Review of Ramses: The Battle of Kadesh
In Ramses: The Battle of Kadesh by Christian Jacq, Ramses, the Pharaoh of Egypt, takes the throne after the death of his father. Ramses rebuilds the capital and wants nothing more than peace and well-being in his country. A threat to Egypt arises from the Hittites, who have a reputation of being ruthless warriors. The Egyptians and Hittites go to war but neither side gains complete victory.
An article described a leader as having “passion for the job...Leaders will often go the extra mile for what they believe in. They have integrity and courage.” (Mason 19). Ramses possesses all these traits which is what makes him a good pharaoh. He has great love for his country and the majority of the Egyptians adore
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him. Whenever Ramses needs to make a serious decision, he consults his advisors and takes their advice into consideration, which is another trait that makes him a good pharaoh. The most interesting part of the book is when the god Amon answers Ramses prayers and gives him the extraordinary power to fight all those Hittites alone. “He was no longer a failed commander, overwhelmed and alone, but a king of unrivaled strength with a tireless sword arm” (Jacq 336). It is an interesting scene because it shows Ramses’ courage and it also gives one the feeling of excitement and curiosity on how the battle will end. Greed and betrayal is seen all over the book.
Some of the characters are greedy for wealth and others are greedy for power, and their greed eventually leads to betrayal. For example, Romay, the palace steward, betrays Nefertari by stealing her shawl and giving it to Ofir because he was promised great fortune. “You don’t dare kill me because I’m your brother…and the Hittites will slaughter you! When you’re dead, they’ll hand the country over to me!” (Jacq 306). Shaanar was so eager to become the pharaoh that he betrays his brother by giving information to the Hittites so that they could be able to defeat the Egyptians and give him the power to rule Egypt. Benteshina, the prince of Amurru, was also very greedy and corrupt that he ends up getting Asha trapped as a prisoner in Amurru by the Hittites. It was not much of a surprise to see how easily some of the characters betrayed each other because money and power can cause a lot of people to act irrationally.
In the book, when Egypt is trying to do business or form an alliance with another region, they use gold and other precious materials to persuade them. “Pharaoh never travels without a supply of it. Gold and precious stones are what he uses to bribe his vassals” (Jacq 120). It seems like gold and silver was the main form of currency they used. Other people would also exchange one good for another. In comparison to today, there is now a new form of currency and the idea of exchanging one good for another is rare but some people
probably still do it. The author includes some characters that are similar to historical figures. Homer is mentioned in the book as a poet who is close to Ramses. After the battle of Kadesh ends, Ramses talks to Homer about writing what happened during the battle. Moses is also another character in the book that is accused of killing someone in Egypt, so he goes into hiding in the desert. He then sees a burning bush where God tells him to go back to Egypt. It all makes a person wonder if the Homer in the book is the same as the one who wrote the Iliad and if this Moses is also the same as the one in the Bible. If I were to talk to the author, I would ask him about these characters and how he came to the decision to add them in the book. Overall, the structure of sentences and the wording in the book makes it easy to understand. The story itself is very interesting and keeps you wanting to read more. I would definitely recommend it to other readers.
Ramses was born 1303 BCE to his mother Queen Tuya and father Pharaoh Seti I. Ramses became ruler over Egypt for 66 years and 2 months, living to be around 90 years old. When Ramses was a child he experienced several tragic and important events within his life. The first event was when his grandfather became crowned Pharaoh. His grandfather died two years later making his father to be crowned Pharaoh. Ramses than became “First commander of the Army” (1) at age 10 by his father. Ramses was trained by his father and by the many generals on how to command an army. When Ramses was only 15 his brother died and he was pronounced Pr...
Pyramids, gold, the Nile, hieroglyphics, gods and goddesses…no matter how much we know about it, we all see one of these things when we picture Egypt. However, this image is not complete without the Pharaoh. Not much in Egypt was. So to be considered “The Last Great Pharaoh of Egypt” is quite an honor, an honor that Ramesses III carries. A ruler in the time of the New Kingdom, he gave Egypt a few more years of glory before it’s decline.
‘The Hyksos forced Egyptian Pharaohs to look beyond their own borders, and involve themselves in the affairs and lives of their neighbor’s’ Through the notion of looking beyond their own borders, the necessity of constant battles was not only to expand but also protect Egypt’s borders, this eventually led to the image of the ‘Warrior Pharaoh’. Egypt became the pre-eminent power in the east due to talented civil, military and religious bureaucracies. The Hyksos ‘encouraged new nationalism and patriotism’ this could be seen through formation of administration, stable rule, gods and building externally while taking on board the establishment of the extensive diplomatic and trading contacts with the eastern Mediterranean region and Nubia. The economic influences created by the Hyksos include various influences that furthermore excelled New Kingdom Egypt to be a greater society. The ‘foreign rulers’ introduced olive and pomegranate trees as well as domesticated cattle to the agricultural practices to Egyptian society.
In 1567, Hatshepsut’s great grandfather Ahmose I liberated Egypt from the Hyksos invaders. It has been said that wherever he marched, he conquered, to maintain the lands he conquered he set up Egyptian garrisons to keep subject and enforce revenue from the newly captured lands. (Wells 33) He united upper and Lower Egypt, became Pharaoh of both and founded the ...
