Around 1274 BC, the Hittite and Egyptian Empires clashed near the city of Kadesh - a battle of unprecedented scale and repercussion, and the first such major and direct showdown ever recorded. 
This 3-part blog aims to explore the battle that took place at Kadesh over three thousand years ago, and we begin here with the first question: in an age of nobility, careful diplomacy and respect, why did it come to such a brutal conflict? 

By 1274 BC, the Hittites and the Egyptians had co-existed for some four centuries. The Hittites ruled most of modern-day Turkey and controlled a halo of vassal kingdoms on the Turkish coasts and in the northern Levant. Far to the south, the Egyptians held sway, their crop fields fed by the yearly inundations of the Nile and protected by the vast tracts of desert either side of that great waterway. The Egyptians too controlled many vassal lands near their home territory.

​Relations between Egypt and the Hittites were not always peaceful, it must be said. But prior to 1274 BC, aggression between the two states had only ever been in the shape of posturing and political dispute, as well as proxy war - with the Hittites compelling some of their vassal kingdoms to attack or obstruct an Egyptian army or trade route and vice versa. Not once in all that time had the huge and mighty armies of Egypt's Pharaoh or the Hittite Labarna (high king) been mobilised to face one another in full, all-out war. But a sequence of tit-for-tat exchanges soon changed that...

History teaches us that most empires grow until they meet some form of resistance that checks their expansion. Think of Xerxes' Achaemenid Persia, swelling and thriving inexorably until it met with the Greeks at the Hot Gates then Salamis. Or Attila's Hunnic juggernaut, invincible until his armies came up against the allied patchwork of the fading Western Roman Empire and its 'barbarian' allies. 

So it was with the realms of Egypt and the Hittites. Both gradually stretched out to claim more and more territory as their own. There was a particular desire on both sides to possess the lands of the modern Levant, known to the Egyptians as 'Retenu' (see the dash-lined box area in the map, above) - a land veined with ancient trade routes. No trade was more important than that of tin; tin was a scarce resource, and being essential in the production of bronze, a vital one for any state with martial ambitions. For the Hittite Labarna and Egypt's Pharaoh, controlling Retenu and denying it to their opponent was a must.

Here's a snapshot of the creeping territorial ambitions that brought the Hititte and Egyptian realms nose-to-nose in central Retenu:

• 15th c BC: 
  • Pharoah Tuthmosis III conquers southern Retenu (roughly modern Palestine) for Egypt then rides to the River Mala (Euphrates) and erects victory stele.
• 14th c BC: 
  • Hittite King Suppiluliuma I crushes the Mittani to take much of northern Retenu (roughly modern Syria), including Gargamis (Carchemish) and Kadesh. The latter of these spoils was most important, for Kadesh lay right at the heart of central Retenu, controlling much of the inland trade and military routes.
  • Attempts to defuse the growing tensions are made when the widowed Egyptian Queen Dakhamunzu suggests marriage to Suppiluliuma's son, Zannanza. But on his journey to Egypt to wed the enemy queen, Zannanza is killed in suspicious circumstances. Many suspect this was the Egyptian plan all along.
  • Enraged, Suppiluliuma orders his forces to raid Egyptian border settlements. His Hittite soldiers return with Egyptian prisoners of war in tow.... and a plague! This plague kills Suppiluliuma and ravages Hittite lands for 20 years.
  • Mursili II becomes the new Labarna of the Hittites. A tense lull in hostility is observed between the Hittites and Egyptians at first... until Tetti, a Hittite ambassador on a visit to Egypt, is imprisoned by Pharaoh Horemheb. Resentment broils once more. Threats fly back and forth.
• 13th c BC
  • 1294 BC:
    • Pharaoh Seti I is bent on hurting the Hittites and seizing their holdings in northern Retenu for himself. He marches north, conquers the Hittite vassal lands of Kadesh and Amurru and destroys a Hittite vassal army, leading thousands off in captivity.
    • Hittite King Muwatalli II (Muwa) and his brother Prince Hattusili (Hattu) are powerless to retaliate - for the mighty Hittite Army is beset by troubles on the western edge of Hittite lands where Ahhiyawan (Greek) raiders are pillaging.
  • 1279 BC:
    • Ramesses II takes the Egyptian throne and sets about building up Egypt's already-huge armies, determined to complete his father Seti's unfinished conquest of the Hittites.
  • 1275/1274 BC (estimated):
    • Kadesh defects back to the Hittite fold.
    • Pharaoh Ramesses is enraged.
    • Despite gaining Kadesh once again, King Muwa is still angered by the continuing Egyptian 'occupation' of the equally vital Amurru. More, his Hittite armies are now free of plague and western troubles and he has carefully nurtured strong oaths of military support from his vassals.
    • Ramesses declares he will retake Kadesh, Muwa swears he will defend it.
    • After all these centuries, there is no other path left.
    • The stage is set for war!

