* The whole of the above description is based on incidents
     from the various pictures of battles which appear on the
     monuments of Ramses II.

Nor did the Pharaoh spare himself in the fight; his splendid dress, the urasus on his forehead, and the nodding plumes of his horses made him a mark for the blows of the enemy, and he would often find himself in positions of serious danger.  In a few hours, as a rule, the conflict would come to an end.

[Illustration:  328.jpg Ramses II.]

[Illustration:  328-text.jpg]

Once the enemy showed signs of giving way, the Egyptian chariots dashed upon them precipitously, and turned the retreat into a rout:  the pursuit was, however, never a long One; some fortress was always to be found close at hand where the remnant of the defeated host could take refuge.* The victors, moreover, would be too eager to secure the booty, and to strip the bodies of the dead, to allow time for following up the foe.

* After the battle of Megiddo, the remnants of the Syrian army took refuge in the city, where Thutmosis III. besieged them; similarly under Ramses II. the Hittite princes took refuge in Qodshu after their defeat.

The prisoners were driven along in platoons, their arms bound in strange and contorted attitudes, each under the charge of his captor; then came the chariots, arms, slaves, and provisions collected on the battle-field or in the camp, then other trophies of a kind unknown in modern warfare.  When an Egyptian killed or mortally wounded any one, he cut off, not the head, but the right hand or the phallus, and brought it to the royal scribes.  These made an accurate inventory of everything, and even Pharaoh did not disdain to be present at the registration.  The booty did not belong to the persons who obtained it, but was thrown into a common stock which was placed at the disposal of the sovereign:  one part he reserved for the gods, especially for his father Amon of Thebes, who had given him the victory; another part he kept for himself, and the remainder was distributed among his army.  Each man received a reward in proportion to his rank and services, such as male or female slaves, bracelets, necklaces, arms, vases, or a certain measured weight of gold, known as the “gold of bravery.”  A similar sharing of the spoil took place after every successful engagement:  from Pharaoh to the meanest camp-follower, every man who had contributed to the success of a campaign returned home richer than he had set out, and the profits which he derived from a war were a liberal compensation for the expenses in which it had involved him.

[Illustration:  330.jpg COUNTING OF THE HANDS]

The results of the first expedition of Thutmosis I. were of a decisive character; so much so, indeed, that he never again, it would seem, found it necessary during the remainder of his life to pass the isthmus.  Northern Syria, it is true, did not remain long under tribute, if indeed it paid any at all after the departure of the Egyptians, but the southern part of the country, feeling itself in the grip of the new master, accepted its defeat:  Gaza became the head-quarters of a garrison which secured the door of Asia for future invasion,* and Pharaoh, freed from anxiety in this quarter, gave his whole time to the consolidation of his power in Ethiopia.