Egypt.  The  Kheta  adinitLcd  the  sovereignty  of  Rameses
over  all  territor\'  south  of  the  Nahr  al-Kalb,  or  Dog  River,
near  Berut,  in  Syria,  and  the  region  north  of  it  was  to  be
Kheta  territory  for  ever.  The  most  important  among  the
long  series  of  battles  was  the  Egyptian  attack  on  Kadesh,
on  the  Orontes ;  it  was  temporarily  successful,  but  it  cost
Rameses  dear.  During  the  struggle,  Rameses  had  charged
among  the  enemy  far  ahead  of  his  troops,  who  had  either
been  killed  or  had  run  away.  When  the  king  realized
his  position,  he  found  that  he  was  surrounded  by  the
foe,  and  was  in  the  greatest  danger  of  being  slain.
Undaunted,    however,    he    girded    on    his    armour,    and    in

the  strength  of  the  gods  Menthu  and  Bal  (Baal,    ]  «cz:>  K|)

he  turned  on  his  foes,  and  cut  his  way  through  them,  slaying
large  numbers  as  he  escaped  from  their  midst.  "  I  was,"
said  the  king,  "  by  myself,  for  my  soldiers  and  my  horse-
"  men  had  forsaken  me,  and  not  one  of  them  was  bold
"  enough  to  come  to  my  aid."  This  episode  was  treated  in  a
highly  poetical  manner  in  a  composition  generalh-  known
as  the  Poem  of  Pentaurt.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Pentaurt
was  not  the  author,  but  merely  the  scribe  who  made  the
fullest  copy  of  the  work  known,  namely,  that  in  the  British
Museum  Papyrus,  Sallier  III.  Thirteen  years  after  the
conclusion  of  the  treaty  with  the  Kheta,  i.e.,  in  the  thirt}'-
fourth  year  of  his  reign,  Rameses  II  married  the  daughter  of
the  prince  of  the  Kheta,  whose  Egyptian  name  was  Maa-Ra-
ur-neferu.