Stay tuned for The Battle of Kadesh Part 2: The Road to War !

Hope you enjoyed the read. Any questions? Leave a comment below or get in touch - I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Regarding the crew: the driver was known as a 'kedjen', and he bore a shield as well as the reins. The warrior was called a 'seneny', and he would have carried a composite bow, several quivers, spears, a khopesh (curved sword) and a mace or battle axe. He would also have been clad in a bronze or leather scale corselet and bronze helm. Sometimes, each chariot had a support 'runner', whose job was to sprint alongside or close behind the chariot in battle and finish off enemies wounded by the crew.

​In the Battle of Kadesh, Pharaoh Ramesses employed Sherden mercenaries to run along with his royal chariots, and tasked them with hacking off the hands of the Hittite dead and dying as some kind of 'kill total'.

At some point near the turn of the 14th c BC -> 13th c BC, the Hittites clearly recognised Egypt's chariot supremacy. This must have been a hard thing to accept as the two were the greatest powers of the time and drawing closer and closer to all-out war.

They may well have come to this realisation when, around 1293 BC, Pharaoh Seti routed a Hittite army (mainly composed of vassals) somewhere in Syria. in Dawn of War, I go with this theory, portraying Prince Hattu and his band of soldiers and chariots being torn to pieces by the far faster and nimbler Egyptian vehicles. Regardless of how and when the Hittites were drawn to the conclusion that their own chariotry was not up to the standard of Pharaoh's, we know that they did not sulk about it. Instead they used it as a catalyst to innovate. ​

To reinvent their chariot corps would have required the greatest minds of the Hittite realm. And in terms of the art of chariotry, there was none sharper that Kikkuli. 

Kikkuli was a Hurrian who served in the Hititte court during the period in question. His name might well be Indo-European for 'Colt', hence my use of the name 'Colta' in Empires of Bronze. Kikkuli ran a chariot academy outside the Hittite capital, Hattusa. This complex encompassed stables, corrals, barracks and an oval exercise field as well as homes for scribes, stable-boys, handlers, grooms and wranglers. Hurrians were famed for their chariot warfare and horse-breeding, and we know from the surviving 'Kikkuli Text' that this man left no stone unturned in his work. He specifies practices such as:

• Slitting a horse's nostrils so it could draw in more air with every breath.
• Specifying not only the diet of his horses, but of the crews too.
• A 7-month regimen for the breaking-in of a horse, including night manoeuvres and swimming.
• A horse grooming routine that involved braiding and finely cutting manes and tails so they would not become trussed up in tethers and bronze buckles.
• Interval training for horses to increase the strengths of their hearts - a technique still used today.
• 'Emergency stop' practice: the deliberate toppling of one chariot in front of another to test that the crew behind have the skill to quickly guide their own vehicle out of the way of this hazard.
• Encouraging the horses to bite and kick at opponents.
• A passing-out parade for newly-trained crews. Those who paraded well were given a cup of wine. Those who stumbled were made to drink a cup of urine - yum!

He also masterminded, or at least had a big hand in, the redesign of the Hittite chariot. This new model dispensed with the futile attempts to produce fast and nimble vehicles. What was the point? The Egyptians were miles ahead in these respects. Instead, the new-look Hittite chariot would fully embrace the aspect of shock warfare.

