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War Scenes of Ramesses II |
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A list of towns and countries in Syria and Palestine. Each name is enclosed in an oval with the upper body of a bound Asiatic prisoner sprouting from it. The ovals are not royal cartouches but the hieroglyphic sign for fortress. These are carved over the Battle of Kadesh inscriptions. |
In some places on the wall, these later war scenes were carved over the Battle of Kadesh inscriptions. The Kadesh reliefs were not completely erased however. Plaster was used to cover them. After 1300 years, the plaster is almost gone, leaving the two versions to be read-- with difficulty. This double set of inscriptions is called a palimpsest and is difficult to untangle. Damage to the reliefs makes this even more difficult. After weeks of tedious work, we were able to make some minor discoveries. The Kadesh palimpsest includes part of a text known as the "Bulletin." Although better preserved elsewhere in several copies, the Karnak version included some variant phrases not found elsewhere. |
