- 10 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A civilization immortalized by awe-inspiring monuments and priceless treasures, ruled by pharaohs, living gods, and legendary warriors.
00:14But their wealth masks a darker truth. Power was bought with blood.
00:25They assembled the greatest armies in history.
00:30Revolutionized the art of warfare and waged spectacular battles and titanic conquests.
00:44This is the hidden face of Egyptian history. The story of the pharaohs at war.
00:50May 1274 BCE. In front of the city of Kadesh, pharaoh Ramses II fights for his life.
01:14So there was a moment for Ramses II where he must have thought that he would die, that everything would be lost.
01:23Facing him are the warriors of the powerful Hittite Empire, located in present-day Turkey.
01:28The Hittite Empire is as powerful as the Egyptians. They are forces of equal strength and prestige.
01:36On one side, Ramses II, the pharaoh of Egypt, who has just come to power and is determined to prove his worth.
01:44When he started his reign, he was 20 years old. His dynasty had not even 15 years.
01:51On the other, the Hittite king Muatali II, whose reign fixated on expanding his territory.
01:56He was a worthy opponent to Ramses.
01:59This battle is a clash between the two most influential rulers of their time.
02:05For years, the Egyptians and Hittites have been fighting over the lands of the Levant, which lie between the two countries.
02:11But this time, the rival kings have mobilized their entire armies.
02:16The decisive fight will take place at Kadesh, on the border between the two empires.
02:20It's the meeting of two giants.
02:225,500 chariots and 50,000 men.
02:27Under the fortress of Kadesh, one of the greatest chariot battles of history is at its height.
02:34And when the dust settles, both sides claim victory.
02:40So who is the real winner?
02:42How did the battle of Kadesh become the most famed battle in Egypt?
02:46This bloody conflict would permanently alter relations between the Hittites and the Egyptians.
02:58Celebrated in the temples built by Ramses II, this battle played a founding role in the reign and eternal glory of the most famous of all pharaohs.
03:09Ramses the Great.
03:16In the south of Egypt stands the awe-inspiring temple of Abu Simbel.
03:24I'm standing in front of this colossal statue of Ramses II, which is over 20 meters tall.
03:30Ramses II carved this image to show that he's powerful, that he's a mighty pharaoh and a divine king.
03:37And I'm small, nothing but a mortal, going to his temple.
03:41It's so impressive.
03:46The access doesn't stop there.
03:49The 60-meter-long and 8-meter-high temple, built shortly after the Battle of Kadesh, is carved entirely out of the rock.
03:58An architectural masterpiece.
04:01It's a place where Ramses II wanted to make something bigger than anyone ever had done.
04:06It's absolutely stunning.
04:08This is a monument to a monumental pharaoh.
04:11And as expected, inside the temple, the Battle of Kadesh occupies a special place.
04:18Oh, wow.
04:19This is the inscription of the Battle of Kadesh.
04:22All the parts of the battle are on this wall.
04:25Ancient Egyptians, when they talked about battles, they would say, I went to this place, I won, and that was it.
04:33We don't have the details that give us a rich military history.
04:37This is the first document of its kind.
04:40And it tells us of one of the largest chariot battles that ever took place in the ancient Near East.
04:45All pharaohs represent their military victories.
04:50But Ramses II takes the tradition to another level.
04:55The Battle of Kadesh is carved onto gigantic walls in Egypt's main temples, Luxor and Karnak.
05:03An action that might suggest Ramses II had something to prove.
05:08We are in the Temple of Karnak, dedicated to the great god Amun.
05:13It's a magnificent temple.
05:16Amun, recognizable by the two feathers on his headdress, was the main god at the time of Ramses II.
05:23And his temple is the most important in ancient Egypt.
05:28A sacred space, 400 meters wide and 600 meters long.
05:34It is monumental.
05:37Here, Ramses II presents a key moment in his reign, his coronation.
05:42Ramses II became pharaoh in 1279 B.C. at the age of 25.
05:49In Egyptian tradition, the god Amun is the divine father of the pharaohs.
05:56For centuries, they have been crowned in his temple at Karnak.
05:59Up at the top here, we have the coronation of Ramses II.
06:05He is surrounded by four different gods.
06:09The young pharaoh appears in the company of the goddesses Necbet and Ujad,
06:14and the falcon-headed god Horus, and the ibis-headed god Thoth,
06:18because he needs his kingship to be indisputable.
06:20Ramses II was the third king of the 19th Egyptian dynasty,
06:28a recent lineage with no blood ties to the previous one.
06:32A problem in a country where divine blood is supposed to flow in the veins of the pharaoh.
06:38He owes his accession to the throne to his grandfather, Ramses I,
06:45who was opportunely promoted when the last king of the 18th dynasty died without an heir.
06:51Ramses I was chosen because he's a military man,
06:56and he could protect the borders of Egypt,
06:58where we have a significant rising in power of great nations like the Hittites.
07:04This was a brand-new dynasty that aimed to be a dynasty of kings,
07:10even though they were kind of picked for it at random.
