Jude took a long trip to Abu Simbel this week which is why he is late posting. He went by road stopping at the sites on the way and having a look around Aswan. Then he stayed in hotel in Aswan so he could get the early morning convoy to Abu Simbel. In this temple Ramases boasts about his famous battle at Kadesh and how clever he was. The truth is somewhat different. Jude read about it the book Grandfather Father Son by Jane Akshar. This is what she said
In Year 5, when Ramses was under 30, he took 20,000 men divided into four divisions, Amun, Ptah, Seth and Re east. They went through Canaan and south Syria to Kadesh. This is located near the modern city of Homs on the river Orontes. It was located on a branch of the river that had been made into an island by the addition of a canal.
As Ramses was making his way to Kadesh he came upon two spies or deserters from the Hittite army. They told Ramses that the Hittite army was not at Kadesh, they told the gullible Ramses that the Hittites were too frightened to come south. A story clearly designed to appeal to Ramses. With the army split into the four divisions, and Ramses at the head of Amun division going first with the Re division on his heels, made his way to Kadesh to take it while the Hittites were cowering to the north. As Amun and Re made their way to Kadesh with Ptah and Seth, the other side of the river two more spies were captured. This time they were given a good thrashing and confessed the King of Hatti was already at Kadesh. This was a disaster; it was an ambush on an Egyptian army spread out on either side of the Orontes River. Ramses blamed everyone but himself. Hastily, messengers were sent to Ptah and Seth divisions to get a move on whilst the Hittites launched an attack on Re. They scattered and the Hittites continued the attack on Amun, who panicked and ran away. According to Ramses, he was left all alone except for his loyal shield bearer (and pet lion shown at Abu Simbel). Together the three of them routed the entire Hittite army. Of course the truth is somewhat different. The Hittite king had not sent all his troops into battle and the Egyptian elite troops who are not mentioned but can be seen arriving just in time. The Hittites turned tail and ran and at that moment Ptah and Seth divisions arrived. After that the exact facts are unclear, but either a truce was agreed, or more likely Ramses was forced to retreat (Tydesley, 2000, pp. 70-73).
However, that is not the story that Ramses put on his temple walls, all his temple walls, everywhere. He personally won the battle and you had better believe it.