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“Did you not know it in your hearts: I am your rampart of iron!”

Source: Kadesh Poem, temple inscription, c. 1274 BCE (trans. Miriam Lichtheim, 1976, p. 70)

Context In the Kadesh Poem, once the fighting is over, the king rebukes his soldiers and charioteers for having abandoned him during the Hittite attack.

Portrait of Ramesses II
Ramesses IIEgypt · c. 1303–1213 BC
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