Kadesh, Battle of

▪ Syrian history

      (1275 BC), major battle between the Egyptians under Ramses II and the Hittites under Muwatallis, in Syria, southwest of Ḥimṣ, on the Orontes River. Seeking to recapture the Hittite-held city of Kadesh in Syria, Ramses II invaded Syria with four divisions and an auxiliary force. Muwatallis gathered a large alliance among his vassal states and, hiding his army behind the city mound, sent out false reports that he was at Aleppo, farther north. Ramses, falling into the trap, hurried his army toward Kadesh, his units stretched along the Orontes valley road. Toward evening, the king with the first division reached Kadesh and set up camp. Too late, two captured Hittite scouts confessed the actual situation. The Hittites forded the river and, after routing the second division, stormed the Egyptian camp. His first division destroyed, Ramses was saved mostly by his auxiliary force that struck the attacking Hittites in the rear. Pushing the Hittites into the river, the mauled Egyptians retained the battlefield. The next day, after indecisive fighting, Ramses was compelled to withdraw his battered army; and, in the aftermath, the Hittites advanced south to the region of Damascus, halting the Egyptian resurgence into Syria. The biased Egyptian version of the battle was recorded on numerous temples by Ramses, but a Hittite version excavated at Boghazköy has enabled a truer assessment of the battle.

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