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The Battle of Khadesh, ca 1299 BCE, marked a stalement between Hittite power and the power of 20th Dynasty Egypt, where the two met face to face along their outermost marches, in what is now Syria.
The battle was fought on the Orontes River, between the Hittite forces of Hattusili III and Ramses II (1304 - 1237 BCE). This first campaign against the Hittites (1300-1299 BC) ended in an Egyptian retreat after the violent battle at Kadesh in Syria, during which Ramses narrowly escaped capture, mainly thanks to the intervention of a troop contingent from Amurru. The consequent loss of prestige sparked revolts within the Egyptian empire, and Ramses could not resume direct hostilities against the Hittites until 1294; the conflicts were finally concluded by a peace treaty in 1283, in the 21st year of the reign of Ramses II.
The treaty bond that was established was inscribed on a silver tablet, of which we have a copy of clay. An enlargement of the clay tablet hangs on a wall at the headquarters of the United Nations, as one of the earliest international peace treaties. Its text, in the Hittite version, is at one of the links below. A highly propagandistic Egyptian version survives in a papyrus.
