Ramesseum - Second Court

A gap in the wall to the right of the broken colossus gives access to the Second Court, which is better preserved than the first. lt was flanked on right and left by double colonnades, now almost completely destroyed: along the front square pillars with statues of Osiris, to the rear a raised terrace with Osiris pillars and columns with bud capitals. Four Osiris pillars are still standing in both the front and the rear rows, together with the shafts of columns, which have reliefs of Ramesses making offerings. The Osiris figures, most of which have lost their heads, also represent Ramesses. These are no doubt the 11 caryatides referred to by Diodorus in his description of Ozymandias's tomb.

On the surviving part of the front wall are fine reliefs, with traces of coloring, which can be distinguished with the aid of binoculars. The lower row celebrates once again the Battle of Qadesh: on the left the King, depicted on a much larger scale than the other figures, dashes in his chariot against the enemy; the Hittites, pierced by his arrows or trampled by the horses, fall in confused heaps or are plunged into the River Orontes; farther right is the battlemented Fortress of Qadesh, with the river flowing round it; beside it, on the far side of the river, are Hittite troops, some of them reaching out to help their drowning comrades.