Akhenaten died soon after his attack on Kadesh, but the
question of what to do about the area of Kadesh did not go away. The Hittite
counterattack into the Egyptian territory of Amki breached the Egyptian-Hittite
treaty of the time, but was probably no more than a retaliatory raid; as far as
the sources indicate, Suppiluliuma did not follow with a major Hittite
offensive. Major events in Syria-Palestine for most of the reign of Tutankhamun
remain unknown, since Tutankhamun’s abandonment of Akhet-aten brought the
Amarna archive to an immediate halt; wherever Tutankhamun’s diplomatic
correspondence was stored-Thebes or more likely Memphis-the record lies as yet
undiscovered. No Egyptian or Hittite historical texts unequivocally record any
battles in Syria-Palestine prior to the final year of Tutankhamun’s reign, but
at about the time of the death of Tutankhamun, another Egyptian campaign was
launched against Kadesh; details do not survive, but the timing of the Egyptian
attack might have been intended to coincide with a Mittani counteroffensive.
The renewed attacks of the weakened but still existent state of Mittani
precipitated the Second Syrian War, also known as the Six-Year Hurrian War,
which culminated in the defeat of Carchemish and the complete destruction of
the Mittanian state. Tutankhamun’s strike on Kadesh triggered a Hittite
counterattack on Amki, the same reaction Akhenaten’s attack on Kadesh had
elicited. Both Akhenaten and Tutankhamun probably sought to force some
conclusion to the Kadesh problem, for with the last vestige of the Hurrian
state expunged, Hatti might decide to use Kadesh and the corridor east of
Amurru.
The images of Tutankhamun’s Asiatic campaign are fragmentary
and provide few details about the location of the battle or the tactics involved.
Despite these problems, the lively carvings indicate that a chariot battle and
an assault on fortifications were elements of the campaign. In one scene, an
Asiatic warrior, with a typical bobbed hairstyle and kilt, is transfixed by the
spear of an Egyptian charioteer. The ancient artist heightened the drama of the
combat by showing the dead Asiatic draped across the legs of Egyptian chariot
horses. Another block from this same tableau depicts an Asiatic tangled in the
reins of his own chariot. In addition to the chariot battle, Tutankhamun’s
reliefs also depict an attack against fortifications. On one block, an Egyptian
soldier armed with a spear, his shield slung across his back, ascends a ladder propped
against a crenellated wall. The figure of a bearded Asiatic falling headlong from
the fortress suggests the success of the Egyptian assault.
Two blocks from battle scenes of Tutankhamun’s Asiatic campaign. (top) A charioteer, with the horse’s reins tied behind his back, spears an Asiatic enemy, whose body falls across the legs of the horses. The shield-bearer wears a heart. shaped sporran and stands in front of a full quiver of arrows. After Johnson, Asiatic Battle Scene, 156, no. 10. (bottom) A soldier, armed with a spear and a shield, climbs a ladder resting against the battlements of an Asiatic stronghold, while an enemy defender falls to the ground. After Johnson, Asiatic Barrie Scene, 157. no. 12.
The Asiatic War scenes of Tutankhamun portray two different
types of enemies, suggesting that the Egyptians fought a coalition of forces
from throughout Syria-Palestine. The southern, Canaanite type have a short
beard, a bobbed hairstyle tied with a fillet, and wear kilts. The northern
Syrian or Mitannian type have short hair, a long beard, and wear long cloaks.
The Tutankhamun battle scenes also provide a small but significant bit of
information about the chariots of the “boy-king’s” enemies. A poorly
preserved block from the Tutankhamun Asiatic battle scene appears to depict a
three-man crew in an Asiatic chariot. The Asiatics against whom Tutankhamun
fights are depicted as standard Canaanite types, not as Hittites, The
Syro-Palestinians, as they appear in scenes of foreign tribute in the tomb of
the vizier Rekhmire, in the heraldic image of Asiatic combat on the chariot of
Thutmose IV, and the Hittites in the later war tableaux of Seti I, routinely
appear with chariots virtually identical to those of the ancient Egyptians, and
like the Egyptians, the Asiatics appear to have assigned two men to a chariot.
