name of the Sungod Ra, advanced from
the south towards Schabatun,

[Kadesh was the chief city of the Cheta, i. e. Aramaans, round
which the united forces of all the peoples of western Asia had
collected. There were several cities called Kadesh. That which
frequently checked the forces of Thotmes III. may have been
situated farther to the south; but the Cheta city of Kadesh, where
Rameses II. fought so hard a battle, was undoubtedly on the
Orontes, for the 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,