​Out with the old and artificial rule that a chariot had to be crewed by a pair: now a crew would consist of three - a driver, a warrior and a shield-bearer. This meant a wider base to accommodate the extra man and maintain stability. And they dispensed with light frames and thin ox-hide sheathes - now they built cabins of sturdy timber slats offering excellent protection for the three inside. They crafted wheels from multiple strips of steam-bent wood instead of one - meaning larger diameters and thus bigger wheels. These new chariot cabins must have looked like tanks compared to the old-style vehicles.

But surely the poor horse teams would suffer for this: three men to haul around instead of two, as well as a heavier cabin? Well Kikkuli and his team foresaw this and mitigated that risk in their design - moving the axle from its traditional position at the rear of the cabin (meaning the horses bear most of the weight), to the centre.

More, we know from the Kikkuli Text that the Hittite Chariot Master was engaged in a special program of horse breeding and diet. He pioneered the technique of feeding his herds not with grass, but with a mixture of barley, wheat, meal, groats and salt. This, along with his selective breeding, is likely to have resulted in gradually larger and stronger horses, capable of hauling these new vehicles and donning bronze aprons and masks for their own protection.

These vehicles must have been lumbering as they set off from a standstill, but capable of building up great speed and momentum. The penalty would have come in the shape of manoeuvrability, however - the great weight and momentum meaning that the turning circle would have been huge, unless the driver slowed the vehicle right down first. But every weapon has a weakness, and the key is to make the most of its strengths. For the Hittite King, unleashing this new wing of heavy battle-cars would have been like throwing a single volley of spears - absolutely deadly if aimed well... but if you missed on that one and only throw, anything could happen.

In Thunder at Kadesh, I describe these heavy chariots as 'Destroyers', with Prince Hattu leading one vehicle nicknamed 'The Harrower'. Quite apt, given what was to come in their first full-scale outing...

In 1274 BC, after years of threats and posturing, the mighty armies of the Hittites and the Egyptians met at last in the Battle of Kadesh. When Prince Hattu led a charge of this new and massive Destroyer wing - numbering anything up to three thousand vehicles - it was devastating, blowing apart Pharaoh's Army of Ra, then making ruin of his Amun camp. The ghosts of past defeats had well and truly been exorcised... but of course that was just the beginning of that long and brutal clash...

And remember, you can escape to the Bronze Age and ride a Hittite 'Destroyer' in Empires of Bronze: Thunder at Kadesh - out now!:

The Egyptian New Kingdom, lasting roughly from 1550 BC to 1077 BC, exploded into being when the last of the hated Hyksos Kings was deposed. The people of the Nile never forgot that shameful period of occupation. Determined never to show such weakness again, they adopted a militaristic, expansionist and aggressive stance - far more so than the Middle Kingdom or Old Kingdom. As such, they reinvented their armies, dispensing with simple levy troops and establishing a standing army of professional soldiers, the ranks swollen by the abundant populace living along the fertile banks of the River Iteru (Nile). Population estimates of 3-4 million indicate that they certainly were never short of manpower (unlike the Hittites), and could field up to or even more than 40,000 men. 

Here, I take a look at the make-up of this fearsome Egyptian 'war machine'...

New Kingdom Pharaohs were protectors of their lands and people and direct appointees of the Gods. Let's have a look at Seti I, the lord of Egypt in Dawn of War:

Seti was certainly quite fond of gathering up honourific titles. . He was addressed as: "Falcon King, He of the Two Goddesses, Horus of Gold, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Use-mare, Son of Ra, He who rages like a panther". (He who rages like a panther? Reminds me of the time I stepped on an upturned plug.)

Seti was a warrior too, personally commanding their armies and leading them into battle. Pharaohs of the New Kingdom took to wearing the distinctive and majestic blue 'kepresh' crown when they went to war. They would also wear a lion's tail in their belt and carry a sceptre and flail, both probably ceremonial - or perhaps practical depending on how battle was going!
 

