decorate several temples in both Egypt and Nubia and show the king in much larger fashion than his infantry (a typical Egyptian artistic convention). While the chariot was only introduced into Egypt at the beginning of the New Kingdom, the Egyptian army consisted at that point mostly of infantry with groups of chariot-drivers providing increased mobility. Seeing the swaths of cavalry on either side in the Exodus battle scenes over-emphasises the role they must have played in the actual battle. On the one side, there are few horse riders in the reliefs, but the full use of calvary in ancient Egyptian warfare was not realised properly until the first millennium BC.

Perhaps the best Egyptological moment of the film follows the famous Battle of Qadesh, where a scribe readsRamesses’ account of the battle aloud from papyrus accompanied by the reliefs of the Battle that we know so well from many of his temples. This charming scene will no doubt be easily overlooked by those unfamiliar with Ramesses’ self-indulgent boasting concerning the battle. In this context, Ramesses II was almost humiliated, which changes his image dramatically to that we encounter in the texts.

As the two princes enter the battle, Ramesses II is shown with a golden vulture-shaped headdress. Egyptian kings in the New Kingdom are often shown wearing the Blue Crown, which was probably made of leather with metal circles sewn on (although few actual crowns have survived!). In older literature, the Blue Crown is often referred to as a War Crown, yet recent studies suggest it