07:13To prove that he is worthy of being pharaoh,
07:17Ramses II must show that the gods support him and protect Egypt's borders.
07:23In his time, the main threat came from a powerful enemy, the Hittites.
07:27When he became king,
07:32the Egyptian empire extended from the fourth cataract of the Nile to the Levant
07:37and the edge of the Hittite empire.
07:40From Hattusa, their capital,
07:43the Hittites controlled a large territory currently located across Turkey and southern Syria.
07:49Situated on the border separating the two empires,
07:53Kadesh has been an area of tension for centuries.
07:55The ruins of Hattusa, the Hittite capital,
08:02demonstrate the power of this empire.
08:05Hidden deep in the Anatolian mountains in present-day Turkey,
08:09the 180-hectare city is being carefully studied by archaeologists.
08:14Since 1952, the excavations are continuing without any interruption.
08:22These excavations have enabled us to understand how this empire operated.
08:26The Hittite empire is like a federal state.
08:29Each city of the Hittites was in itself more or less independent.
08:34At the time of Ramses II, the king of the capital of this federal state was Muatali II.
08:41Muatali was the great king, but he always had to find compromises with the other important families and rulers in the country.
08:49So he was not an absolute ruler like Ramses.
08:53The title of great king did, however, give Muatali II a special position.
08:59As the head of an empire, he was the one who made decisions for the country.
09:03And Hattusa, the city he ruled, also had a special status.
09:07We have a large palace area, we have about 32 temples, we have official buildings, but there's no area where ordinary people lived.
09:19So this settlement is probably not functioning as a normal city.
09:24Evidence the city is unique is everywhere in Hattusa.
09:28We are just coming in front of the reconstruction of a part of the city wall.
09:34It's sitting exactly on top of the original foundations.
09:40It is about 8 meters wide, and the wall itself is 9 meters high, and the tower is up to 13 meters high.
09:49An impressive fortress.
09:52Yet this 70 meter long wall only represents 1% of the walls that once protected the city.
09:58From this citadel, soldiers could keep a watchful eye on the surrounding area.
10:06In this astonishing city, everything is designed to impress.
10:11The sight can even be seen from 20 kilometers away.
10:14On one of the highest points in the Hittite capital sits the royal palace.
10:18We are here at the palace complex of Hattusa, where the great king, Muwatali, lived with his wives and children.
10:29Muwatali became the great king around 1290 BCE and inherits a vast empire.
10:37An empire that was already encroaching on ancient Egyptian land.
10:41But in respect of Hittite tradition, the great king wished to continue expanding.
10:46But Ramses II is determined to put a stop to Muwatali II's desires.
10:53At the heart of the conflict, two territories are particularly disputed.
10:58The city of Kadesh, allied to the Hittites, and the Egyptian region of Amaru.
11:03The Hittites need Amaru, because it's a southern passageway that gives them access to the riches of the Levant.
11:11An essential strategic territory for both the Hittites and the Egyptians.
11:17The area from Amaru in the north in Syria, all the way to Kenan in Palestine,
11:22was like a highway in the ancient world for trade goods.
11:26Ramses II was very interested in keeping this trade highway open.
11:30He wanted to get luxury goods like perfume from the Near East,
11:36cedars from Lebanon that were used to build ships and massive constructions in Egypt.
11:42But what he wants most of all is copper and tin, which mixed together form bronze,
11:48the most important metal at the time.
11:52Thanks to bronze, the Egyptians were able to work with stone and build incredible monuments.
11:57But importantly, this metal made it possible to quickly craft weapons in large quantities.
12:05Weapons that Ramses II's soldiers could use at the Battle of Kadesh.
12:11Egypt had very minimal sources of tin.
12:14And so if they wanted to expand a bronze industry, they needed trade relationships.
12:19And this was an entirely new situation for Egypt.
12:21Egypt always had all the minerals, all the wealth, everything you could need.
12:26And this was the first time it didn't have something that it needed.
12:32A confrontation is inevitable.
12:35Ramses II has three good reasons for fighting the Hittites.
12:39He wants to secure the trade routes,
12:44weaken his main enemy,
12:46and establish his reign by winning a victory that will prove to everyone
12:51he is worthy of being pharaoh.
12:54Archaeologists are studying the city where Ramses II prepared for battle.
13:06Its name is Pi Ramses, which means the House of Ramses.
13:12In the Nile Delta, Pi Ramses was the most important city under Ramses II.
13:17The pharaoh made it his new capital.
13:21Instead of Thebes, now Luxor, more than 700 kilometers away.
13:26It was a move to concentrate power in his hands,
13:30because Ramses, when he came to the throne,
13:32his dynasty had just about 15 years.
13:36So he founded a new capital to choose all the people around himself,
13:40so he could cut off old elites from the access to power,
13:45the access to the king himself.
13:46And he has other reasons for building his city in the Delta.
13:50On the one hand, his family came from the region.
13:53On the other hand, it's in a perfect strategic location,
13:57very close to the Mediterranean Sea,
13:59and also close to the Levant,
14:01close to the place where Ramses knew that he would go to battle.
