Ramses II
had wrongly been led to believe that the Hittite King was in the far north of Tunip , too scared to confront the Egyptians , whereas in reality he was nearby on the other side of Kadesh . Ramses II had therefore made a quick advance to Kadesh with only one of his four divisions of army and was then suddenly obliged to face the huge army that the Hittite King had prepared against him . The Hittite King first destroyed the advancing Egyptian second division which was about to join the first , then turned around to crush Ramses II and his troops .
In his later descriptions of the battle , Ramses II tells us that this was his true moment of glory , for when his immediate attendants were ready to desert him , he called out to his father Amun to save him , then almost single-handedly managed to fight off the Hittite attackers . But Amun heard his prayers and rescued the King by causing an Egyptian support force from the coast of Amurru to arrive . These forces attacked the Hittites in the rear , and together with Ramses' division reduced the number of the enemy's chariots . With the arrival of the third division , followed by the fourth at the sunset , the Egyptians were able to reassemble
their forces and were now ready to face their enemy the next morning .
Ramses II refused a Hittite peace offer , although a treaty was agreed . The Egyptians then returned home with many war prisoners and much booty , but without having achieved their goal . In subsequent years , several other fairly successful confrontations in Syria-Palestine took place , but each time the states conquered on these occasions quickly returned to the Hittite hold once the Egyptian armies had gone home , and
Egypt
never regained Kadesh and Amurru .
After some negotiations between the Hittites and the Egyptians , a formal treaty was signed in the 21st year . Although the Egyptians had to accept the loss of Kadesh and Amurru , peace brought a new stability on the northern front , which means that Ramses II can now concentrate on the western border , which was under constant pressure from Libyan invaders .
In year 34 , the bond with the Hittites was strengthened by a marriage between Ramses II and a daughter of Hattusili , who is the uncle of the son of the Hittite King Muwatalli . The princess was received with much pomp and was given the Egyptian name Neferure-who-beholds-Horus (the King) . The Hittite Princess was only one of seven women who gained the status
of 'Great Royal Wife' during Ramses II's 67-year long reign . Ramses II had been presented with a harem full of beautiful women , but apart from these he had two principal wives , Nefertari and Isetnefret , both of whom bore him several sons and daughters . Nefertari was the 'Great Royal Wife' until her death in about year 25 of his reign , when the title passed on to Isetnefret , who appears to have died not long before the arrival of the Hittite Princess . Four daughters of Ramses also held the title , Henutmire , long believed to have been his sister rather than a daughter , Bintanat , Merytamun , and Nebettawy . These were the most favored among the King's daughters , of whom there were at least 40 in addition to some 45 sons . Many of them appear in long processions on the walls of the great temples built by their father , who was to survive several of his children . They were buried one after another in a gigantic tomb in the
Valley of the Kings
(KV 5) , which has recently been rediscovered .
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