The image of three Asiatic men in a chariot from the
Tutankhamun monument recalls the later three-man chariots of the Hittites in
the scenes of the Battle of Kadesh under Ramesses II. At Karnak, when Seti I
depicted his encounter with the Hittites, he shows the Hittites fighting and dying
with chariots manned by two men, similar to the Egyptian chariots. When Seti’s
successor Ramesses II depicts the chariotry swarms of his own Hittite enemies,
those Hittite chariots have three-man crews. Were it not for the Tutankhamun
block, one might suggest that the Hittites simply adopted a new style of
chariot, perhaps as a result of their loss to the forces of Seti I. The Tutankhamun
scene reveals that some sort of experimentation with a different type of
chariot crew, and almost certainly with a different sort of chariot, was
already occurring during the reign of Tutankhamun.
Why would the Syro-Palestinian enemies of Tutankhamun or the
Hittite opponents of Ramesses II add an extra man to the chariot crew? The
added weight forced the Hittites to make their vehicles heavier, sacrificing
both speed and maneuverability. The Hittite chariotry that attacked Ramesses II
also appear to have shifted away from the use of chariots to carry archers;
instead, the Hittite chariot crews consist of a driver, a shield-bearer, and a
warrior armed with a spear or a lance, both weapons with ranges much shorter
than that of the composite bow. While the Egyptian chariot was still suited for
high-speed engagement as a platform for mounted archers, the makers of the Hittite
chariots had sacrificed the potential for abrupt turns at speed, and seem
uninterested in the vehicle’s properties of maneuver. The Hittite chariot
warriors of the Kadesh battle scenes appear to have become mounted infantry,
the chariot transforming into a type of battle taxi; the apparent three-man
chariot in the Tutankhamun battle scene suggests that experimentation with the
chariot as battle taxi could well go back at least as far as the Amarna Period.
The impetus for this apparent shift in chariot tactics, from mobile archery platform
to battle taxi, remains to be explored.
The inscriptions accompanying the scenes of the Battle of
Kadesh indicate that the Hittites secured soldiers from throughout their
empire, including the western marches. From the western edge of the Hittite
realm may have come the chief impetus for the three-man chariot. The groups who
harassed the western borders of Hatti fought as massed infantry, appear as the
Ahhiyawa in the Hittite record, and are one of the groups the Egyptians
included among the Sea Peoples. The chariot forces of the day, armed primarily
with bows, had difficulty defeating the Ahhiyawa and other Sea People groups
who wore armor and wielded close-combat weapons. The placement of Hittite
infantry soldiers within the new three-man chariots was probably intended to
make the chariotry more effective against the new Sea People foes. Considering
the pressures on the Hittites in the west, and taking into account particular
facets of the subsequent invasions of Egypt from the west and the north, the
three-man chariot from the Tutankhamun battle scene is the swallow that heralds
the dawn of the rise of massed infantry.
Fragments of relief from the mortuary temple of Horemhab
contain further images of an Asiatic campaign. Since Horemhab was responsible
for the actual military command and Tutankhamun may have even died while the
campaign was in progress, Horemhab probably felt no compunction about taking
credit for the victory, as he had for the Nubian War he also led for
Tutankhamun. Without further evidence, the warfare in Syria-Palestine depicted
on the monuments of Horemhab most probably took place entirely during the reign
of Tutankhamun.
Images of the battle on blocks reused from Horemhab’s
mortuary temple include the royal chariot (only the names of the horses
survive) and Egyptian charioteers shooting arrows and surrounded by slain
Asiatic foes. At least two of the Asiatics have only a single hand-the stumps
of their right arms indicate that their hands have already been severed to
provide an accurate count of the enemy dead. Another block depicting part of
the battlements of a city labeled “Fortress which his Majesty captured in
the land of Kad[esh]” provides the setting for this Asiatic battle.