14:06Thanks to its location,
14:08which gave it easy access to goods entering Egypt,
14:11the city rapidly developed.
14:13Pi Ramses was one of the largest cities of its time.
14:16We have living quarters.
14:17We have big buildings like palaces, temples, administrative buildings,
14:22but also a kind of factory for military goods, for weapons.
14:28One of the most exciting archaeological finds is a bronze foundry.
14:33There was this huge area for smelting bronze,
14:36and molds found for making different weapons.
14:39And these are the same weapons that we see in the reliefs of the Battle of Kadesh.
14:42Mass production opens up new opportunities.
14:48Raw copper and raw tin would have been brought into Pi Ramses
14:51and worked especially into weapons.
14:55And the facilities that were excavated
14:57have proven to be capable of producing probably 200 kilograms of bronze
15:01in a span of a few hours.
15:03And when you think that one small arrowhead weighs probably 5 or 10 grams,
15:08then you can produce weapons for a whole army within a rather short period of time.
15:14Ramses II is a warrior.
15:17His father and grandfather were generals.
15:20His power comes from the military,
15:22and he supervises his army closely.
15:24The major part of the army was closely attached to the king.
15:29So we have these huge workshops, a palace,
15:32and just 200, 300 meters away, we have huge stables.
15:36The reason the stables are so close to the palace
15:39is because horses played an essential role at the time.
15:43At the Battle of Kadesh, the most important weapon was the chariot.
15:49It's not stables made out of wood.
15:51You had stone columns.
15:52And every box kept five or six horses.
15:56From what we know is that at least 500 horses
15:59could have been kept in the stables.
16:02Enough for 250 chariots.
16:05To lead these war horses and drive the chariot
16:09required specially trained soldiers.
16:12An honor reserved for members of the elite and pharaohs.
16:17Chariot was befitting the high status of the pharaoh.
16:21He could be above everybody else.
16:25The invention appeared in Egypt just 400 years before Ramses II.
16:30Kings really love to show themselves on a colossal scale on these huge chariots
16:36as separating themselves from the rest of the army.
16:39So this image is so fantastic because we have Ramses II and he has the reins of the horse tied around his waist.
16:48You can see the little bow in the back.
16:50And he's somehow steering the horses, barreling down a field,
16:55and he's also got this huge bow strung and shooting arrows at the same time.
17:00So this image becomes a very important element of royal iconography.
17:05Is this representation of the warrior pharaoh realistic?
17:09Could Ramses II really drive his chariot while shooting down his enemies by bow and arrow?
17:13In this position, Ramses would need to steer his chariot alone by hooking the reins behind his hips.
17:24Ramses would have to steer his chariot, watch the terrain, aim at the enemy and avoid oncoming arrows to survive.
17:31This would be impossible.
17:33That's why Ramses II, although he claims otherwise in the temples, needed a chariot driver.
17:42Studying the texts more closely reveals Ramses II was not alone.
17:48In the temple of Abu Simbel, amidst heroic images of the pharaoh, one man stands out.
17:55Depicted on the reliefs of the Battle of Kaddash, in the midst of the other soldiers,
18:01he is the only one holding the reins of a chariot.
18:05And this soldier is so important that Ramses II writes his name, Mina.
18:11In the text, he's listed as the shield bearer.
18:16Mina's job was to ride in the chariot with Ramses II,
18:19holding the shield, protecting him from bows and arrows, and also probably steering the horses.
18:26Mina was just one of more than 5,000 charioteers that fought in the Battle of Kaddash,
18:32considered to be the largest chariot battle in ancient Egypt.
18:36But before fighting, the two kings must prepare themselves.
18:40On the Hittite side, the great king Muatali II must ensure the gods are on his side before entering into battle.
18:49The Yazlikaya Temple, a few kilometers from Hattusa,
18:53provides an insight into the relationship between the Hittites and their deities.
19:00On the left here, there's a storm god standing on mountain gods,
19:04who are lowering their heads.
19:08Opposite, there is his divine wife, standing on a lioness.
19:12The Hittites say they are a kingdom of a thousand gods,
19:19and so far we have found more than 600.
19:24Every time the great Hittite king conquered a new territory,
19:28the first thing he did was integrate the god of that territory
19:31and worship them equally to the gods of his kingdom.
19:35And so there was an integration that included all the conquered gods.
19:44Before leaving for Kaddash,
19:46the gods must validate Muatali II's plan to wage war against the Egyptian pharaoh
19:51and assure him of their support in battle.
19:55A guarantee that the great king could only obtain with a soothsayer,
20:00considered a scientist by the Hittites.
20:02There are a whole series of techniques,
20:06and one of the best known is reading the liver of a sacrificed animal.
20:10The marks on the surface of the liver are observed.
20:13If a specific mark goes in a specific direction,
20:16or is of a certain color, has a certain appearance,
20:19it indicates a particular divine omen.
20:24In Pai Ramses, the pharaoh has gathered all his men.
