A struggle by Hittite king Muwatalli (who…

A struggle by Hittite king Muwatalli (who reigns from about 1320 BCE to about 1294 BCE) with resurgent Egypt under Seti I and Ramesses II for the domination of Syria leads to one of the greatest battles of the ancient world, which takes place at Kadesh on the Orontes in about 1299 BCE.

Ramesses II, seeking to recapture the Hittite-held city of Kadesh in Syria,  invades Syria with four divisions and an auxiliary force.

Muwatalli gathers a large alliance among his vassal states.

Ramesses' twenty thousand infantry troops include Numidian mercenaries and are superior in number, but Muwatalli's sixteen thousand-strong force includes twenty-five hundred three-man chariots.

Muwatalli, hiding his army behind the city mound, sends out false reports that he is at Aleppo, farther north.

Ramesses, falling into the trap, hurries his army toward Kadesh, his units stretched along the Orontes valley road.

Toward evening, the king with the first division reaches Kadesh and sets up camp.

Too late, two captured Hittite scouts confess the actual situation.

The Hittites ford the river and, after routing the second division, storm the Egyptian camp.

His first division destroyed, Ramesses is saved mostly by his auxiliary force that strikes the attacking Hittites in the rear.

Pushing the Ramesses into the river, the mauled Egyptians retain the battlefield.

The next day, after indecisive fighting, Ramesses is compelled to withdraw his battered army; and in the aftermath, …