​This new professional army was so vast and had to cover such a huge territory that it had to be split into divisions. Estimates of these divisions' sizes vary from 5,000 to 10,000. Each division was housed in huge barracks at a particular city in the Nile homelands, and each was devoted to a particular god (much like the Hittites). Also, each division was entirely self-sufficient with its own wing of chariots, archers, medics, priests, mules and wagons.

​*The Ptah Division was formed a little later that the first three - probably in response to the ramping-up of tensions with the Hittites.

​Evidence of rank and structure in the New Kingdom Egyptian army is rather thin and at times contradictory. We know for certain that Pharaoh was top of the tree. He would either lead the army on campaign or appoint a royal relative or otherwise trusted man to do it for him. Indeed, while still a prince, Seti served as battle master for his ailing father, Pharaoh Ramesses I.

Below Pharaoh there would have been a deputy and a raft of 'Overseers', 'Commanders' and 'Captains' in charge of thousands, hundreds and even tens of men.

​A foot soldier would have lived day-to-day in a 250-strong unit known as a 'Sa'. Egyptian infantrymen were typically either spearmen or archers.

The spearmen came in a few forms:

• the nefru - thought to be younger and less-experienced troops
  
• the menfyt - battle-hardened veterans
  
• the nakhtu-aa, otherwise known as the 'strongarm boys' - who were Pharaoh's crack infantry.

The archers of the New Kingdom armies were just as lethal as the spearmen. There were many native Egyptian bowmen, but there were also plentiful foreign archer regiments too - especially Nubians and Libyans.

The Chariots were to the New Kingdom armies what lancers were to the Normans, or tanks to the soldiers of WW2. They were swift and terrifying to behold: imagine two snorting horses bedecked in bronze and leather thrashing towards you, a warrior and a driver aboard intent on piercing your heart with a spear or arrow, all while the ground under your feet shudders as if the world is about to end!

The Egyptian chariots were honed for speed. The cabins themselves were feather-light and the steering mechanisms deft and nimble. Typically, a 25-strong Egyptian chariot wing would be assigned to each infantry Sa. In battle they would rove across the battlefield, peppering enemy vehicles and foot soldiers with arrows, veering clear of attempted counter attacks or plunging into vulnerable enemy ranks. Ironically, these devices were only introduced to the Egyptian world thanks to the earlier Hyksos occupation!

In total, Pharaoh could muster as many as 5,000 chariots 

​The Egyptians maintained a powerful navy - vital to control trade and piracy and to allow its armies to sail up the coast of Retenu (the modern Levant) and reinforce any trouble spots or to launch a campaign.
The Nile delta served as a perfect Naval launching point, and there was a giant royal dockyard near Memphis. Naval tactics were much like chariot tactics: sail past the enemy at speed, showering them with arrows, avoiding contact.

So, I hope that sheds some light on the military capacity of the New Kingdom. Do leave a comment or get in touch if you have any further questions. Thanks for reading!

Many thanks to Osprey Publishing for their continued excellence in illustrating long-gone eras​.

If you'd like to experience life in the era of the New Kingdom and the Hittite Empire, why not try my Empires of Bronze series? Book 2, Dawn of War (banner below) is out now!

Over three thousand years ago, before iron had been tamed, before Rome had risen, before the ashes from which Classical Greece would emerge had even been scattered, the world was forged in bronze. It was an age when Great Kings ruled, when vast armies clashed for glory, riches and the favour of their strange gods. In the south there was Egypt; in the east, Assyria; in the west, Ahhiyawa (Homer’s Greece); and in the north... the Hittites.

The Hittite King, also known as The Sun or Labarna, was venerated as the deputy of the Storm God, Tarhunda and the Sun Goddess, Arinnitti. Much of his time was spent in his secondary role as High Priest of the realm, attending the many religious festivals all across the Hittite realm, draped in blue robes. But he also served as commander-in-chief of the Hittite army, and in this guise he would wear bronze and leather.

 ​The King enjoyed the protection of two elite units:

The Mesedi were his bodyguards. A detachment of them would be ever-present at home or abroad, on the march, in battle, in camp (and maybe even in the latrine - who knows?) They would have been a small unit - perhaps a few hundred strong. Their leader, the Gal Mesedi, not only commanded these soldiers, but also served as a deputy to the king - organising affairs of state security and such matters. Most often, the Gal Mesedi was a trusted relative of the king.