20:28He too is preparing for war.
20:30The Egyptian army is made up of both conscripts and professionals.
20:35All troops are armed with important weapons,
20:38bows, spears, clubs, axes, kopeshes.
20:43And then there are the chariots mounted by seasoned charioteers
20:46and exceptionally trained archers.
20:50Ramses II makes sure his soldiers have the best training and equipment.
20:54Chariot troops, they are definitely professional soldiers,
21:00equipped by the state with weaponry provided for by the state,
21:04with horses that were kept at least partially by the state.
21:09When you want to go around on a chariot,
21:12this is a rather difficult thing.
21:14And when you want to go to war with it,
21:16you must have been trained since childhood.
21:18In the Ramesside period,
21:22everything is basically constructed around the army.
21:26The army was fully part of the government.
21:29Some describe this period as a military dictatorship.
21:33That's probably pretty close to what it really was,
21:36that the military was the most important institution
21:39within the Egyptian state at that point in time.
21:42For the Hittites, too, the army was extremely important.
21:47In Hattusa, the capital of their vast empire,
21:50one of the rare statues discovered represents a warrior god.
21:55He's wearing a horned helmet with ear protection,
21:59and he's carrying an axe and an important dagger.
22:04War was at the heart of the Hittite king's agenda,
22:08as he had a duty to expand the kingdom during his lifetime.
22:11The problem was that the Hittite kingdom was never stabilised,
22:16because conquered territories easily rebelled.
22:19In order to carry out conquests and keep the peace,
22:23the Hittite kings needed a powerful military force.
22:27The Hittite army contained professional warriors,
22:31mostly elites and conscripts.
22:33And this system required serious organisation.
22:37The Hittite army is extremely hierarchical.
22:41At the very top is the great king,
22:42the symbolic leader of the army.
22:44Just below him is the chief of the king's bodyguards,
22:49a role reserved for members of the royal family.
22:53And below him are the Mechidi,
22:55an elite army responsible for the king's safety.
23:00After this comes the chiefs of the city,
23:02subject to Muotali II,
23:03and finally their men,
23:06soldiers from all over the empire.
23:11At Hattusa, excavations have uncovered numerous weapons,
23:15many of which are identical to those used by the Hittites
23:18at the Battle of Kadesh.
23:22During the excavations,
23:24we found axes.
23:25You can also see arrowheads here.
23:32Finally, the Hittite army had defensive weapons,
23:35such as armour.
23:39They sewed bronze strips onto a leather base,
23:43forming a suit of armour.
23:45The battle ahead will be a meeting of two expertly prepared giants,
23:56two empires,
23:57each as vast,
23:59rich and powerful as the other.
24:02Two armies led by two great warlords.
24:06Aware of the challenge ahead,
24:08Muotali II has assembled a colossal force.
24:11There could have been up to 3,500 chariots
24:15on the Hittite side,
24:16and around 37,000 infantrymen.
24:20Ramses II also assembled a considerable army,
24:23but in his writings,
24:25the pharaoh does not reveal the number of soldiers,
24:28preferring to insist on the power of his opponents
24:30in order to emphasise his bravery.
24:33We know that Egyptian army divisions
24:36were made up of units of 5,000 infantrymen.
24:41And up to 500 chariots in each division.
24:45Since Ramses II leaves with four divisions,
24:48that's 20,000 men and 2,000 chariots.
24:52There was the Amun division,
24:54who Ramses II was the head of,
24:56so it was his main division.
24:58Then following that was the army of Ray, the sun god.
25:02Following that was Ptah, the main god of Memphis.
25:04And then after that was Seth.
25:06Divisions to which we must add two elite groups.
25:09First of all, the Sheridans.
25:12They're known for their leather helmets with horns
25:14and discs on top of their heads.
25:17They have round shields,
25:19which are different than the more rectangular Egyptian one.
25:23They have a dagger that's long and pointy.
25:25And then they have these very fun kilts
25:28that are short in the front and long in the back.
25:31The Sheridans were invaders and combatants.
25:35In the second year of Ramses' reign,
25:38he won the decisive battle against the Sheridans.
25:41And from that battle,
25:43many of the Sheridans were captured
25:44and integrated into the Egyptian military.
25:47And they were serving right underneath the pharaoh.
25:52They're his bodyguards.
25:53So he must have trusted these foreign mercenaries.
25:57These fearsome warriors fight alongside
25:59another remarkable battalion, the Nairines.
26:03The Nairines are a very interesting group.
26:06We don't know much about them.
26:08We don't have texts about them.
26:10It's an uncommon military division in ancient Egypt.
26:13But Ramses II says that these were his elite troops.
26:16In the spring of 1274 BCE,
26:22the Egyptian army left the capital Pai Ramses for the Levant.
26:26The city of Kadesh had fallen back into Hittite hands
26:29and they were now threatening the trade region of Amaru.
26:33A confrontation was inevitable.
26:40Ramses II takes the head of Amun's division
26:43and considering the large number of soldiers,
26:46he decides that each division will leave
26:48one day after the previous one.
