Muwatalli II

Muwatalli II was the Hittite king who fought Ramesses II at Kadesh, in the best-documented battle of the ancient world. He came to the throne around 1295 BC, inheriting an empire covering Anatolia and northern Syria and a long contest with Egypt over the Levantine states between them. He moved his capital from Hattusa south to Tarhuntassa, an unexplained decision that his successors reversed and that may have been religious or strategic. At Kadesh on the Orontes around 1274 BC he assembled a coalition army of perhaps 40,000 men and 3,000 chariots drawn from across his vassals. His tactics were built on deception. Two bedouin were sent to Ramesses as deserters with the story that the Hittite army was still far to the north at Aleppo, and Ramesses believed them and advanced with his lead division far ahead of the rest. The Hittite chariotry crossed the river and struck the second Egyptian division on the march, broke it, and reached the camp. What saved Ramesses was the arrival of a separate Egyptian force from the coast and the Hittite chariots stopping to plunder. The battle ended in a draw. Both kings claimed victory, and Ramesses had his version carved on temple walls across Egypt at enormous length — which is why the engagement is so well recorded and why the record is unreliable. Neither side took Kadesh. His brother Hattusili III concluded the earliest surviving peace treaty with Egypt about sixteen years later. A copy of it hangs at the United Nations.

• Lived: 1320 BCE – 1272 BCE
• Nationality: Hittite
• Roles: ruler, general