---
title: Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/
description: 'A published drawing of a battle relief from Ramesses II''s mortuary temple: the king, much larger than anyone else, shoots from his chariot while Hittite…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce.jpg)

# Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt

A published drawing of a battle relief from Ramesses II's mortuary temple: the king, much larger than anyone else, shoots from his chariot while Hittite chariots and men collapse and drown before him, with columns of hieroglyphs above his head and the fortress of Kadesh at the right. The archive holds the drawing, not a photograph of the wall.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
BATTLE SCENE FROM THE GREAT KADESH RELIEFS OF RAMSES II ON THE WALLS OF THE RAMESSEUM.
```

The printed English caption under the drawing in the book. The hieroglyphic legends drawn above the king's chariot are not transcribed.

[← Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.
- [Relief on the Arch of Titus, Rome: soldiers carrying the menorah and other spoils from the Temple at Jerusalem in a triumphal procession](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-arch-of-titus-spoils-of-jerusalem-0081/) (Roman Empire · 0081 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman state relief commemorating the capture of Jerusalem in 70, showing soldiers in a triumphal procession carrying the Temple's menorah and other spoils; shown as it stands, with the historical context on the regime page.