User blog comment:MilenHD/Season 3 Finale: Ashurbanipal vs Ramesses II/@comment-17814994-20170718140048

Elgb's "Dissenting Opinionz" EDGES!!!

Short: The khopesh seems to be the sword that's got a deeper curved balde for more slashing power. Then again, the sappara is made up of iron. I know that its debatable whether or not iron is better metallurgically than bronze, but there is that fact that Ramesses got his hands handed to him at Khadesh because of his army's use of bronze against the Hithite's iron. EDGE: Ashurbanipal

Mid: Both weapons have each their own advantages and disadvantagaes. I will disagree with the others in sayig that the javelin is "useless" since it is vey effective when used against chariots (especially since Ashur is riding one). But since there are only two chariots in this battle, the battle's gonna end up mostly in infantry combat, and the spear is a far better weapon on foot. EDGE: Ashurbanipal

Long: A bit tricky, though I do believe that the composite bow's arched/semi-arched design packs more power than a simple d-shaped Hyksos bow. Add also the fact that Ashurbanipal is using iron tipped arrows against Ramses's bronze tipped bows (or worse, ivory arrows that were way weaker and ovveratedly used by "royal" people) then Ashur's got the edge. EDGE: Ashurbanipal

Mount: With the horse vs chariot debate, I'm actually siding with the chariot. People tend to forget that while horses did replaced chariots, it only happened during the eraly middle ages where anti-chariot formations and stirrups started to pop up. Chariot is no doubt faster, and has a steadeir platform than riding saddle-only horseback. EDGE: Ramses II

Deadliest Warrior?

I'm going against the tide here and vote for Ashurbanipal. In terms of weapons, I do believe that iron is more brittle than bronze, but bronze is less malleable unless forged with other elements ina careful and complex process. When built wrong, which is most of the time, bronze weapons will bend more so. I know I'm grasping straws here, but in most cases of battles in the Ancient World, iron tends to beat bronze both metallurgical and ergonomical. This is the reason how Ramses II got his ass kicked during the Battle of Kadesh ( Alexander Canduci's  The Greatest Lies in History, 2010, Metro Books, New York,  Chapter 1: The Victor's Version of the Battle of Kadesh. Page 18: "With their bronze weapons, the Egyptians stood little chance against the Hittite's superior iron weapons and three-man chariots. The Hittites ripped through Rameses's single division, which broke and fled in disorder.")

This was also one of the reason how Ashurbanipal owned most of his neigbours. But again, I know alot of you are gonna disagree, hence why I'm going with my othe reason why Ashurbanipal should win.

Truth be told, Rasmes II's military "genius" is a big fat lie. He was arrogant, impatient, and stupid. During the Battle of Kadesh, he was so greedy for glory that he took several of his troops, left his main army, and charged the Hithites hoping to hoard all the glory to himself. This kinda separated his armies to various broken factions, got most of his soldiers killed, and was only saved when the Hithites decided to just "fuck it" and leave the Egyptians to gather their butchered dead. His "military conquest" in Canaan and most of the Levant was also false, since he only raided the weaker tribes and most of the people living there drove his forces out.

Ashurbanipal was the complete opposite of this. Yeah he was brutal, but he was cunning and fought many of the superpwoers during the Ancient World at that time. His Empire stretched from North Africa, Arabia and even the Caucasius Mountain in the North. he defeated Egypt not once, but more than twice, and even subjugated and conquered that territory. Yes, Ashurbanial defeated Egypt already, and there's no way he's gonna fall against a pompous impulsive braggart like Ramses II. Ashurbanipal should be dragging Ramses's II back to his kingdom with a dog leash after this battle.