The Golden Spearmen - named after their gilt lances - were a small (maybe as few as fifty) guard unit tasked with watching over the acropolis of Hattusa. When the king went on campaign, the Golden Spearmen would remain in the city.

At their peak, the Hittites could muster around 20,000 soldiers from their barracks, cities and farms. Based on this figure, and the evidence that they seemed to have four senior generals, I suspect that they would have organised these men into four infantry 'divisions'. There would also have been a chariot wing - the equivalent of a Bronze Age tank division! - and the aforementioned royal guard units.

The spearmen were the spine of the army though. Each was armed with a short, curved sword, a spear, a wood and leather shield and a battle-axe. Whether they wore armour or not, we cannot be sure. They would certainly have worn bronze or leather helmets, and padded tunics/robes, possibly with baked leather armour vests. The more senior soldiers and commanders might have worn bronze scale - although some sources claim the mark of an officer was to go bare chested! And all soldiers would have worn leather boots, upturned at the toes in true Hittite style.

Archers would have been dressed much like their spearmen comrades, but probably with minimal or no armour and likely without a shield too. They employed composite bows made of laminated ash, birch or cherry, with ibex horn glued to the inside of the bow.

Whether spearman or archer, a soldier could fall into one of three classes:

• Standing troops: these were the hard core of the Hittite army. Devoted, lifelong soldiers. In times of peach they would patrol the cities and put their backs into repairing crumbling walls or temples. I estimate that if there was one 'standing' regiment of 1,000 in each division, then there would have been 4,000 men in this core force.
• "Men of the weapon": These men were farmer-soldiers, trained as warriors but needed on the crop fields to keep the grain coming in. They would be called to arms when the standing army needed more muscle.
• Levy troops: These men were the last resort, barely trained or willing. When needs dictated, they would be levied, equipped with what weapons were available and told to stand straight and try not to take a spear in the eye!

​
While the Hittite army was mostly composed of native Hittites (although they were not a genetically 'pure' people by any means), they often recruited from foreign climes. Kaskans from the northern mountains, Westerners, Assyrians, captured Egyptians even - were all at times formed into fresh companies and treated as an equal part of the army. They were barracked together and even allowed to retain their dress, weapons and customs, so long as they obeyed their Hittite commanders.

​This must have been a delicate matter to handle, but they did it with aplomb, it seems. Indeed, the esprit de corps in the Hittite army as a whole seems to have been first class. In excavated tablets, we read of their enlistment ritual, where they are forced to choose between a frock and a mirror, or a sword; or of their oath of the army, where each man holds their fat-smeared hand over a fire until the fat runs off to show their strength and willingness to endure pain for one another. 

Easy one this - there were no cavalry. Well, not in the way we would think of cavalry now (i.e. armed men fighting on horseback). Horses of the Bronze Age were smaller and had not yet been bred to produce the likes of medieval destriers or modern racehorses. They could not be expected to walk with armoured soldiers on their backs for any great distance, let alone charge with such a burden during battle. Horses were ridden, but only by light scouts or messengers. In the main, they were employed in chariotry...

Crewed by a warrior and driver (until the Battle of Kadesh, when things changed) and pulled by two steeds, these thundering war-cars were blunt and brutal. A shock weapon if ever there was one. While the Egyptian chariots were all about speed and spryness, the Hittite chariots were about brute force - for carving into enemy infantry ranks like a scalpel.

​Tablets record a Hurrian by the name of Kikkuli living with the Hittites and schooling them in the art of chariotry and horse breeding. Indeed, it seems he even went swimming with the herds and experimented with grinding salt into their fodder in order to trigger growth hormones (and thus bigger horses). 

​The Hittites were not a seafaring people, mainly due to their heartlands being landlocked and the rivers of that regions being shallow and unsuitable even for serious river boating. But as they spread as a power and claimed coastal territories, it became vital to establish some sort of naval presence. It seems they did so by way of making alliances with and vassals of kingdoms which already possessed a fleet.