26:53After 10 days of marching,
26:55when he arrives in the city of Tyre,
26:57the pharaoh makes a surprising decision.
27:00He divides his forces.
27:03The elite division, the Nairines,
27:05separate and they go north as if they're going to Amaru.
27:09While the best soldiers travel along the coast,
27:12the pharaoh and his four main divisions advance inland.
27:16They follow the road to Kadesh.
27:21And just a few kilometers from the city,
27:24Ramses II had a pivotal encounter,
27:27an encounter so important
27:28that he records it on the walls of his funerary temple.
27:32This vast sacred domain, 240 meters long and 160 meters wide,
27:41located near the city of Luxor,
27:43is called the Rameseum.
27:47Near Kadesh, Ramesses II encounters two Bedouins.
27:51They tell him that the Hittite king is absolutely terrified of him.
27:57According to Ramses II,
27:59the Hittite king is so weak and so cowardly,
28:03he has run north and he's hiding, hiding, hiding.
28:05He has holed himself up in Aleppo,
28:08which is much further north than Kadesh.
28:11Ramses II thinks, well, this must be true,
28:13because, of course, I am an intimidating leader
28:16and they should be afraid of me.
28:17The pharaoh then resumes his journey,
28:20and as soon as he reaches the foot of the fortress of Kadesh,
28:23he gives an order that will seal his fate.
28:25He decides, okay, I have plenty of time.
28:29I'm going to go make camp near Kadesh.
28:35Ramses II moves to the west of the fortress.
28:38He has no reason to be suspicious,
28:41as he has been assured that the region is deserted.
28:44At first, everything is calm in the Egyptian camp.
28:49We have some people who are carrying food
28:51and a lovely little donkey here.
28:56We have this quite lovely scene
28:58where you have a cooking pot on three legs.
29:02We have another person who is bringing a horse to eat.
29:06And then we have quite a sweet scene
29:09of a guy who must have a foot injury.
29:11And so someone's there trying to tend to his foot.
29:15Unbeknownst to Ramses II,
29:17he has just fallen into a trap.
29:20An incident changed everything for Ramses II.
29:24What we can see here are two spies
29:26being dragged in by Egyptian officials,
29:29and this is an Egyptian euphemism,
29:31they were questioned with a stick,
29:33which means they were beaten,
29:34and we can see these guys beating and beating and beating them.
29:37Ramses asks them,
29:38what do you want?
29:38What are you doing?
29:40And these scouts said that everything
29:42the Shah Suu Bedouin told Ramses II was a lie,
29:45and that the Hittite army was in fact
29:48right behind Kadesh,
29:50only around five to ten kilometers away
29:53from Ramses II.
29:54Ramesses II is very much not prepared for this outcome.
30:11His divisions aren't even all there.
30:13To face the Hittites,
30:15Ramses II has only 5,000 men and 500 chariots.
30:20As the Egyptian divisions left a day apart,
30:22they haven't all arrived yet.
30:24The closest one, Ra,
30:26is only five or ten kilometers away.
30:28Ta is 30 kilometers away,
30:31and Seth, 50 kilometers away.
30:33There was no way that the entire army
30:36would make it in time
30:37to deal with the upcoming Hittite onslaught.
30:41Ramses knows Mewatali II is going to attack,
30:44so he goes ahead
30:46and readies his troops for battle.
30:49So this is Ramses II in his camp,
30:53sitting on his throne,
30:54and he has his vizier in front of him
30:56and his closest advisors.
30:59Ramses II formed an army council.
31:03He was mad.
31:04He was yelling at everyone.
31:05He's saying, how could this happen?
31:06And he was really angry with them and screaming.
31:09And what I find so fantastic about this scene
31:13is they're bending down,
31:14groveling to Ramses II,
31:15but in their posture,
31:17they know they're in trouble.
31:20So what he does,
31:21he makes a strategic decision
31:22to send away his vizier
31:24to go and hurry up the other divisions
31:27so that they can arrive and fortify his own.
31:30But the vizier doesn't have time
31:32to warn the nearest division of Ra.
31:34Muatali II is already in action.
31:38Hittite chariots are bearing down on Egyptian soldiers.
31:42Muatali is attacking the Ra division,
31:45which is only 10 kilometers away from the Amun division,
31:48in order to make sure
31:49that he doesn't have an army at his back
31:51when he goes to attack the Amun division.
31:54So the army of Ra must have come out
31:56of the mountains and the woods
31:58feeling quite happy
31:59they were going to join the camp
32:00and have a relaxing time.
32:02But to their surprise,
32:03they were met with Hittite chariots.
32:05They're not in formation,
32:07and they don't have time
32:08to reassemble their chariots for battle.
32:10Many run away in panic.
32:15Others try to fight, but get killed.
32:20Muatali II sent 2,500 chariots,
32:23enough to completely overwhelm the Egyptians.
32:27And his crews have a secret weapon
32:29that terrifies the pharaoh's soldiers.
32:31There are three fighters per chariot.
