Image Details

Drawing of scene 1 on the lower right side of the Peace Treaty, on the Karnak wall, depicting the seige of Ashkelon. Men and women on top of the fortified city’s crenelated walls—seen on the first complete block from the left on the second course from the top—seem to be appealing to heaven. Meanwhile, children are being lowered (or perhaps dropped as a sacrifice) from the tower on each side. Below them, an Egyptian soldier climbs the wall on a ladder as the battle rages before the city gate. Pharaoh and his chariot team, drawn on a larger scale to reflect pharaoh’s importance, appear on the right side of the scene; this balance between the besieged city on the left and the large pharaoh on the right is an artistic convention that is also used in scenes 2 and 3. The hieroglyphic text, to the right of the ramparts, identifies the city in this scene as Ashkelon. The two intact rectangular blocks in the top course bear the lower portion of the scene with the Israelites.