he river which is depicted on the pylon of the
Ramesseum as parting into two streams which wash the walls of the
fortress, is called Aruntha, and in the Epos of Pentaur it is stated
that this battle took place at Kadesh by the Orontes. The name of
the city survives, at a spot just three miles north of the lake of
Riblah. The battle itself I have described from the Epos of
Pentaur, the national epic of Egypt. It ends with these words:
"This was written and made by the scribe Pentaur." It was so highly
esteemed that it is engraved in stone twice at Luqsor, and once at
Karnak. Copies of it on papyrus are frequent; for instance, papyrus
Sallier III. and papyrus Raifet--unfortunately much injured--in the
Louvre. The principal incident, the rescue of the king from the
enemy, is repeated at the Ramessetun at Thebes, and at Abu Simbel.
It was translated into French by Vicomte E. de Rouge. The camp of
Rameses is depicted on the pylons of Luqsor and the Ramesseum.]

so as to surround the lake on the east, and fall on the enemy's flank;
the corps of Seth, composed of men from lower Egypt, was sent on to Arnam
to form the centre; the king himself, with the flower of the
chariot-guard, proposed to follow the road through the valley, which
Paaker's report represented as a safe and open passage to the plain of
the Orontes. Thus, while the other divisions occupied the enemy, he could
cross the Orontes by a ford, and fall on the rear of the fortress of
Kadesh from the north-west. The corps of Amon, with the Ethiopian
mercenaries, were to support him, joining him by another route, which the
pioneer's false indications represented as connecting the line of
operations. The corps of Ptah remained as a reserve behind the left wing.

The soldiers had not gone to rest as usual; heavily, armed troops, who
bore in one hand a shield of half a man's height, and in the other a
scimitar, or a short, pointed sword, guarded the camp,

[Representations of Rameses' camp are preserved on the pylons of the
temple of Luxor and the Ramesseum.]

where numerous fires burned, round which crowded the resting warriors.
Here a wine-skin was passed from hand to hand, there a joint was roasting
on a wooden spit; farther on a party were throwing dice for the booty
they had won, or playing at morra. All was in eager activity, and many a
scuffle occurred amoung the excited soldiers, and had to be settled by
the camp-w