The new monarch was not slow to realise the critical state of affairs that had arisen on his eastern frontiers. Assyria, indeed, seems to have withdrawn temporarily, through internal reasons, from her efforts to obtain a footing in the Hittite lands, but the repeated incursions of the Egyptian armies, and the evident intention of the Pharaoh to regain his dominion over Syria, called forth a mighty effort on the part of Mutallu to retain the empire which his great ancestor, Subbi-luliuma, had established, if not even to extend its boundaries. The call to arms was sounded through the Hittite lands, and the response from every side showed how deeply and widely the power of the Great King had been established. Practically all parts of Asia Minor are represented in this splendid rally round the Hittite leader. United in this common enterprise, the states of the centre, like the Hatti (_Kheta_), Arinna, Pisidia, were joined by Dardanians and Mysians from the furthest portions of the peninsula, as well as by Lycians of the southern coast, and Kataonians from the anti-Taurus.[807] Northern Syria, from Carchemish to Kadesh, sent also its contingents, for the Hittite leader ‘left no people on his road. Their number was endless, nothing like it had ever been seen before. They covered the mountains and hills like grasshoppers for their number.’ The Pharaoh valiantly went out to meet this formidable enemy before it entered his own dominions, and the fateful battle was joined not far from Kadesh. The opening stages were favourable to the Hittite, who made a strategic and unforeseen onslaught on the enemy’s flank, and for a time disorganised the Egyptian forces. The Pharaoh’s position, indeed, at one moment seems to have been almost desperate, but in the issue he managed to recover his formation and claims to have pursued the Hittites from the field.[808] The Egyptian losses were so great that they were unable to follow up their advantage: even Kadesh remained unassailed, though the Hittite king had taken refuge within its walls; so that the battle must be regarded as indecisive. The moral effect, however, on both sides was sufficient. Mutallu made overtures for a truce, which the Pharaoh readily accepted,[809] and the Egyptian forces were withdrawn. [Illustration: PLATE LXXXVIII BATTLE OF KADESH: HITTITE CHARIOTRY CHARGING A HILL. Temple of Rameses II. at Abydos.]