Dr. Campbell Price

But no, the succession seems fairly clear.

As I said, there is a co-regency.

For example, that's seen in the Hall of Ancestors at Abydos.

You can see that is a product of the work of Seti I, when Seti I is still alive.

So it seems that Ramesses II is the anointed heir and is accepted as such.

You get the impression, well, he has to finish off some of his dad's building stuff, but you do get that sense that he's itching to get in a chariot and go and beat up some foreigners.

So, as I say, it's probably likely that he had some

experience in the entourage at least of his father whether he's actively out on the front lines is another question that doesn't seem to happen later in Ramses II's own reign but he goes year four year five so early in the reign of Ramses II's long time in the throne he goes out to Kadesh again and he wants to confirm the status of these vassal states so these are

kind of client kingdoms again I resist this term empire it's not like they're trying to turn them Egyptian it's trying to get their loyalty their fealty their it's buffer states as well I guess you know buffers vassals yeah against a more problematic enemy which in the early part of the reign of Ramses II that's the Hittites that's like the north of Syria even into modern Turkey is the seat of the Hittite empire

Yes, and it's famous because he tells us so many times he's done it.

It's recorded in several temples, his Mansion of Millions of Years, which we'll talk about separately.

Karnak, Luxor, Abu Simbel, he's talking about this a lot.

And so, yeah, the engagement is fascinating because we know a lot from recorded speeches.

So you get this sense, not just of the action as it plays out, but of the psychology of the king.

Because there are, well, we can tell something about the organization of the military.

So you have the infantry, you have the chariots divided up into divisions and divisions are named after gods.

I don't know how common that is in the ancient world.

Yeah, so they're named after the major gods of Egypt, Amun, Epta, Seth, and the sun god Ray.

And so in the account, it's very unusual.

The Kadesh account is unusual because it reflects, it's unusually reflective because it allows that mistakes are made by the Egyptians.