Page:Buried cities and Bible countries (1891).djvu/40

 long swords, shields, and spears. "The hosts also of the Hittites and of their allies are represented" (says Brugsch) "with a lively pictorial expression, for the artist has been guided by the intention of bringing before the eyes of the beholder the orderly masses of the Hittite warriors, and the less regular and warlike troops of the allied peoples, according to their costume and arms. The Canaanites are distinguished in the most striking manner from the allies, of races unknown to us, who are attired with turban-like coverings for the head, or with high caps, such as are worn at the present day by the Persians." Conder also remarks that the one race is bearded, the other beardless, and that this battle picture gives us most lively portraits of the Hittite warriors in their chariots, and of their walled and tower-crowned city, with its name written over it, and its bridges over the Orontes. The Hittites have long pigtails, and their Chinese-like appearance is very remarkable.

Pentaur of Thebes, the poet-laureate of Egypt, had accompanied Rameses in this expedition, and he celebrated the achievements of the day in a poem which has come down to us in several editions. It is found on a papyrus roll, and again in conjunction with splendid battle scenes, on the walls of temples at Abydos, Luxor, Karnak, and Ibsamboul.

This prize poem of Pentaur's was written three thousand two hundred years ago, and is the oldest heroic poem in the