The chariot has been one of the great enabling technologies of history. It came into being with the invention of the spoked wheel, which was largely enabled by the metallurgical advances of the bronze age, and it served as the primary means of transport for all civilizations from BC until quite recently in historical terms. Until motorized transport came along years ago, derivatives of the chariot were still very common.
In terms of personal transport, the era of the motorcar has lasted around years so far. The era of the chariot lasted nearly years, with a history as rich and global as the automobile.
This map shows the spread of the chariot historically over time — it is worth a ponder — apart from providing an interesting information graphic on how the chariot developed internationally, it also shows how much slower technology was adopted years ago. The chariot was absolutely ideal for the battlefield, but its advantage is not as most people think. Many popular historical films have portrayed the chariot as a type of brute force tank, used for crushing the infantry of the opposition.
Indeed, the chariot rarely engaged in direct combat, though its waist-high semi-circular shield was very useful in giving protection from axe- and sword-wielding adversaries.
The chariot-mounted, highly mobile and highly accurate archer was both a tactical weapon and one which could offer devastatingly accurate and quite considerable firepower. Many of histories most famous battles were conceded with greater numbers of soldiers but lesser numbers of chariots. Accordingly, the chariot became the principle battle strength of every military force from the Egyptians all the way through time to the Romans.
Its military value was negated through the invention of the crossbow — smaller and not requiring the stable platform demanded by the longbow, the crossbow also outranged the composite longbow.
In battle, the chariot offered a fast, manoeuvrable mobile platform for archers. It was also safer for the highly trained and hence much more valuable archers than being on foot, and it brought royalty into the contest where they could play a relatively safe and somewhat distant role in the battle with skills honed through the practice opportunities which being royal afforded them.
Historically, the spoked wheel and the chariot seem to have sprung up in several places within a short period of time, with accurate carbon dating yet to give us a definitive reading on which civilization was the first to develop the chariot.
It is most likely that the first true chariots were developed on the Eurasian steppes, along the now border of Russia and Kazakhstan , though shortly thereafter, they were popular on the plains of Mesopotamia and Anatolia.
As previously mentioned, warriors and kings were buried with their chariot. Sadly, burial also required the lives of the horses that drew the chariot, and the driver too. One wonders at the toll of humans we have squandered through sacrifice over the ages. Getting back to the point though, the adulation humanity has lavished on the automobile in the 20th century clearly has some precedents. The chariot was a gift from the gods.
The strength of an army was measured in bodies and chariots. Solomon had 1, chariots 1 Kings and chariot cities were established to store war chariots during peace time 2 Chronicles Many were stored in Jerusalem. As power could be demonstrated by amassing chariots, some impressive collections grew. Despite being the vehicle of such notable civilizations as the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, the largest chariot fleet in history most likely belonged to the Chinese who had a standing army of 10, chariots before the cross-bow outranged the composite longbow, making chariots instantaneously obsolete around BC.
The Chinese even experimented with large cross-bows mounted on chariots but eventually recognized that the age of cavalry had arrived as horses had evolved and were now sufficiently strong enough to carry an armored human. One particularly fearsome version of the chariot, the scythed chariot , where blades extend horizontally from the axle of the chariot. Introduced by the Persians as a response to fighting against the tight phalanx formations of the Greek heavy infantry sometime between BC and BC, the scythed chariot was pulled by a team of four horses and manned by a crew of up to three men - one driver and two warriors.
Theoretically the scythed chariot would plow through infantry lines, cutting enemy combatants in half or at least opening gaps in the line which could be exploited. The scythed chariot avoided this inherent problem for cavalry, by the scythe cutting into the formation, even when the horses avoided the men.
A disciplined army could diverge as the chariot approached, and then collapse quickly behind it, allowing the chariot to pass without causing many casualties. War chariots had limited military capabilities.
They were strictly an offensive weapon and were best suited against infantry in open flat country where the charioteers had room to maneuver. At a time when cavalry were without stirrups, and probably had neither spurs nor an effective saddle, though they certainly had saddle blankets, scythed chariots added weight to a cavalry attack on infantry. The balance of the Chinese chariot was much better than its European equivalent, with the harnessing better designed to enable the horses to pull with their shoulders and achieve both greater speed and better maneuverability.
Throughout recorded history, the Chinese military generally had a significant technological advantage over all of their contemporaries. We recently wrote about the remarkable Chinese war fleets of the Ming Dynasty here. The important home-coming of the victorious warrior-kings of history was almost always ceremonially performed by public parade in a chariot because it offered a mobile raised platform that could negotiate crowds and give everyone a chance to get close to the hero of the day.
The chariot was accorded a special place in history, having carried countless notable warriors in their triumph across the ages from Ramesses II to Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar. Whether it was a returning hero or a famous general entering his newly claimed territory, the winner of the battle and the war arrived by chariot, so the chariot added some impressive brand values across two thousand years of bearing the victor — winning was one of them and it carried on to create the most potent spectator sport of all time.