​One such kingdom was Ugarit (on the coast of modern Syria). The wealth of Ugarit was based on trade - their capital city being something of an international market hub - and so they maintained a strong flotilla of transport and war ships. Through Ugarit and other such arrangements, the Hittites could control the seas as they did the land.

So there's an overview of the Hittite Army. Hope you enjoyed the read. Any questions? Leave a comment below or get in touch - I'd be delighted to hear from you.

In the second half of the Late Bronze Age, four great powers dominated the international scene: The Hittites, the Egyptians, The Assyrians and the Ahhiyawans (Homer’s Greeks). Of these four, the Hittites and the Egyptians were the strongest.

​The Hittite armies were famed for their ferocity and skill, while the Egyptian 'New Kingdom' was expansionist, ambitious and fervently patriotic. The territories of these two superpowers abutted in a region known as 'Retenu' (roughly modern Syria & Lebanon). Retenu was effectively a patchwork of vassal kingdoms, answering to either the Hittite King (known as the Labarna) or the Egyptian Pharaoh. Vitally, Retenu was also arterial to the Bronze Age tin trade...

A perfect tinderbox for war, eh?

Circa 1294 BC, The newly-crowned Pharaoh Seti I is charged with ambition. He is desperate to attain military glory like his distant predecessor, Tuthmosis III. When he proclaims that all Retenu will fall to Egypt, his armies - vast and primed for conquest - explode with cries of hubris, rattling their spears and swords against their shields, 

​In contrast, the Hittite King Muwatalli II (Muwa for brevity) and his second-in-command and best general, Prince Hattusilis (Hattu), are simply not ready for war. Their hands are already full with the business of governing the Hittite heartlands. There is the neverending pressure from the rebellious Kaskans who dwell in the mountains north of their capital, Hattusa. Added to that, a complex and dangerous situation is developing on the western fringes of the empire, where Troy - an age-old and firm ally - is suffering increasingly-regular raids by the Ahhiyawan city states across the Western Sea. So this new and massive threat to Retenu presents a seemingly impossible problem. 

Seti marches north to make his name. He leads his campaign army through the Egyptian (southern) half of Retenu, crushing rebellious tribes including the Shoshu bedouins. 

When he strides on across the widely-recognised border between Egyptian and Hittite lands - probably at the River Eleutheros which separates modern Lebanon from Syria - it becomes the Bronze Age's 'Rubicon' moment, the point of no return. He goes on a rampage, seizing Hittite-allied Amurru and the city of Kadesh.

War has arrived!

Spoiler note: This section explores my speculative sequence of events from Dawn of War during Pharaoh Seti's brief absence from Retenu.

It is during this hiatus that I chose to have Prince Hattu, venture into Retenu. Given the state of the Hittite armies, I don't think he would have led a military response. Instead, I think a mission of diplomacy might have been the only viable action - a journey to rally and reaffirm alliances with the remaining Hittite vassals of the troubled region. Specifically, he would have had good reason to visit Ugarit seeking assurances of continued allegiance.

Why Ugarit? Firstly, it lay immediately north of conquered Amurru and would surely be next in line when Pharaoh inevitably resumed his conquests. Secondly, the Hittite alliance with Ugarit was a vital one. The kingdom controlled important routes in the dwindling tin trade. Tin ingots and other goods such as oil, wood, silver, waxes, honey, pottery, precious stones, grain and textiles changed hands in great volumes at this coastal market city. More, the Hittites had no real navy to speak of, and instead relied on Ugarit's fleet to serve as their watchmen of the waves. Simply put, if Ugarit fell into Egyptian hands, it would spell disaster for the Hittites.

Dawn of War follows Hattu's adventures in Ugarit and through the rest of Retenu. Throughout it all, he would have been haunted by the size and importance of his task and the limited time window in which he had to achieve it before Pharaoh Seti's return.

For when Pharaoh did return, it would meant only one thing...

​The Egyptian reliefs at Karnak tell of a clash between an Egyptian army and a patchwork/vassal Hittite army in Retenu which took place shortly after Seti's punitive attacks upon his rebellious client kingdoms in the south. I won't go into too much detail/spoilers here, but here are a few teasers about what happened.

