Muwatalli didn't destroy the Egyptian army. Both sides lost hundreds—maybe thousands—of chariots. But Ramses went home and covered Egypt with monuments proclaiming a glorious triumph. The Poem of Pentaur and a second text called the 'Bulletin' describe him as a lone hero, smiting the foe. These were carved at temples from Abu Simbel to the Ramesseum. Luna: And the Hittites? What did they say about the battle? Lucas: Remarkably, we have Hittite records too—tablets from Hattusa that describe the battle from their perspective. They don't mention a great Egyptian victory. Instead, they talk about the courage of their own king, Muwatalli, and note that Ramses was forced to retreat. The Hittite version is less dramatic, but it corroborates the basic sequence: the ambush, the Egyptian rally, and the stalemate. Lucas: And here's a fascinating detail: after the battle, Ramses abandoned the campaign and returned to Egypt. He never tried to take Kadesh again. But he didn't lose territory either. The battle led directly to the first known peace treaty in history, about fifteen years later, when Ramses and the new Hittite king Hattusili III agreed to a mutual defense pact. That treaty was so important we covered it in episode 24. Luna: So in the end, Kadesh was a propaganda victory that became a real diplomatic success. Lucas: Exactly. It's a perfect example of how history gets written by the victors—or in this case, by the better propagandists. Ramses used the battle to cement his image as a warrior pharaoh, and that image lasted three thousand years. But the actual clash was a messy, chaotic near-disaster that he turned around through a mix of personal grit, good timing, and a bit of luck. Luna: I love that we have both sides of the story. It makes the battle feel so real. Lucas: It does. And it reminds us that even the most powerful pharaoh was vulnerable on the battlefield. Next time, we'll look at another overlooked aspect of Ramses's reign—the environmental challenges of feeding an empire. But for now, I think we've given Kadesh its due. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. That was a great episode. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And thank you for listening to Fexingo History.