32:34This was something quite unusual,
32:36and it's depicted high up there
32:38in one of the battle scenes.
32:40Hittite chariots carry three men.
32:43Why can the Egyptian chariots only carry two?
32:47It could be that there were maybe larger chariots
32:51that had three men for more shooting power.
32:54But another theory is also possible.
32:57The chariots would convey
32:58these additional infantrymen to the battle,
33:01after which they would jump off the chariots
33:04and create their own infantry division
33:07and fight the Egyptians.
33:09Meanwhile, the charioteers,
33:11who would have now two to a chariot,
33:13would also fight the Egyptians.
33:16We know that there are at least
33:17three or four different types of chariot,
33:19fast-war chariots and transport chariots,
33:22which were much larger.
33:24So we don't know exactly
33:26whether it's this larger chariot
33:27or a sort of taxi service to the battle.
33:31Now that he no longer feared being caught off guard,
33:45Muwetali II launched his main attack,
33:48Ramses II and the division of Amun.
33:52The 2,500 chariots that had just crushed Ra's division
33:56moved up towards the Egyptians.
33:57They were soon joined by another 1,000,
34:01sent by the Hittite emperor to ensure victory.
34:04Their arrival caused panic in the pharaoh's camp.
34:09We have people running and being very afraid.
34:13Ramses II sees his entire dream
34:15and potentially even his ability to be king
34:19and his life coming to an end.
34:21The pharaoh proclaims his soldiers run away,
34:24abandoning him.
34:25He tells us that he is alone
34:26and he's also afraid,
34:29which is unusual for a king
34:31because this puts him in a very vulnerable position.
34:34It's where Ramses II has this rare moment of human doubt
34:37and he prays to the god Amun.
34:40He says,
34:41why are you abandoning me?
34:43I've done all of these wonderful things for you.
34:46You should be helping me.
34:48And the god tells him,
34:49everything's going to be okay.
34:50I'm with you.
34:52And you will be able to defeat the Hittites
34:55because I am supporting you.
34:57Reassured, Ramses II regains the strength and composure to fight.
35:01And he's able to see the way forward.
35:06Ramses II is ready to get into his chariot,
35:09but his shield bearer, Mena, is not ready.
35:13And he's afraid.
35:14He wants to run away.
35:16Mena is saying,
35:17everything is lost.
35:18We're all going to die.
35:19This is absolutely terrible.
35:20But Ramses II stand up big and strong
35:23and have a superhero moment and say,
35:25no, no, the god Amun is with me.
35:27Don't fear.
35:28You're with me.
35:29Everything will be fine.
35:30With Mena convinced,
35:32Ramses II abandons his camp for the Hittites.
35:36He bets that his enemies,
35:38instead of fighting his army,
35:39will allow themselves to be distracted by Egyptian riches.
35:43Ramses II hoping that this would buy him some time
35:47because he was hoping for reinforcements.
35:50And his strategy works.
35:52The Hittites started to take all of the food
35:55and the gold and the chariots and the weapons.
35:56While part of the enemy army goes astray,
36:02the pharaoh attacks the rest of the Hittites.
36:07Ramses II says that he does six different charges
36:12on the Hittite line.
36:14This is questionable
36:15because it's also possible that it was the Hittites themselves
36:19who were charging Ramses II.
36:21Now this is propaganda.
36:23This is something that he projected to the population
36:26and to the gods
36:27so that he would be seen as the ultimate hero.
36:29But it wasn't the case.
36:32What might be true, though,
36:33is that the Hittites overwhelmed the Egyptians.
36:36In the thick of battle,
36:38Ramses II was surrounded by the Hittite army.
36:43Contrary to what he writes,
36:44the pharaoh is obviously not alone.
36:47At his side,
36:48his soldiers fight passionately.
36:51But it's not enough.
36:53Thousands of Egyptian soldiers are dying.
36:56The battle seemed lost.
36:58But just when hope was running out,
37:00against all the odds,
37:02a savior appeared.
37:06What happens next is a true miracle
37:13that is worthy of almost a Hollywood movie.
37:16At the decisive moment of the battle,
37:19a kind of special troops,
37:20the so-called Nairin, survived.
37:22They would have probably received the message of the vizier.
37:26The Nairins,
37:27the elite troops the pharaohs sent along the coast,
37:30attack the Hittites who are pillaging the camp.
37:33The Hittite must have been completely surprised
37:36because they didn't even know the Nairin were coming.
37:39The Nairin killing every single Hittite in the camp,
37:42completely obliterating them.
37:44And we have this fantastically chaotic fight scene
37:46where the Nairin are coming in,
37:48they're charging,
37:49and there's hand battles,
37:51there's chariot battles,
37:52and they're expelling the entire Hittite army out of the camp.
37:55With the camp liberated,
37:57the Nairins rally Ramses II and his soldiers.
38:03With a second win behind the Egyptians,
38:06Ramses II gathers the Nairins,
38:08the men of Amun's division,
38:10those who survived the attack of Ra's division,
38:13and charges the destabilized Hittites.