Any cursory glance over historical writings will find many references to chariot racing. Chariot races were often held at funeral games and on public holidays related to the relevant chariot-riding Gods. In the ancient Olympic Games, which ran from BC, the four-horse chariot race was the first and most important of all events. Chariot racing had all the hallmarks of a perfect spectator sport, and the fans and competitors it drew helped it become the most notoriously corrupt sport in history as well as the most spectacular and highest crowd-pulling form of public entertainment ever known.
Quite soon people began barracking for a particular alliance and quite soon a rivalry developed between the factions which was not always healthy. Violence was never far away and as each team attracted enthusiast supporters from all walks of life, the sport readily networked all levels of society and afforded many like-minded but socially unlikely alliances, a goodly proportion of them of doubtful intent. These events became a social occasion for every member of society, where opposing factions from any walk of life could meet, do business and inevitably settle debts and disputes.
Betting also became a massive part of the spectacle, and the Romans had organized public betting at Circus Maximus in biblical times. The tunnel had the additional advantage of offering a safe escape from the crowds for the emperor if things should ever turn ugly.
On a holiday weekend in January AD, they did, and Emperor Justinian used the tunnel to escape the baying mob, then turned a near-bloodless coup against him into a thwarted one, and the ensuing carnage lasted three days and cost 30, lives.
Byzantium, nee Constantinople nee Instanbul had been the de facto center of chariot racing for the best part of a thousand years, but nothing it witnessed in that time quite compared with the Nika riots where three days of violence saw more bloodshed than many wars. In truth, harness racing is much closer to the original sport, but when chariot racing eventually fell from favor and gave way to horse racing as the sport of the socially elite.
It remains a potent mix of commercial and political intrigue, influence and power all coming together around a race event. Everyone in an entire city would attend, from the highest of society, to the lowest. Chariot racing was invariably a free public event as it occurred on public holidays and religious festivals and it no doubt looked very enticing compared to the daily fetch and carry of ancient existence for the common man.
Under the guise of religious festivals, chariot racing became a massive commercial enterprise. On display were the fastest chariots, the best teams, the most skilled charioteers, and with the money and glory came the inevitable betting and corruption.
The best riders were feted, and became incredibly wealthy. Apart from pulling attendances of hundreds of thousands of people, it appears that chariot racing was every bit as colorful as you might expect from the first regularly staged sporting event in history. Trying to control four is hard enough; six would be stretching it. The most popular seats were at the curved end of the bullet shape of the arena, since that is where most of the crashes took place.
The chariots would break out of the starting gates at the one end. In the Circus Maximus, there were 12 starting gates, and the chariots would come out with the drivers wrapped up in leather and with their team colors on. They would do the circuit of the circus seven times, seven laps being required to complete the race.
Learn more about how Rome became so powerful. The most popular seats were at the curved end of the bullet shape of the arena since that is where most of the crashes took place. Of course, the rules were pretty minimal. You could whip and lash your opponents and try to pull them out of their chariots if that is what you wished.
These were violent spectacles, not just spectacles of skill and entertainment. After the time of Augustus, the race laps were marked with little golden dolphins that were tipped as each lap was finished. Betting was widespread, and one of the chief advantages and pleasures of going to the races would have been to bet on teams or individual drivers.
The poet Ovid gives an entertaining account of a visit to the races, where he goes not so much to look at the chariots but to look at the girls and try to pick them up as they are being jostled by the crowd.
The whole sense of his poem is about the packed nature of the crowd and excitement of the occasion, and he is trying to be Mr. Charming, the knight in shining armor to a girl who has been jostled around; ultimately it was all a ploy on his part. Learn more about where Roman slaves came from. We also hear from inscriptions of the enormous popularity of individual charioteers, who often became the superstars of their day.
By far the most famous and successful charioteer raced during the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius in the 2nd century AD. He was an immensely popular and immensely wealthy man at his death.
Another charioteer mentioned in historical sources was a young man called Scorpius, who seemed to have a great career ahead of him for the green faction when, unfortunately, he crashed into the finishing post, and his career came to a swift end at the end of the 1st century AD. Learn more about the construction of the Roman Colosseum. In the end, the emperor had to send in the troops, with the result that 7, people were killed in the ensuing chaos. The support of the charioteers for their faction was noticeable.
All kinds of underhanded stories are told of charioteers poisoning other charioteers or trying to poison their horses so they would perform poorly the next day.
The fanatical support of the mob for their individual factions is commented on again and again in the sources. We hear that in AD one charioteer from one of the factions in Thessalonica in Greece made a sexual advance on a Roman general in the area, and he was ordered to be arrested. When word got out, the supporters of his faction rioted, lynched the general concerned, broke their charioteer out of jail, and, continuing to riot, burned down the center of the city of Thessalonica.
In the end, the emperor had to send in troops, with the result that 7, people were killed in the ensuing chaos. Learn more about what Romans ate, where they lived, what their homes were like, and what they did for a living.
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