The World

A new male co-pharaoh was named as Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, who was probably the queen transitioning into a male king. But the sun cult depended on one man – and in 1336 Akhenaten died, to be succeeded by a mysterious pharaoh named Smenekhkara, most likely Nefertiti in male guise, who ruled with her own daughter Meritaten as King’s Great Wife. But courtiers were enraged by the sun cult, and knives were out: Nefertiti died – or was killed. Her replacement was a nine-year-old son of Akhenaten by one of his secondary wives: Tutankhaten – Living Image of Aten – who was swiftly married to another of the daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Ankhesenpaaten.

The vanishing of Nefertiti heralded a counter-revolution to undo the Atenists and restore Amun-Ra. The capital returned to Memphis, the new city abandoned; Tutankhaten became Tutankhamun, his wife Ankhesenamun.

The pharaoh, five foot six, was not strong – he may have fractured his leg in a chariot accident; he also suffered from malaria and it sounds as if he had a temper. Now he consulted ‘with Amun’, which meant his powerful advisers, Ay, his great-uncle, and the top general Horemheb, who boasted that Tutankhamun promoted him to ‘Lord of the Land’. The boy-pharaoh declared ,‘The temples of the gods and goddesses had fallen into ruin …’ but he himself ‘drove away chaos’. The royal couple were half-siblings, the queen was barely pubescent and two daughters were stillborn (their tiny mummies buried with Tutankhamun, his paternity proved by their DNA). The pharaoh faced the relentless advance of the Hattian king Suppiluliuma. ‘If armies were sent east,’ admitted Tutankhamun, ‘they had no success.’ He sent an army northwards. Suppiluliuma’s chariots routed it.

In 1322, Tutankhamun died at the age of nineteen – whether as a result of malaria, some other infection or murder – but his tomb was not ready, so his entombed regalia was paltry compared to the treasures prepared for kings who died in predictable old age.

Only one of House Ahmose was left: Queen Ankhesenamun, also nineteen, was alone in a vicious court at the mercy of Great-Uncle Ay who was angling to marry her and become pharaoh himself. Overseer of the Army Horemheb had, he claimed, been designated as heir, but he was campaigning in Syria. In a desperate move, the daughter of Nefertiti turned to the other great dynasty.

Great King Suppiluliuma was at war, besieging Carchemish (Türkiye). In a letter, included in The Deeds of Suppiluliuma, an account written by his heir and found among the ruins of Hattusa, teenaged queen Ankhesenamun wrote: ‘My husband has died and I have no son. They say that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects [she meant Ay] as husband … I am afraid.’

Suppiluliuma sent a son, Prince Zannanza, through Canaan towards Egypt. But he was too late. The journey took a long time; the old minister Ay was acclaimed pharaoh and married the young queen. But Zannanza was still on his way. We do not know what happened, but Horemheb surely intercepted and murdered him. It was a favour Pharaoh Ay did not forget. No one knows for how long Ankhesenamun survived, but Ay soon died, leaving the throne to Horemheb.

Suppiluliuma was incensed – ‘Oh gods, the people of Egypt did this to me’ – sending his charioteers to ravage Egyptian Canaan. But the soldiers and their prisoners returned with a plague, always a symptom of an interlinked world. Soon afterwards, Suppililiuma died and the crown prince, leaving his domineering Babylonian queen Tawananna ruling an empire beset by rebellion. In 1321, Mursili II, son of Suppiluliuma, grieved: ‘O gods, what have you done? You’ve let plague into Hatti and everyone is dying.’ The pandemic decimated the capital, Hattusa. Out of the chaos in Egypt and Hatti, two potentates emerged who would now clash in the greatest battle of the ancient world.

The day began with a surprise.

CLASH OF THE CHARIOTEERS: RAMESES AND MUWATALLI

In May 1274, north of Kadesh, Rameses II, aged twenty-five, five foot seven, fair-skinned with ginger wavy hair, the monarch of a new dynasty, rode out of his camp in a golden chariot wearing his full regalia, followed by his army of over 20,000 divided into four divisions. His mission: retake Kadesh, a walled city surrounded by water. But his manoeuvres were more leisurely parade than vigilant advance.

The capture and interrogation of two Bedouin confirmed that the Hattian army under King Muwatalli was 120 miles away near Aleppo. Closer to his home base, the Great King of Hatti deployed a much larger force of 47,500, including 3,500 chariots – but they were far away.