Luxor - Temple of Luxor - Pylon

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now difficult to distinguish, depicting scenes from Ramesses II's campaign against the Hittites in the fifth year of his reign. On the right hand (west) tower, to the left, the King is seen on his throne holding a Council of War with his Princes; in the middle is the camp, protected by a ring of shields, with the Hittites attacking; and on the right the King in his chariot dashes into the fray. The reliefs on the left hand tower take us into the thick of the battle: the King in his chariot charges the enemy, launching his arrows against them; the field is strewn with dead and wounded; the Hittites flee in wild confusion to the Fortress of Qadesh, from which fresh troops advance against the Egyptians; farther left is the fortress, surrounded by water, with the defenders on the battlements; and on the extreme left, far from the battle, isthe Prince ofthe Hittites in hischariot, turning fearfully towards the King. The long inscription, in vertical lines, which begins on the west tower below the reliefs and is continued on the east tower is a poetical account of the battle.

On each of the pylon towers are two vertical grooves for flagstaffs, with square apertures for braces holding the flagstaffs in position and small windows to admit light and air to the rooms in the tower. The reliefs on the doorway depict Ramesses II in the presence of the gods of the temple. Those on the inner wall of the doorway, in fairly high relief, date from the reign of the Ethiopian King Shabaka.