canopy chariot

8/9/2019 Canopy Chariot

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CHARIOT

occupant, Rameses II., drawing the bow, while the reinsof his two horses are tied around his middle. Indeed,one of the most striking features in these vivld scenes ofcombat, is the multiplicity of functions discharged bythe chariot rider. Th e accompanying figure (fig. 3)exhibits an archer in the act of

drawing his bow with the righthand. A whip consisting of astick handle with leather thong

CHARIOT

and in a slanting position as in the Egyptian examples.We notice, in one case depicted in Ah-nasir-palsobelisk, an attendant on foot bearing a shield, andholding the reins. This meets us again on one of themonuments ofTiglath-pileser 111.

Vivid representations of the chariots of this periodmay be found in the reliefs of the Nimrud gallery inthe British Museum. One excellent example, reproducedin the accompanying figure (fig. 5) , is borrowed from a

and consisted of a wooden- framework, sometimesstrengthened and ornamented with metal and leatherbinding. The flat bottom was formed of a kind ofnetwork, consisting of interlaced thongs or rope, whichgave it elasticity and mitigated the jolting (Wilkinson).

The occupants of a chariot nearly always stood.. In

rare instances the car was provided with a seat in whichthe royal personage sat. Th e furniture consisted of abow-case, which was placed in a slanting positionpointing forwards, and was often ornamented with thefigure ofa lion. There were also receptacles for arrowsand spears, which, asa general rule, slantedbackwards (see fig. 4).

The diameter of thewheel was a little overthree feet. The felloewas in six pieces and thetire was fastened toit bybands of hide passingthrough long narrowholes. Theyoke,restinguponasmall well-paddedsaddle wasfirmly fittedinto agroove of metal :and the saddle, placedupon the horses withersand furnished with girth;and a hreastband was

surmounted by auorna-mental knob; and infront of it a small booksecured the bearing rein.The other reins passedthrough a thong or ringat the side of the saddle.

FIG. 4.-Egyptian chariot with how-and arrow-cases (Thebes). AfterWilkinson.

and thence over the pro:jectingextremity ofthe yoke and the same thong secured thegirths. Further details may6efound in Sir Ganlner Wilkinsonsexhaustive work, from which the above description has beenborrowed.

Th e chariots of the Assyrians were of stohter andmore solid construction than those of the Egypti ans,

7.Assyrianchariots: in9th cent.

since the former were intended to sustainthe wear and tear of rough and ruggedpaths in distant campaigns. Thus weoften find that the tires and felloes of the

wheels amounted together to as much as eight or teninches in thickness. In the early part of the ninth centuryB.C. we find chariots of this description employed byASur-n%Sir-pal. Upon the obelisk of this monarch we findthe archer standing on the right hand and the driver onthe left, and these are their respective positions in nearlyall the examples depicted on the Assyrian monuments.We observe, moreover, in all the portrayals belongingto the ninth century and the early part of the eighth,that the two receptacles for arrows are placed on theright side, and are disposed crosswise over one another,

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hunting-scene in which the monarch ASnr-nBSir-pal isengaged. Note that we have here, as in many otherinstances of this period, three horses-a contrast withEgyptian usage, inwhich the number never exceeded two.Th e pole of the chariot is fixed to the base of the body,to the upper part of which is fastened, on the left, a large

heavy shaft attached to rings upon the shoulder-piecesof the central as well as the outer horse on the left side.The rein on the right-hand steed passes through a ringon his shoulder, and is attached to the bit. Th euse of bits with ancient Egyptian, as well asAssyrian, war-horses can admit of no doubt. As inother examples, the two receptacles for arrows crosseach other slantwise on the right side of the chariot-for that was obviously the side on which the archermost conveniently stood, thus preserving his right handand side unencumbered by his companion in the useof the bow. A battle-axe stands among the arrows inone receptacle, whilst an extra bow is inserted amongthose in the other. We notice in this example, as inall others portrayed on the monuments of this period,that the axle of the wheel, as in the Egyptian chariot,is placed under the hindermost extremity of the bodyof the vehicle, in order to ensure more steadiness ; con-sequently part of the weight of the chariot and its occu -pants rested on the horses. In another specimen onthe reliefs of this period we again observe three steedsharnessed to the chariot, while in this case the driverholds a whip. Near the front of the chariot, betweenthe two occupants, rises a pole surmounted by a sym-bolic device, from which hang ornamented tassels. Inother examples a spear may be seen in the receptaclethat slopes backwards. Often the horses are richlyornamented with crests, sometimes with a neclclace2orcollar. Leather straps pass beneath and in front ofthe animal. We find tassels hanging down apparentlyfrom a metal boss on its side. Otherwise the animalis unprotected.

Among the reliefs of Tiglath-pileser 111. we observea state-chariot with two horses and three occupants.There is no archer. The king stands on the right andthe driver on the left. Th e driver has three reins in each

1 Weiss (in Kostiimkunde under the head of Assyrian chariots)describes this as merely a broad strip of cloth or leather, bu tconfesses that it is obscure as to its natnre or purpose. The

present writers personal inspection of numerous examples inthe Nimrud gallery leads him to regard it as much more solidin structure, and as probably intended to yoke the third steedto the other two horses. When a third horse ceased to be yokedto the chariot, at the close of the eighth cent., this large andheavy shaft no longer encumbered the Assyrian chanot.2 Not improbably this contained amulets or charms, like the

crescents on the camels necks in Judg. 821. See Whitehouse,Primer of Hedrew Antigui ties, 5of: and footnote.728


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canopy chariot

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