1-157-331 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Limestone relief showing Hittite soldiers, Temple of Abu Simbel, Egypt, 14th-13th century BC. The Hittites were a people whose empire covered much of Anatolia and northern Syria. They came into conflict with the Ancient Egyptians when, in the reign of Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) Egypt sought to expand its territory northwards. The two sides fought a major battle at Kadesh in 1275 BC, which the Egyptians recorded as having been a victory for them, although Hittite accounts of the outcome suggested it was inconclusive. With neither civilisation able to decisively defeat the other, Egypt and the Hittite empire concluded a peace treaty in 1258 BC.