rn Asia which she had held and
obtained under the third Thothmes. Mautenar, the adversary of Seti,
appears to have died, and his place to have been taken by his brother,
Khita-sir, a brave and enterprizing monarch. Khita-sir, despite the
terms of alliance on which the Hittites stood with Egypt, had commenced
a series of intrigues with the nations bordering on Upper Syria, and
formed a confederacy which had for its object to resist the further
progress of the Egyptians, and, if possible, to drive them from Asia.
This confederacy embraced the Nairi, or people of Western Mesopotamia,
reckoned by the Egyptians among their subjects; the Airatu or people of
Aradus; the Masu or inhabitants of the Mous Masius; the Leka, perhaps
Lycians; the inhabitants of Carchemish, of Kadesh on the Orontes, of
Aleppo, Anaukasa, Akarita, &c.--all warlike races, and accustomed to the
use of chariots. Khitasir's proceedings, having become known to
Ramesses, afforded ample grounds for a rupture, and quite justified him
in pouring his troops into Syria, and doing his best to meet and
overcome the danger which threatened him. Unaware at what point his
enemy would elect to meet him, he marched forward cautiously, having
arranged his troops in four divisions, which might mutually support each
other. Entering the Coelesyrian valley from the south, he had proceeded
as far as the lake of Hems, and neighbourhood of Kadesh, before he
received any tidings of the position taken up by the confederate army.
There his troops captured two of the enemy's scouts, and on questioning
them were told that the Hittite army had been at Kadesh, but had retired
on learning the Egyptian's advance and taken up a position near Aleppo,
distant nearly a hundred miles to the north-east. Had Ramesses believed
the scouts, and marched forward carelessly, he would have fallen into a
trap, and probably suffered defeat; for the whole confederate army was
massed just beyond the lake, and there lay concealed by the embankment
which blocks the lake at its lower end. But the Egyptian king was too
wary for his adversary. He ordered the scouts to be examined by
scourging, to see if they would persist in their tale, whereupon they
broke down and revealed the true position of the army. The battle had
thus the character of a regular pitched engagement, without surprise or
other accident on either side. Khitasir, finding himself foiled, quitted
his ambush, and marched openly against the Egyptia