Ancient carving - Shasu spies being beaten by Egyptians

The Kadesh inscriptions or Qadesh inscriptions are a variety of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions describing the

Battle of Kadesh The Battle of Kadesh took place in the 13th century BC between the New Kingdom of Egypt, Egyptian Empire led by pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittites, Hittite Empire led by king Muwatalli II. Their armies engaged each other at the Orontes River, ...

(1274 BC). The combined evidence in the form of texts and wall reliefs provide the best documented description of a battle in all of ancient history. The Egyptian version of the battle of Kadesh is recorded in two primary accounts, known as the ''Bulletin'' or ''Report'' and the ''Poem'' which are often placed side by side in the locations they were inscribed. In addition, some reliefs also inscribed in the same location offer pictorial depictions of the battle. Some scholars divide these accounts into three. The ''Bulletin'' is repeated seven times and the ''Poem'' eight times, spread across temples in Abydos,

Temple of Luxor The Luxor Temple () is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it was known as ''ip ...

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

Abu Simbel Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Egyptian temple, temples in the village of Abu Simbel (village), Abu Simbel (), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is located on t ...

and the

Ramesseum The Ramesseum is the Temples of a Million years, memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great", also spelled "Ramses" and "Rameses"). It is located in the Theban Necropolis in Upper Egypt, on the west of the Ni ...

, and two

hieratic Hieratic (; ) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BCE ...

papyri.: "Subsequently the campaign was told al length in two separate accounts which scholars have called the Bulletin (or the Record) and the Poem. The two accounts are supplemented by pictorial reliefs with explanatory captions. The whole composition offers a number of striking features. First the fact that there are two distinct though overlapping accounts. Second the fact that the two versions were not merely carved once on the walls of a temple but were repeated in multiple copies – the Bulletin seven times and the Poem eight times. They are inscribed on the walls of the temples of Abydos, Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum, and the Poem is also found on fragments of two hieratic papyri.

Poem

The ''Poem of Pentaur'' (pntAwr.t), usually short referred to as the ''Poem'' is known from eight inscriptions, and lists the peoples which went to Kadesh as allies of the Hittites. Amongst them are some of the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

and many of the other peoples who would later take part in battles of the 12th century BC (see

). The ''Poem'' has been questioned as actual verse, as opposed to a prose account similar to what other pharaohs had recorded.

Bulletin

The ''Bulletin'' or the ''Record'' is itself simply a lengthy caption accompanying the reliefs. Eight copies survive today on the temples at Abydos,

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

and

, with reliefs depicting the battle.

Other inscriptions

In addition to these lengthy presentations, there are also numerous small captions used to point out various elements of the battle. Outside of the inscriptions, a

copy of the ''Poem'' is preserved in the ''Raifet-Sallier papyrus'', of which the first page is lost, the second page ("Papyrus Raifet") is in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and the third page ("Papyrus Sallier III") is in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. However, this is "an inaccurate copy of the whole text". Cuneiform references to the battle have been found at

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

, including a letter from Ramesses to Hattusili III written in response to a scoffing complaint by Hattusili about the pharaoh's victorious depiction of the battle.Kitchen, Kenneth A., ''Ramesside Inscriptions, Notes and Comments Volume II'' (1999) pp. 13ff. However, 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.

Copies

Poem

Luxor Temple The Luxor Temple () is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes (Egypt), Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it was ...

pylon, north side of both towers *

, outside the south wall of the

Great Hypostyle Hall The Great Hypostyle Hall is located within the Karnak Temple Complex, in the Precinct of Amon-Re. It is one of the most visited monuments of Ancient Egypt. The structure was built around the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, 19th Egyptian Dynasty (– ...

* Abydos: Ramesses II temple

Bulletin

* Abu Simbel: Great Temple north wall of the first hall *

, west side of first pylon *

pylon, south side

Reliefs

* Abydos: Ramesses II temple, outside walls *

, first pylon *

, second pylon *

pylon: * Temple of Derr * Abu Simbel: Great Temple north wall of the first hall

Gallery

File:AbydosR2QadeshBattle-81.jpg, File:LuxorTemplePylonBattleR2.jpg, File:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Egypt-3B-036.jpg, File:Karnak Ägyptisch-Hethitischer Friedensvertrag 06.jpg, File:Cyark Ramesseum first pylon 2.jpg, File:RamesseumPM10.jpg, File:Relief Kadesh Breasted.jpg, File:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Egypt-10C-021.jpg, File:Ramses II at Kadesh.jpg, File:Ägypten 1999 (134) Assuan- Im Großen Tempel von Abu Simbel (27595822585).jpg,

References

Bibliography

* * * Gardiner, A.H. 1960
The Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II
Oxford * * * {{cite book, last=Lichtheim, first=Miriam, author-link=Miriam Lichtheim , title=Ancient Egyptian Literature: The late period, chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nN2jfpSbk2kC&pg=PA57, year=1973, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-03615-4, pages=57–, chapter=The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Ramses II

External websites

13th-century BC inscriptions Sea Peoples Egyptian inscriptions Ramesses II Military history of ancient Egypt Abu Simbel

Poem

Bulletin

Other inscriptions

Copies

Poem

Bulletin

Reliefs

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External websites