At the great temple in Abu Simbel there remains, carved into the walls, a reminder of one of the greatest military lies ever told. Ramesses the Great - often regarded as the most powerful pharaoh to have ruled the ancient Egyptian Empire - embarrassingly led his men into a trap at the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittite Empire in 1274 BC. Forced to sign the first-ever non-aggression treaty in history instead of having his entire army wiped out, Ramesses saw his imperial expansion to the north halted in one fell swoop. However, so proud was the pharaoh - who preached to his subjects that he was a god - he lied to his populous and painted the embarrassing loss at Kadesh as a brilliant victory for the Egyptian Empire. So, naturally, Ramesses II - while building the great temple - had his imagined outcome of the battle depicted in indelible sunken relief around the inner walls. Ramesses is shown to be leading his army into battle himself in the stone carvings in Abu Simbel - as well as in further depictions at Luxor and Abydos - and scoring a brilliant victory. This lie remains, etched in stone, some 3,300 years after the event.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
