world. "It may be relied upon," says Dr Wright, "as the earliest specimen of special war correspondence." Besides this narration there is a simple prose account of the same battle, and this is followed by a copy of the treaty of peace which established an offensive and defensive alliance between the empire of the Hittites and Egypt.
I here insert a few incidents from the prize poem of Pentaur, written two years after the battle of Kadesh. Reading between the lines of the boastful hieroglyphs, it is clear that the Hittites must have maintained their ground in the battle, for their king, who, at the beginning of the fight, is "the vile king of the Hittites," and "the miserable king of the Hittites," towards the close of the battle becomes "the great king of the Hittites."
According to Pentaur, the Hittites and their allies covered mountains and valleys like grasshoppers, and no such multitude had ever been seen before. . . . Pharaoh was young and bold, he seized his arms, he armed his people and his chariots, and marched towards the land of the Hittites. . . . Arab spies were caught, who told Pharaoh that the Hittite army was in the neighbourhood of Aleppo; but "the miserable king of the Hittites" was all the time lying in ambush with his allies north-west of Kadesh. They rose up and surprised the Egyptians. Pharaoh's retreat was cut off. In this crisis he prayed to his god and father, Amon, and was assisted to perform prodigies of valour. He hurled darts with his right hand and fought with his left; the two thousand three hundred horses were dashed to pieces, and the hearts of the Hittites sank within them. The King of the Hittites sent eight of his brother kings with armed chariots against Pharaoh; but six times he charged the unclean wretches, who did not acknowledge his god; he killed them, none escaped. Pharaoh upbraided his worthless warriors, who had left him to fight the battle single-handed, and promised that
