CHAPTER 18

All the King’s

Horses and All the

King’s Men: The

Hittite Military

Machine

1

H

ow did they do it? Before explaining what I mean by this

question, let’s look at somefigures.

THE SIZE OF THE ARMY

As we’ve noted, Ramesses’inscriptions tell us that in the Qadesh
engagement the Hittite king put 47,500 warriors into thefield.
He claims that this total included a massive horde of mercenaries
hired by his Hittite adversary. It’s possible that Hittite kings did
hire mercenary troops to swell their ranks for major military
operations (despite the fact that no Hittite texts make mention of
them)– though Ramesses may have exaggerated the size of the
mercenary component at Qadesh. But even if he did, his overall
figures are probably fairly accurate. Indeed, a warrior-king is more
likely to overestimate than underestimate the size of his enemy, to
enhance his military reputation if he wins a battle, or to have a
ready excuse if he loses it. In any case, both armies were probably
quite evenly matched in numerical strength. And undoubtedly