Chariots

The Egyptians adopted the original Canaanite chariot design and adapted it to make lighter and faster vehicles. Chariots, drawn by two horses, were used for warfare, hunting, and as a means of transport for the aristocracy. Akhenaten mounted his ‘‘great chariot of fine gold when he marked out the boundaries of his new city for the god Aten at Akhetaten’’ (Breasted 1906). In battle, the New Kingdom Pharaohs and their army commanders were quick to realize the chariot’s full potential. They were used as a swift-moving firing platform, from which arrows could be poured into the enemy. They were especially effective when attacking a disorganized or routed enemy. The fast vehicles also improved communication during the confusion of battle, enabling the king to keep in contact with his commanders and the divisions of his army.

Several examples of chariots have been found in tombs and enable Egyptologists to compare the accuracy of their artistic representations with the chariots themselves. In paintings and reliefs chariots are always shown in profile and, whilst their proportions are accurate, there is one important thing that cannot be deduced from these scenes but which is apparent from the chariots themselves, namely their width. Their track (the length of the axles) is much wider than that of other ancient chariots. Also evident from surviving examples is that the chariot body is normally open at the rear. The chariot-makers created vehicles that were lightweight and flexible in construction but also strong. They used native woods such as birch and tamarisk and imported elm. Their woodworking skills are best seen in the construction of the wheels, which needed to be light and very strong and which are all just under 1 m in diameter. Earlier examples from the Eighteenth Dynasty up to the reign of Thutmose IV have four spokes, whereas the later versions have six. Some reliefs show eight-spoked wheels, although no examples of these have been found. It would appear, therefore, that there was a ‘‘trial and error’’ approach to their development. The spokes have a composite construction, each being made of two pieces of wood. U-shaped elements make up the wheel spokes; the two legs of adjacent elements, glued back to back, form one single spoke. The bottom of the U was either joined to, or formed, the wheel hub. Most of the parts of the wheel were covered in rawhide, which protected them from wear and also gave them additional strength. The wheel rim was usually made from two pieces of wood with a green rawhide strip of leather over the outer edge of the wheel. This served as a tyre, but, when the rawhide shrank it also tightened up the elements of the wheel. Grease kept the wheels freely turning and prevented wear on the joints, which in some cases were also sheathed in bronze. Linchpins inserted through the end of the axle kept the wheels in place.

The undercarriage of the chariot included a fixed axle, to which the revolving wheels were attached, and the central pole. Axles of the surviving chariots are around 2 m in length and this wide wheel-base meant that the chariots were remarkably stable, especially when turning. The poles are around 2% m long and are made of a straight-grained, artificially bent piece of wood, attached to the chariot body in a socket beneath the rear floor bar and lashed by rawhide to the front floor bar. The other end of the pole connects with the two-horse yoke, also made from artificially bent wood. Over 1 m in length, the yoke has an elegant curve which was designed to sit neatly over the necks of the horses.

The bodies of the chariots are small, being only about 1 m wide and % m front-to-back, and have a ‘‘D’’-shaped floor plan with the rear of the body being the straight side of the D. This is large enough to hold two standing adults who are depicted in many surviving reliefs. Representations of the king show him alone, although we know from textual evidence that there was also a driver. The floor was made from leather thongs, making it flexible and light and an effective shock absorber when the chariot was driven over rough ground. The positioning of the weight of the chariot body and of its occupants directly above the axle enhanced the vehicle’s stability. The sides and front of the body were made of bent wood, and the side and front rails also provided a ready, and probably necessary, hand-hold. Chariots intended for battle use had more solid sides made from wood, laminated linen or leather, often given a plaster and gilt decoration.

386 A

Robert B. Partridge

Figure 20.7a and 20.7b Profile and rear views of the chariot ofYuya. New Kingdom. Photo Quibell, Tomb ofYuaa and Thuiu.

The complex harnessing used for the horses is clearly detailed in reliefs and paintings and has been confirmed by the few fragmentary surviving examples. It is, therefore, possible to see how the horses were used with the chariot. In their brightly painted and gilded chariots, the chariot owners can have had no better way of proclaiming their wealth and status in society, in what can be described as the ‘‘Rolls-Royce’’ of the ancient world.

The first chariot to be found relatively intact was discovered at Thebes in 1829 and is now in the Archaeological Museum in Florence. The tomb of Thutmose IV in the Valley of the Kings, discovered in 1903 by Theodore Davis and Howard Carter, yielded a badly damaged chariot body, but, in 1905, also in the Royal Valley, Davis found a splendid complete chariot, heavily gilded and with leather work stained green and red, in the tomb of Yuya and Thuya, the former having been the Commander of Chariots for Amenhotep III. A total of six intact chariots came from the tomb of Tutankhamun. These had been dismantled in order to get them into the tomb, but they were well preserved, although most of the leather harnessing had decayed. Two were instantly identified by Carter as ‘‘state chariots’’ because of their splendid decoration, gold and colored inlay having been lavishly used over a backing of plaster. The remaining four were simpler in design and may have been for day-to day use and hunting. They were all real vehicles which the King used in his lifetime and which he took with him in death (Littauer & Crouwel 1985). No later examples survive, but Tutankhamun’s chariots appear to be similar to those depicted in the later battle scenes of Sety I and Ramesses II.