Other reliefs from Tutankhamun’s Theban memorial chapel show
the triumphal return of the Egyptian military by sea. The royal flagship, with
dozens of rowers and a large two-level cabin decorated with a frieze of uraeus
serpents, also carries an important piece of cargo: an Asiatic captive. This
Asiatic appears in a cage hanging from the yardarm of the ship, a secure prison
that allows Tutankhamun to display his military success. Unfortunately, no text
accompanies this scene, and one can only speculate about the identity of the
unfortunate captive. Earlier, Amunhotep III had Abdiashirta, the unruly Amorite
leader, brought back to Egypt, and Tutankhamun may have copied this feat with
the ruler of Kadesh, which would make the man in the cage Aitakama. In this
case, while Akhenaten was not militarily successful, Tutankhamun’s attack on
Kadesh would have achieved at least one major objective.
Block (rom the mortuary temple of Horemhab. An
Egyptian chariot team rides into battle against Asiatic foes. While the helmeted
charioteer shoots his bow, the shield-bearer holds aloft a round-topped shield.
The chariot is equipped with a bow case (the limp flap indicates that it is now
empty) and has a six·spoked wheel and hand, hold on the body. Fallen Asiatics
and charioteers’ helmets litter the scene. The right portion of the block was
recarved at a later date. After Johnson, Asiatic Battle Scene, 170, no. 50.
Tutankhamun also commemorated the results of the
Syro-Palestinian war on the eastern bank at the temple of Karnak. In a relief
in the court between the Ninth and Tenth pylons, Tutankhamun presents the
spoils of victory to the Theban triad. Stacked before the king are elaborate
metal vessels and other products from western Asia. Behind Tutankhamun are
Asiatic prisoners, all bound by ropes that the king holds in his hand. The
dress and coiffure of the captives indicate their diverse origins-some are from
inland Syria-Palestine, while at least one is probably an Aegean islander or
nautical type of the eastern Mediterranean. In a parallel scene, Tutankhamun
presents tribute from Punt, accompanied by the high chiefs of the Puntites.
However, the chiefs of Punt are not bound, but stride freely, presenting the
produce of their country. The differences between the representations of the
Asiatics and the Puntites demonstrate their contrasting relationships with
Egypt. While the inhabitants of Syria-Palestine represent chaotic forces that
must be subdued, the Puntites, who inhabited a land far southeast of Egypt,
peacefully traded with the Nile Valley. Although some of the Asiatics led bound
behind the pharaoh lived closer to Egypt than the distant land of Punt, they
were ideologically much farther from the ordered world that was Egypt.
The tomb that Horemhab commissioned while a general provides
further depictions of the results of Tutankhamun’s Asiatic War. Rows of bound
Asiatic prisoners appear alongside Nubians and Libyans on the east wall of the
second courtyard; the only accompanying text speaks of General Horemhab’s
victories in all foreign lands: “His reputation is in the [land] of the
Hittites(?), after he trave led northward.” The questionable mention of
the Hittites in this text finds further support in two images from Horemhab’s
tomb that represent the first depictions of Hittites from their Anatolian
homeland, otherwise known from the battle reliefs of Seti I. The south wall of
that same courtyard contains exquisitely carved reliefs of more Asiatic
prisoners; the manacles-some of them elaborately carved to resemble rampant
lions-and ropes binding the men advertise their status as prisoners of war, and
the emotion-filled expressions of the men indicate their reactions to their new
status. Horemhab, who is called “one in attendance on his lord upon the
battlefield on this day of smiting the Asiatics,” leads these prisoners before
the enthroned royal couple, Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun.
In addition to the scenes of Asiatic prisoners, the tomb of
Horemhab also contains images of other foreigners from all corners of the
world- Libyans, Nubians, and Asiatics. In these scenes, the different
ethnicities are juxtaposed, and none of the foreigners is bound. These two
types of scenes reflect two separate historical events. The reliefs of the
unbound foreigners allude to a durbarlike event, such as that depicted in two
of the tombs at Amarna and in the tomb of Huy, and the incorporation of foreign
captives into the Egyptian military. The gathering of foreigners appearing in
vivid detail in the tomb of Horemhab may even represent the same northern and
southern durbars as appear in the tomb of the viceroy Huy. On the other hand,
the scenes of bound Asiatics correspond to a specific military event.
Unfortunately, the general lack of toponyms in the tomb prevents a precise
determination of the origin of the Asiatic prisoners, but one may reasonably
suggest that they were captured during Tutankhamun’s attack on Kadesh.