38:15All of his army rallied behind him
38:19because now they were confident
38:21that they could defeat the Hittites.
38:24Here is Ramses II,
38:26giant, colossal Ramses II,
38:28shooting bows and arrows,
38:30and he's leading the Egyptian army
38:32to attack the Hittites.
38:34But the Hittites have been running
38:35and charging and fighting all day long.
38:38Their men were very tired.
38:40Where Ramses II's army is now gathered,
38:42they're exhausted.
38:45It's the crucial moment.
38:47Defying all the predictions,
38:49Ramses II and his men
38:50gain the upper hand
38:52and drive back the Hittites.
38:54So this was the moment the battle turned.
38:57The Egyptian army
38:59make all of the Hittite army
39:01run panicking and screaming.
39:04And as it's being shown
39:05in the scenes, in the reliefs,
39:07many of those people went into the river.
39:10On the immense walls of the Ramesseum,
39:13Ramses II revels
39:14in the agony of the Hittites,
39:16trapped between the Egyptian troops
39:17and the Orontes River.
39:19It looks like they're swimming,
39:21but probably they have drowned.
39:23Hittites who don't drown in the river
39:25are slaughtered on the battlefield.
39:27They're dying.
39:28Arrows are piercing them.
39:29The arrows are piercing the horses.
39:31It's just an absolute disaster battle scene.
39:35But not a single Egyptian
39:37has been killed by a Hittite warrior,
39:39which obviously is not accurate.
39:42And Ramses II
39:43doesn't just show his superiority
39:45in this battle.
39:47He humiliates Hittite allies,
39:49like the king of Aleppo.
39:50Soldiers are holding him upside down
39:53because he'd fallen into the river.
39:55He's shown as very vulnerable.
39:58And being turned upside down,
40:00it's certainly taking away
40:02any form of strength in this king.
40:04The pharaoh also attacks Muwetali II.
40:08According to the text,
40:09Muwetali bled.
40:11And Ramses refers to him
40:13as the despicable loser.
40:16But there's no proof Ramses II
40:18is telling the truth.
40:20In fact, there's no proof
40:21the great Hittite king fought either.
40:24He was probably at the back,
40:26acting as supreme commander,
40:28but in a very symbolic way.
40:30Obviously, he's not going to risk
40:32his life in battle.
40:34As night falls,
40:36the fighting stops.
40:40They can't see
40:41what they're doing anymore.
40:42Ramses II,
40:43gathering his men,
40:45they somehow miraculously survived.
40:48But they also knew
40:49that the Hittites
40:50were behind the city of Kadesh
40:52in their camp.
40:53They didn't win.
40:54So the coming day
40:56would be another battle
40:57where they didn't know
40:58what would happen.
40:59On the Hittite side,
41:01Muwetali II is confident.
41:04Muwetali thinks
41:05that he was victorious
41:06because Ramses II's army
41:09was considerably smaller.
41:10And they had gotten even smaller
41:13because of the battle.
41:14And he was confident
41:16that the Bata division
41:17and the Seth division
41:19were still far away.
41:21So he thought he had
41:21all the time in the world
41:22to defeat the Egyptians
41:24the following morning.
41:26But defying all the odds.
41:28When Ramses II awoke,
41:30the division of Bata,
41:31the division of Seth,
41:32the division of Rey,
41:33the division of Amun,
41:34and the Narenes
41:35were all there.
41:36So Ramses II
41:37would have woken up
41:38thinking,
41:39this is a good situation.
41:41Bata and Seth's troops
41:43ran 30 to 50 kilometers
41:45to meet the pharaoh
41:45on the battlefield.
41:47It's very shocking
41:48that the Bata and Seth division
41:50managed to arrive.
41:51possibly this was
41:53an inspiration
41:54to these two divisions
41:56to get to Ramses
41:57and protect their king.
41:58Now that the two armies
41:59are complete,
42:00they are of equal strength.
42:02And that changes the game.
42:05Muwatali was quite surprised.
42:07And he certainly saw his demise
42:11in front of him.
42:13The texts provide few details
42:16about what happened that morning.
42:18There would have been a fight,
42:20but it would have been short-lived.
42:22The death toll
42:23had already reached thousands
42:24from the previous day's fight.
42:26And the two leaders
42:27would not want
42:28to prolong the carnage.
42:29What Ramses II says
42:31is that Muwatali
42:32sent an emissary
42:34begging for peace,
42:36saying,
42:36there's no way
42:37we can possibly beat you.
42:39When we are looking
42:40at what happened later,
42:42it's difficult to believe
42:43that really the Hittite king
42:45begged for truth.
42:48Whether that happened or not,
42:50we don't know.
42:51But there was a stalemate.
42:54It's just a battle
42:55with no conclusion.
42:56Nobody's winning,
42:58which I guess you could say
42:59nobody's losing either.
43:00Based on this principle,
43:03both sides claimed victory.
43:05And even today,
43:06the question of who won
43:08divides the experts.
43:11It's clear that the Hittites
43:12won the Battle of Kadesh
43:14for a number of reasons.