Inevitably, when you are talking about leaders, the questions arise: is he or she good or bad? What is the metric and what is your method of evaluation? In this case, we’ll look at Odysseus’ performance through a modern leadership lens, while keeping in mind that Homeric Greek culture might have motivated him to act differently than he would have today.
Ultimately the characters strive for power does not end well. In particular the story of Gilgamesh the main character Gilgamesh has power and abuses it. Gilgamesh is a greedy king who gets what he wants. He often has no consideration for his people that are looking up to him. The quote stated above about Gilgamesh can also speak for his power. Because Gilgamesh had a lot of power he is able to do anything he wishes. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu meets Gilgamesh is trying to sleep with a bride before her husband can. Gilgamesh has power but he abuses his power and his people are the ones who are punished. Claudius also thrives for power. It is ultimately Claudius’s need for power that urges him to kill his brother so he could marry his brother’s wife and become king. Claudius does not even stop his wife Gertrude from drinking the poisoned wine. He does say “Gertrude, do not drink” (Shakespeare. 5.2. 262). Claudius does not but tell her not to drink the wine but by the time he tells her that it is too late. Both Gilgamesh and Claudius have power. They do not use their power to benefit others. Both Gilgamesh and Claudius’s power harms their
The Battle of Kadesh was a turning point during Ramesses II reign, and it greatly influenced how he represented himself in propaganda.
A leader is someone who leads or commands a group, organization, or country, in Antigone Creon is a good leader. Creon leads the city of Thebes as a ruler, he is very powerful as a leader and takes his job seriously, while some of the decisions he made were not the best he was a good leader because of his qualities. Creon had punishments for the laws that were broken and Creon didn't want the laws that he made broken. Creon also understands that to be a good leader he had to prove himeself and there will always be setbacks in leadership that cause you too need a backbone. You can’t just walk into a country as a leader and tell everyone what to do and they would trust you. Finally Creon had a lot of pride and while this pride is for himself it also helps the county and
Ramses II (reigned 1279-1212 BC), ancient Egyptian king, third ruler of the 19th dynasty, the son of Seti I. During the early part of his reign Ramses fought to reign the territory in Africa and Western Asia that Egypt had held during the 16th and 15th centuries BC. His principle opponents were the Hittites, a powerful people of Asia Minor, against whom he waged a long war upon. The major battle of this war was fought in 1274 at Kadesh, in Northern Syria, was hailed by Ramses as such a great triumph. In 1258 BC a treaty was signed whereby the contested lands were divided and Ramses agreed to marry the daughter of the Hittite king.
The gold that was used to make jewelry in Egyptian times was not scarce like it is in present day. Mines between the Nile River and Red Sea coast yielded large quantities of this precious metal. They also imported precious stones from the Sinai Peninsula and even Afghanistan. The Egyptians, however, had no knowledge of the gemstones and jewels we have today, such as diamonds, emeralds, and rubies.
The Ancient Egyptians called their country Kemet, which means “Black Land.” The dark soil from the Nile River was very fertile. The Nile overflowed at the same time every year, leaving farmers with very fertile soil. The Nile provided much needed water for their crops during the dry season by using their irrigation system. The Nile River also provided the Egyptians with drinking water, and a way for them to travel, allowing them to explore and trade. In addition, the desert around the river was called “Red Land” by the Egyptians. This is where they lived, grew and prospered. The desert provided much gold for the Egyptians to trade with other countries or to keep for themselves. They brought back silver from Syria, cedar wood, oils, and horses from Lebanon, copper from Cyprus, gems from Afghanistan, ebony, wood, and ivory from Africa, and incense from Punt.
The exquisite artifacts made of gold, carved out of hard stone or formed from glass might make us forget that the Egyptians lived with clay and not the expensive alternatives found in royal tombs. They lived in it, drank from it, cooked in it, ate on it, carried liquids in it, played with it, and when they died, the only offerings of any permanence most could afford were made from it.
THE BATTLE FOR THE EARTH On april first,2035 the daleks and cybermen team up to take over the world. As their planning begins the Doctor heard that the daleks and cybermen teamed up. so the DOctor planned to use the TARDIS to get into the ship and set it to self desrtuct. While the doctor was finding out where the self desrtuct button is,the daleks knew the Doctor would come to them and went to a galxay far far away and bought some tractor beams to catch the TARDIS.
Most often, people betray each other for their own personal gain. Usually, this gain is some form of power. Two examples of this are Goneril and Regan’s lying and Claudius’ murdering of his own brother. Goneril and Regan played their little game of telling their father that they loved him most. By doing that, they essentially threw their sister Cordelia under the bus knowing that she wouldn’t profess her love for her father in order to save herself.
...n 1163 B.C., Egypt entered a period of slow decline (Scarre 1997:116). Pharaohs became less powerful, and their prestige dwindled. Hungry soldiers were terrorizing the community, while tomb robbers were raiding the pyramids for resources that were very much needed. They had buried their pharaohs with food, goods and jewelry, all of which were needed to keep the civilization in tact. They had built too many pyramids, and there were setbacks in Asia which corrupted trade. People did not understand why the pharaohs could not fix the problems that were going on. They viewed them as gods and lost trust and faith. Egypt fell apart as these things culminated with loss of belief in the pharaohs.