Sounds good? Well, you can live out the adventure in Dawn of War!

Any questions? Leave a comment below or get in touch - I'd be delighted to hear from you.

In 382 AD, after 6 years of ruinous warfare between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Goths, the two powers finally struck a deal for peace. But history tells us that peace is a rare and short-lived phenomenon. As it proved, this period of accord served merely as a fermentation ground for new and world-changing conflicts. ​

But, if we can take a moment to breathe deeply and cast an eye over the empire in this trice of tranquility, what did things look like?

In 382 AD, the Roman Empire had, for the best part of a century, existed in parts. Back in 285 AD, Emperor Diocletian split the empire into Eastern and Western halves. He further split each half in two to establish 'The Tetrarchy' - a system of two senior emperors, each known as Augustus, and two junior Caesars. It was supposed to establish a closer degree of imperial control over each quadrant and set in place a clear and undisputable system of succession. in practice, imperial control varied wildly and there was lots of dispute about succession. 
​
Fast forward through civil wars, religious unrest, Constantine's reunification of the empire and its subsequent return to separate halves and finally to the end of the Gothic War... and we arrive at the picture below.

The Western Empire, ruled by Emperor Gratian, consisted of Britannia, Gaul, Hispania, Italia and Africa. While relatively stable, the westerners did have to keep a close eye on the Rhine river frontier, beyond which the many powerful Germanic tribes and confederations held sway. Worse, a strange new threat from the eastern steppes - the Huns - had catalysed the panicked westwards movement of these tribes. Previously happy to raid and retreat, the Germanic tribes were now set on breaking into the Roman Empire to stay, and to put the great rivers between them and the aggressive Hun threat. Fortunately, the Rhine frontier held good up to this point,

The Eastern Empire didn't fare quite so well. The Goths - one of the more easterly of the Germanic peoples - had been living north of the River Danube in roughly modern-day Romania and Ukraine. But the arrival of the Huns forced them to move, en-masse, across the great river and into the Roman Diocese of Thracia (highlighted sandy-yellow in the map above). The Romans were ill-prepared to handle this mass-migration, and indeed they handled it terribly, mistreating the Gothic peoples. The Goths revolted and six years of war ensued, including the Eastern Empire's most infamous reverse at the Battle of Adrianople which saw Eastern Emperor Valens slain. In the end, there was no victor, just the edgy peace deal which saw the Goths settle in Thracia with some degree of autonomy - granted in exchange for their vow to serve the new Eastern Emperor, Theododius, should he call them to arms.

So that was how things were: the Goths planted in Roman Thracia, the Huns still at large in the north, continuing to drive tribal groups towards the perceived safety of imperial lands. Meanwhile, in the East, the Sassanid Persians remained strong and ominous on the desert borders.

With all of these potential foes around the Eastern and Western Empires, you might think it would be common sense for both halves to stand together and compose a strategy to keep the ancient imperial world safe. Unfortunately, common sense seems to have been a rare commodity, for it would not be long before the two halves turned upon each other. I won't go into the specific details of this - but you can read all about them in my latest novel Legionary: Dark Eagle, which gives a soldier's-eye view of the chaos that was about to come.

But I can give you an illustration - partly speculative, but based as much as possible on historical records - of the military arsenals available to the Western and Eastern Empires.

We can see that Gratian's Western Empire retained a strong core of field legions and elite palace regiments (Auxilia Palatina), as well as a great number of cavalry troops from the African provinces to supplement the imperial cavalry schools (Scholae Palatinae).

The Eastern forces might - at a glance - appear matched in number. but if we look closely at the legionary corps, we have only patchy remnants left over from the Gothic War. After all, it is thought that some two-thirds of the eastern army was destroyed at the Battle of Adrianople alone. Ironically, the bulk of the forces available to Emperor Theodosius at this point were the Gothic tribes settled in Thracia - a populous, proven force... but how reliable?

And when it came down to it, could the Roman brothers of East and West really lift swords against one another?

