UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
people assembled by the Hittite King Mutawallis, and continued his
father's attempts to regain Egypt's holdings in northern Syria. Though,
in the famous battle near Kadesh on the River Orontes, Ramses led the
vanguard of his forces into an enemy trap, saw one of his armies routed
by the Hittite chariotry, and had to fight his way out of a desperate
situation, he nevertheless managed to gather his forces and convert what
might have been a defeat into a somewhat questionable victory. Detailed
representations and accounts of this battle, and of some of the more
successful campaigns in Palestine and Syria which preceded and followed it,
were carved on the walls of Ramses IPs rock-cut temples at Abu-Simbel
and at El-Derr in Lower Nubia, in his temples at Abydos and Karnak, on
the pylon which he added to Luxor temple as well as in his funerary
temple called the Ramesseum. Hostilities between the two countries continued
for a number of years. It was not, in fact, until the twenty-first
year of his reign that Ramses II finally signed a remarkable peace
treaty with the Hittite King Hattusilis. Thereafter cordial relations were
maintained between the two powers and Ramses married the eldest
daughter of Hattusilis in a ceremony widely announced as a symbol of peace
and brotherhood. As a result of this arrangement, Egyptian influence extended
along the coast to the north Syrian town of Ras Shamra (Ugarit).
Though the Hittites still retained their power in the interior, in the valley
of the Orontes their power was nearing its close. With the death of
Hattusilis a new danger from the movement of the Sea Peoples began.
This mass migration radiated from the Balkans and the Black Sea region
throughout the eastern Mediterranean world, and soon overwhelmed the
Hittite kingdom. The ageing Ramses, who reigned for sixty-seven years
after signing the treaty, neglected the ominous signs from abroad and his
vigorous successor, Merneptah, found himself faced with a serious situation
when he came to the throne.
Great numbers of warlike Sea Peoples 38 had moved into the coastal
region to the west of the Delta and, entering into an alliance with the
Libyans, threatened Egypt. Merneptah met them and, in a great battle in
the western Delta in the fifth year of his reign, he inflicted an overwhelming
defeat upon the invaders. On the Merneptah stelae he also
records his military activities in the Syro-Palestine region and lists a
number of conquered cities and states including Canaan, Askalon, Gezer,
Yenoam and Israel - the last mentioned for the first time in Egyptian
records.
Twentieth dynasty 39
Merneptah's death was followed by a dynastic struggle and the throne was
successively occupied by five rulers whose order and relationship one to
38. On the 'Sea Peoples', see the bold theory of A. Nibbi.
39. See E. Drioton and J. Vandier, 1962, ch. 9, pp. 356-66 and ch. 10, pp. 432-9.
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