Are you a Hittite king?

Your job is to pick one of the three and write a 3-5-pagepaper on it.Imagine that this essay is, in fact, your version of an RPG—a role-playing game. Be fictional, be creative.Step into the shoes of the character the topic asks you to be: are you a Hittite king? A Macedoniangeneral? An Anglo-Saxon warrior? Think about what you know about the period and consider what thetopic asks you to do, do some good research, then write.To help yourself, use: your lecture notes, the textbook, the library, and the internet—and, of course,your imagination!Our rough guidelines for such essays are the following:1. a C (passing—but we know that you can do better) essay—presents the basic facts in an organizedfashion—but that’s all2. a B (better—but we know that you can do better) essay—begins with the basic facts, but attempts toturn the essay into a kind of short story, using at least material from lecture and textbook, in which yougive your character/characters a little life3. an A (and that’s what we want you all to work towards!) essay—shows a combination of moreextensive research (you’ve really spent some time on this) plus a detailed attempt to bring this topic tolife—remember what we said about an RPG. Make us believe who you are and what you know andtease us to want to read on! Artwork and maps are optional, but always encouraged.(We do not expect you to be Charles Dickens or Stephen King, but what we are looking for is acombination of research and creativity to present a lively picture to your reader.)1. (1274BC)You are Mursilis VII, king of the Hittites and you want Kadesh, a city on the border of the EgyptianEmpire—the Egyptians say—but really within the area of Hittite domination, as every right-thinkingperson (that is, Hittite) knows. Diplomatic efforts have failed, possibly because the present pharaoh’sfather had once, briefly, captured the city years ago and the Egyptians think that they still own the place.In his last note to Mursilis’ government, the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II, suggested that the Hittitesshould go back to oppressing the Mitanni and leave Kadesh to him—or else. Having gathered an army of40,000 infantry and 2500 chariots, you have marched south and are now camped out of sight on the farside of Kadesh itself. Your spies in Egypt have informed you that Ramesses has prepared an army andnow scouts (disguised as local Bedu) have reported that that army is now approaching the city. Yoursecretary has spread out a deerskin with all of the details painted on it: your camp, the city, the riverOrontes, and the route by which the Egyptians are marching towards Kadesh. Summoning yourgenerals, you make a speech in which you lay out your plan of attack. The Egyptians are good soldierswith about 2000 chariots, but you have more chariots and your infantry outnumbers theirs 2 to 1. Howwill you beat them?2. (335BC)“The Persians have soldiers—lots of them,” Parmion shouted to his troops. “Everything from nobleswhose clothes cost more than their horses down to naked men from burning hot lands whose onlyweapon is a pointy stick. So they outnumber us—that’s the truth. But we Macedonians have twoweapons which are better than lots of troops. We have discipline and brains! And tomorrow, we’ll usethose two weapons to send their hordes with their fancy perfumed robes and silly sticks back toEcbatana or whatever other Zeus-cursed place they came from!”While his soldiers cheered, Parmion went back to his tent, where his attendants helped him change intosomething cooler and poured him a drink of chilled wine.“That was a good speech, Parmion,” said his lieutenant, Androcles, “but what have all those brains ofyours come up with to beat those long lines of perfumed horses and sticks?”Years later, as he was writing his memoirs, Parmion remembered that speech and Androcles’ question,seeing in his mind’s eye the ranks of Persian infantry across the plain, their flanks covered by masses ofcavalry. And that’s all the whole Persian army was: masses. Not a bit of discipline, just crowds withspears and swords. Across from them stood his smaller army: three blocks of infantry with theirtowering sarissas; ready to move in front of them, teams of slingers and archers; and his own cavalry,lightly-armed Thessalians on his left flank, his own bodyguard of Macedonian heavy cavalry on the right.All of them trained, tough, experienced. He had been telling his soldiers the truth: they wereoutnumbered, but he had also been telling them the truth when he said that they had discipline—andhe had hoped that he had the brains…You are Parmion, a Macedonian general who led the original expedition into the Persian empire justafter Philip’s death in 336BC. Now you are happily sitting in retirement under an olive tree at home inMacedon. As you set down this period in your life, describe the mo