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
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.
- Date
- 0000
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Ramesses II's temple workshops at Thebes (the relief); James Henry Breasted (the published drawing)
- Country
- New Kingdom Egypt
- Medium
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- New Kingdom Egypt
- Leader
- Ramesses II
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Techniques
- Card stackingTransfer
- Regime
- New Kingdom Egypt
- Leader
- Ramesses II
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (scan from James Henry Breasted, A History of Egypt), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons: published 1927, author died 1935; Copyrighted False)
James Henry Breasted, A History of Egypt (1927 edition, pp. 452 to 453), via Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
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.
