Djed, Sekhem, Seneb —Stability, Power, Health. Long live the King.
Then, he does something irrational. Something insane. He straps on his war armor, mounts his chariot, and charges alone into the Hittite line.
Hidden behind the mound of Kadesh are 3,500 heavy chariots and 37,000 infantrymen—the largest chariot force the world had ever seen. As Ramses settles into his tent, the Hittite chariots thunder over the hill. king ramses courage
And Ramses is alone. Here is where courage stops being a concept and becomes a noun. According to the Poem of Pentaur (the official Egyptian battle report, which, yes, is propaganda, but propaganda often hides a grain of terrifying truth), Ramses realizes he has no reinforcements coming. He turns to his fleeing charioteer and says, “What is this you have done, my princes? Is there one among you who can seize a bow? My infantry and chariotry have deserted me.”
The Hittites crash through the Ra division, scattering it like leaves. They turn on the Ptah division, still marching in the rear. Within minutes, the Egyptian army is being annihilated. Soldiers are throwing down their weapons and fleeing. The Hittites charge straight into Ramses’ camp. Djed, Sekhem, Seneb —Stability, Power, Health
He didn't break the Hittite line—that’s impossible. But he held them. He killed the Hittite chariot commanders one by one until the Hittite king, Muwatalli II, hesitated. That hesitation allowed the Egyptian Ne'arin (mercenary reinforcements) to arrive and salvage the day.
Here is why King Ramses’ courage should still terrify and inspire us today. Let’s set the scene: 1274 BCE. The banks of the Orontes River in modern-day Syria. Ramses is roughly 30 years old—young for a pharaoh, arrogant, and eager to prove himself. The Hittite Empire, a brutal superpower to the north, is threatening Egypt’s borders. Something insane
Furthermore, the temple was oriented so that twice a year (on his birthday and his coronation day), the sun would penetrate the inner sanctuary to illuminate the statues of Ramses and the gods—except for Ptah, the god of darkness, who remained in shadow. Ramses literally rewrote the laws of the universe to prove he was divine.