Egyptian's Ancient Chariot

EGYPTIAN’S CHARIOT

The chariot is a type of cart using animals, mostly horses to move the vehicle. Chariots were used for war as portable archery platforms and also used for hunting or racing for sport, and as a main vehicle of many ancient peoples. The original chariot was a fast, light, open, two-wheeled passage lead by two or more horses that is attached together side by side. The chariot, driven by a charioteer, was used for ancient warfare during the bronze and the iron ages. The vehicle was used for travel, in processions, games, and races after it had been set aside by other vehicles for military purposes. The chariot and horse were introduced to Egypt by the Hyksos invaders in the 16th century BC. It has been used for land transportation since then. Chariots are the key to Egyptians military success.

The Egyptian horse drawn chariot typically consisted of a light wooden semicircular framework with an open back surmounting an axle and two wheels of four or six spokes.

Some investigation of ancient chariots can tell that the Egyptians greatly made the design of this vehicle from better than the Middle East. However, while they certainly did make improvements to certain parts of the chariot, maybe it is made for different purpose. For example, the Egyptian chariot had a metal covering for the axes, which reduced friction, and this was certainly an improvement. Also, some wooden parts were strengthened by covering them with metal sleeves.

The chariot was built of pieces of wood which had been bent into the required shape possibly by immersing them in boiling hot water for several hours, bending them and then letting them dry. Various kinds of wood were used: elm, ash for the axles and sycamore for the foot board.

The Egyptians knew two types of chariots. These consisted of the four wheeled chariot which, by the late 18th and early 19th dynasties, were mostly abandoned for the superior six spoke vehicles. The six spoked wheels could be made lighter and were better supported than the heavier four spoked wheels, making the whole chariot more reliable.

The spokes of the wheels were made by bending six pieces of wood into a V-shape. These were glued together in such a way that every spoke was composed of two halves of two V-shaped pieces, forming a hexagonal star. The tips of the V's were fastened to the hub by wet cattle intestines, which hardened when they dried.

The tires were made of sections of wood, tied to the wheel with leather lashings which passed through slots in the tire sections. The thongs didn't come in contact with the ground, making the chariot more reliable by reducing the wear and tear. German carpenters who reconstructed such a chariot needed about six hundred hours to complete it.