182: The Battle for Kadesh

Sety I (Part 4): Catching Up with the Kadeshians. Around 1300 BCE (chronology uncertain), Sety led another campaign into the north. This time, the pharaoh of Egypt marched into Canaan, Lebanon, and Syria. In the process, he visited local chieftains, went “shopping” for luxury items, and then launched a daring attack on Kadesh…

Details and sources:

Date: c. 1300 BCE.

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Intro Music: Bettina Joy de Guzman.

Interludes: Keith Zizza.

Outro music and interludes: Luke Chaos.

Logo image: A warrior/cattleman flees with his animals, while Sety I attacks Kadesh. Image colours based on traces found at Karnak, edited by Dominic Perry 2023.

Sety’s Battle Reliefs at Karnak, published by The Epigraphic Survey of The University of Chicago: Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, Volume IV: The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I | Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (uchicago.edu).

Texts: Kenneth Kitchen's Ramesside Inscriptions volume 1. Hieroglyph versions at Internet Archive, English translations at Abercromby Press.

Peter Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh, out now from Lockwood Press.

Support The History of Egypt Podcast by shopping at RA EGYPTIAN, the clean skincare line inspired by ancient Egyptian ingredients! Visit www.ra-egyptian.com and use code EGYPT at checkout for 30% off your order!

Select Bibliography:

M. R. Abbas, ‘The Town of Yenoam in the Ramesside War Scenes and Texts of Karnak’, Cahiers de Karnak 16 (2017), 329–341.

S. Aḥituv, Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents (1984).

P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (2000).

P. J. Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt’s Ultimate Pharaoh (2023).

T. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (2005).

T. Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (2009).

T. R. Bryce, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History (2014).

T. R. Bryce, Warriors of Anatolia: A Concise History of the Hittites (2019).

A. Dodson, Sethy I King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (2019).

H. El-Saady, ‘The Wars of Sety I at Karnak: A New Chronological Structure’, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 19 (1992), 285–94.

R. O. Faulkner, ‘The Wars of Sethos I’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 33 (1947), 34–9.

K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Notes and Comments, I (1993).

K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations, I (2017).

W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak (1985).

N. Na’aman, ‘Yeno’am’, Tel Aviv 4 (1977), 168–77.

D. B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (1992).

A. Spalinger, Aspects of the Military Documents of the Ancient Egyptians (1982).

A. J. Spalinger, ‘The Northern Wars of Seti I: An Integrative Study’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 16 (1979), 29–47.

A. J. Spalinger, War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom (2005).

The Epigraphic Survey, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak Volume 4: The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I (1986).

W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur altaegyptischen Kulturgeschichte (1988).

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