43:16Not only did the Hittite army
43:18advance into southern Syria,
43:20they were not blocked at Kadesh.
43:23And Amaru returned
43:25to Hittite rule.
43:28Rams II
43:29won this battle.
43:31He had a moral victory.
43:33He fell into the trap
43:34that made it very much certain
43:37that he would die.
43:38And he was able to walk away
43:39with some sort of dignity.
43:41This proved
43:42that he was the son of the god.
43:44Because how else
43:45could anyone have survived this
43:46if they were not
43:47the son of Amun
43:48and they were not
43:49the rightful pharaoh of Egypt?
43:50Whether the battle
43:51was won by the Egyptians
43:53or the Hittites,
43:54one thing is certain.
43:56The two empires
43:57will never again face each other
43:59in a battle of this magnitude.
44:02In 1259 BCE,
44:04a diplomatic act
44:06changes the course of history
44:07for the rival empires.
44:08Fifteen years following
44:12the Kadesh battle,
44:14Hatushili III
44:14contacted
44:15Ramesses II
44:16to engage
44:19in a peace treaty.
44:22Muwetali II
44:24is dead.
44:25The new Hittite ruler
44:26is his younger brother,
44:28Hatushili III.
44:31Ramses II
44:32accepts the outstretched hand
44:34of his sworn enemy.
44:35This is the world's
44:38first international
44:39peace treaty
44:40and it was so important
44:42that the Hittite king
44:43had it engraved
44:44on a silver tablet.
44:48A precious tablet
44:49which Ramses II
44:50had reproduced
44:52in the heart
44:52of the Temple of Karnak
44:54on a monumental stela.
44:57First, they agreed
44:58that they will not
44:58war against each other.
45:00A second feature
45:01of this peace treaty
45:02is up at the very top.
45:05The Hittites
45:06and Egyptians
45:07agreeing that
45:08they will help each other
45:09in case of a foreign enemy
45:11invading their land
45:12and fighting them.
45:13The former rivals
45:15agree to share
45:15the lands of the Levant
45:17and set up extradition
45:18agreements
45:19for their prisoners.
45:20But for this treaty
45:21to be permanent,
45:22it must be validated
45:23by the gods.
45:24There is a list
45:25of Egyptian
45:26and Hittite gods
45:28because they are meant
45:29to be the witnesses
45:30to ensure
45:31that they are going
45:32to uphold this treaty
45:33for the rest of history.
45:36A first guarantee
45:37that the two kings
45:38reinforced
45:39with a second one.
45:41So important
45:42that Ramses II
45:43had it engraved
45:44on another stela.
45:47This was placed
45:48outside the Temple
45:49of Abu Simbal
45:50for all to see.
45:53Hattusili
45:54is going to offer
45:55one of his daughters
45:56in marriage
45:57to Ramses II.
45:59Once the two families
46:00are linked by blood
46:00through children,
46:02the alliance
46:02is supposed to be
46:04ratified forever
46:05and impossible to undo.
46:09And this is a way
46:11that Ramses II
46:12showed that he was
46:14a diplomat
46:15and not just a warrior.
46:20The epic battle
46:21of Kadesh
46:22ended in a stalemate,
46:24but it served
46:25the glory
46:25of Ramses II
46:26and the intelligent
46:28diplomatic decisions
46:29he made afterwards
46:30ushered in an era
46:32of peace and prosperity
46:33for Egypt.
46:34There wasn't fights
46:36between Egypt
46:37and the Hittites anymore.
46:38Egypt put itself
46:39back on the Golden Age.
46:41Goods were flowing
46:42north, south, east, west,
46:43and the entire country
46:45prospered.
46:47A prosperity
46:48that allowed Ramses II
46:50to build immense statues,
46:52gigantic temples,
46:53and even surpassed
46:55the achievements
46:55of the great pharaohs
46:57before him.
46:58But this golden period
47:00would be short-lived.
47:03There were difficulties
47:05because Ramses II,
47:07he reigned for 67 years.
47:08By the time he finally died,
47:11his eldest son
47:12was an old man.
47:13So there wasn't
47:14the young, vigorous warrior
47:15to maintain the empire
47:17that he established.
47:17So on the one hand,
47:19he created a golden age.
47:21On the other hand,
47:22he opened up the decline
47:24of ancient Egypt.
47:26Ramses II
47:28was the last great pharaoh
47:30of ancient Egypt.
47:31At the end of his reign,
47:33the country began
47:34a long decline,
47:36but his name
47:37remained synonymous
47:38with power.
47:39So much so
47:40that after his death,
47:42many kings
47:43would be named Ramses.
47:44And almost 1,000 years later,
47:48when the Ptolemies
47:49ruled Egypt,
47:50they had only one ambition,
47:52to equal Ramses the Great.
47:54On the other hand,
47:56on the other hand,
47:57Javier
47:57and Mari Madness,
47:58the great ph CriticalP do
47:59ofawlry,
48:00on November 8,
48:00with former
Be the first to comment