The next few decades were to serve as an answer. Those years would prove be the most torrid the Roman Empire had ever endured, with world-shaping wars and ancient cities ablaze, all to the plaintive death-cry of the old gods.

Upon entering Batumi and crawling through its traffic, I also noticed a rather unusual fashion amongst the men of the city: standing around on street corners with their t-shirts rolled up from the waist, right up to the armpits! Perhaps it was because Batumi was very hot and muggy. It was also very busy and from what I could detect on the way through, the air seemed to be quite polluted.

Fortunate then, that I was not stopping here. Near Batumi's central train station, I hopped off the dolmus and into another taxi which sped me at warp speed along the highway up the Black Sea coast through fresh country air and towards a quiet little place known as Ureki Beach. I had picked this place at random as a good 'downtime' stop for a few days. Ureki Beach sports black, magnetic sand, and the perceived healing qualities of the sand make it a very popular destination for those with health problems, including bone and ​cardiovascular diseases. I checked into a very pleasant beach shack there and - after weeks of fast-paced travel - began to wind down.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time here at Ureki, reading and contemplating history, swimming in the Black Sea, eating my own body weight in 'kachapuri' (and even gloriously-filthier version of trabzon pide!) and getting far too drunk on the 2.5l bottles of beer! I was taken by the local red wines: Mukuzani and Saperavi. I did pass, however, at the offer of some home-made vodka, packaged in repurposed coke bottles. In general, the prices here were a bit of a pleasant surprise. I struggled to spend more than £5 on a full meal with drinks. Not surprisingly, English speakers were few and far between, and I made the effort to establish a little Georgian (mainly 'cheers' and 'where is the...' kind of stuff).

After a few days here, I was fully recharged, with a spare few inches on my waistline. Time to catch the cross-country train and head eastwards to Georgia's capital!

While navigating on foot to my apartment, I quickly found out just how precipitous the city streets were. I really should have packed crampons! But then something quite memorable happened. I arrived at my apartment (Jonjolly Apartments - highly recommended) and met Mariam, who was there to give me the keys. She greeted me with a warm smile and then an apology: the apartment wasn't quite ready yet - it'd be another half hour or so before they had it tidied up. I was quite happy to sit on the doorstep and read, but she insisted on taking me to sample some Georgian wine. I assumed this meant a quick taster glass in a bar across the road. But no, she drove me to her favourite wine bar in the city and proceeded to ply me with 12 wine tasters and a range of snacks and appetisers: walnut and aubergine dips, freshly toasted flatbread, hummus, cheeses, cured meats and olives. Drool!

Mariam couldn't have been more friendly or welcoming, chatting about her country's history and politics and asking about how things were in Scotland. I really enjoyed the conversation, and came to understand the strength of spirit of the Georgian people, and their sometimes fractious relationship with their giant neighbour in the north, Russia. It's always a bit daunting when you arrive in a new city for the first time, especially in a foreign country, but this was easily the most enjoyable welcome I've ever experienced. Maybe if was because of the 12 glasses of wine, but I decided then and there that Georgia was abshulutely bril-hic!-liant...

The next day I woke, dazed, confused and glad I had already mapped out my itinerary a few days previously. First up, I visited Tbilisi Museum, packed with exhibits from the dawn of man right through to recent centuries - covering the eras of Persia, Rome, Greece, the Ottomans and Seljuks. Tantalisingly, there was a special display covering ancient Georgia's  Colchis era, and the wealth of gold and in particular its proliferation of expert goldsmiths. This tied right in with my Hittite interests and potential that the Golden Fleece legend happened at the time of Empires of Bronze. The exhibits were simply breathtaking. The level of skill and creativity from so long ago really shifted my perceptions of history. More, they sowed a dragon's tooth or two in my mind, which may well spring to life in the later books of Empires of Bronze :-).

Wonderful, eh? And the views from up on the fortress were even better. Here's a video - the final video of my trip - from up on those heights:

...the Great Hittite Trail adventure was at an end.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed and/or drew some inspiration from this.

Now go... explore!

And maybe take a copy of this to read along the way? ;-)