Page 63 - All About History - Issue 54-17

Raw horsepower
A two-horse team was yoked to a draught pole
and pulled the chariot behind it. A top speed of up
to 29 kilometres per hour might be attained over
short distances. For protection, each horse was
provided with armour coats of bronze scales.

BATTLE OF KADESH

KADESH, SYRIA MAY 1274 BCE

Written by Marc deSantis

he city of Kadesh was of great strategic grow at the expense of Egypt’s other vassals in the
importance in the 13th century BCE. Located region and was, for all intents and purposes, an
in the Orontes River valley in the Levant, it independent state by the end of the 13th century
controlled the Egyptian invasion route into BCE. Like wayward Kadesh, its rise was a symptom
T northern Syria. But Kadesh had long chafed of the deterioration of Egyptian prestige in Asia.
against Egyptian domination, and one of its earlier The power of the distant pharaoh was insufficiently
monarchs had been a ringleader of a major rebellion respected by many of his wavering vassals.
against Egypt in the 15th century BCE. The uprising Pharaoh Seti I tried to reverse this decline. He
had not ended well, with warrior-pharaoh Tuthmosis personally led an army into Canaan and Phoenicia
III crushing the rebel Canaanite coalition handily at and delivered a sharp check to Hittite expansion in
the Battle of Megiddo in 1457 BCE. Syria by recapturing Kadesh. But the city quickly
The importance of Kadesh survived this defeat slipped from Egypt’s grasp and once more allied
and the city became a bone of contention between itself with the Hittite Empire. If Egyptian control in
the two Bronze Age superpowers — Egypt and Syria was ever to be re-established, Kadesh would
the rising Hittite Empire, based in Anatolia. In the have to be brought back into the fold.
early 14th century BCE, the Hittites, under King Seti died in 1279 BCE, succeeded on the throne
Suppiluliumas the Great, had smashed Mitanni, the by his son, Ramesses II. Like his father, Ramesses
erstwhile great power that had dominated northern was determined to make Egyptian power felt in Asia
Syria, and Mitanni’s old vassals bent their knees once again. First, Kadesh would have to be brought
to him instead. When Kadesh was also taken by to heel. In April and May 1274 BCE, he assembled
Suppiluliumas, the Egyptians were forced to act. his army at Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta. When his
However, while Hittite power waxed in the Middle preparations were finished, he marched out of Egypt
East, the Egyptian position in the region was at the head of an army of some 20,000 soldiers and
seriously weakened. 2,000 chariots divided into four large corps.
Hatti, as the Hittite kingdom was known, had The Hittites were certain to respond to this
its heartland in what is central Turkey today, with move, as Kadesh was vital to their position in Syria,
Iconic battle
Ramesses was keen to celebrate his own its capital at Hattusa. The Hittites were tough and too. The power of the Hittites was such that their
heroism at Kadesh, so commissioned ferocious warriors and the primary strike force of king, Muwatalli II, could call upon not just his own
memorials all over his kingdom, making it one their army was a massive corps of chariots. While army in a time of war, but also those of myriad
of the best recorded battles of ancient times.
The relief from Ramesses’ own royal tomb Hatti increased in power in the latter 14th century allied lesser kings and princes. For the upcoming
often depicts the pharaoh crushing the Hittites BCE, Egypt had been unwilling to react to the campaign, in addition to his own soldiers, King
under the wheel of his chariot, despite his northern challenge, preferring instead to rely on Muwatalli was accompanied by the troops of 18
actual victory being much more modest. client states to look after its interests on the frontier allies and vassals. The stage was now set for the
in Syria. One such kingdom, Amurru, used this to greatest battle of the Bronze Age.

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