The Rise of the Chariot Warrior: The Vehicle of Antiquity

By Alexander Davis

Humanity’s hunger for a better tool, a more efficient

machine, a more useful weapon has never been

satiated. We have always strived to maximize the

effectiveness of the tools we have and to invent new,

more efficient machines for gaining mechanical

leverage over our environment. In early human

history, as the throwing spear reached the pinnacle of

its usefulness to early man, he began reaching out for

a new tool to get the job done better.

The bow and arrow weapon system was the natural

successor to the throwing spear of prehistory. Its

invention has been a revolution wherever it has

appeared on the planet and it has facilitated

population growth by making hunting easier.

Bows began to be used by homo-sapiens around

50,000 years ago and may have been an evolution of

spear-throwing technology. Bows may have been a

mistake; primitive fire-starting tools used by early

man resemble small bows with string attached.

Accidents around the campfire may indeed have been

the original birth of archery.

Of course, in prehistory the bow was not truly much

better than primitive spear throwers like the atlatl. Its

range was short, and its design was usually rough,

with arrows having no uniform quality. The natural

evolution of the bow was to give it more distance over

time, improvements to structures and techniques

were to be the catalyst that would give this weapon

its legendary killing power.

Added skill with a bow through long practice could

produce more shots per minute in a competent archer,

improved equipment and materials could eventually

provide added power and range to a shot. However

technological upgrades to the bow would not become

truly significant until the inventions of bow types like

the composite bow, the English long bow or the cross

bow. So what was it that made the bow such a useful

weapon?

The primary advantage in using a bow was that it

gave the archer distance between him and his target;

safety in distance and killing power at a distance.

The safety in distance was obvious; an opponent of

the archer who was not similarly armed would have

to close the distance in order to do him harm. The

time it took him to cross this distance, the archer

could potentially fire multiple arrows, each with a

chance of

stopping or

killing the

enemy.

However, as the

bow slowly

improved over

the centuries, so

too did other

military

technology like

armor. Inventions like bronze armor, chain link mail

and other defensive implements like shields provided

protection against improved bows. Infantry could

survive to cross that distance that made the archer

safe and pummel him to a bloody pulp once they got

1Shaw, Charles. Early Archers. Digital image.

Www.texasbeyondhistory.net. Graham- Applegate Rancheria, n.d.

Web.

Shaw, Charles. Early Archers. Digital image.

Www.texasbeyondhistory.net. Graham- Applegate Rancheria, n.d.

Web.

Bowmen Cave Painting. Digital image.

Http://deanebowmen.weebly.com/. Deane

Bowmen, n.d. Web.

to him. Foot archers would forever have to work in

support of melee infantry, who would in theory,

protect them from this inevitable pummeling.

Clearly the bow was not a perfect weapon; slow to

reload even for early skilled archers and lacking

significant power to always kill or incapacitate the

enemy. It had to be supplemented with thousands of

years of course by close combat infantry and this

would not change until well into the 1600’s. Its

killing power was only marginally better than the

killing power of brute strength tools of the time, such

as axes clubs and primitive swords.

So if the archer cannot improve his killing power by

upgrading his skills or his weapon, how does he

proceed? By making himself faster! The killing

power of the bow could be buffered by physical

distance; putting the archer on a vehicle. If the melee

soldier who seeks to pummel him cannot close that

crucial distance, than the advantage of the archer is

never taken away. In history this vehicle is the horse

and it is this vehicle that began to change the course

of warfare in the ancient world.

*

Beasts of burden

have been a fairly

early introduction

to human

domestication, in

comparison to our

domestication of

other plants and

animals. The first

evidence of

humans and

beasts of burden living together comes from

archeological evidence of early civilizations, which

can span thousands of years of time. Dates about

when domestication of these animals first started is

difficult to ascertain, but it is clear that we lived and

worked with animals like donkeys, mules and camels

before the domestication of other animals like horses.

The Sumerian civilization, an early civilization that

formed in 3000 B.C used chariots pulled by donkeys.

The Royal Standard, a rock wall carving that was

found in the burials of the Sumerian city of Ur depict

chariots of war alongside soldiers, and also depicts

more domestic situations of beasts of burden, pulling

carts.

The chariot must have been developed by early

civilizations of indo-Iranians, who were the first to

use light two-wheeled chariots. Use of the chariot

spread throughout the region via trade, travel,

conquest and migration.

It was not a long period

of time after the

domestication of these

smaller animals like

donkeys, that larger

animals like horses

began to join the ranks

as well. Early

archeological evidence

of horses show their

relationship to humans

via chariots, with

horses and chariots

interred in the same burial sites dating back to 2100-

1700 B.C These burial sites were of peoples of the

Eurasian steppe, around the area of modern

Kazakhstan known as the Botai peoples and it is clear

that the domestication of horses originated in this

area. It is not long after the dating of these burials that

use of horses and horse drawn transport exploded all

over the ancient world.

Though horses and other animals were well suited to

domestication, it is notable that they were not terribly

suited for riding. Early archeological evidence shows

that when these animals were first being used, it was

almost always in the context of pulling carts, chariots

or carrying the wares of their owners. This fact also

extends to the military’s of early civilizations who

The Greek Age of Bronze Chariots. Digital

image. Www.salimbeti.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

The Hyksos Rage through Egypt

Digital image. N.p., 17 Nov. 2010.

Web.

used chariots in their armies long before they made

extensive use of horseriding.

There are many theories as to why the evolution of

mounted cavalry started with the horse drawn chariot

and not with horseback warriors. It could have been a

simple evolution from horse drawn transports,

straight to horse drawn vehicles used for war.

Some explanations are that horses of this era were

weaker than they would later be bred to be, unable to

support the weight of a man and his war gear for long

periods of time. Stronger horses would eventually be

bred and horses started to consistently be mounted

roughly a millennium and a half after the emergence

of chariots.

Whatever the reason for this lack of traditional horse

riding, the chariot became the vehicle that would

carry the archer into the annals of military history.

*

One of the

most well-

known of

the ancient

kingdoms

to use

chariots

was that of

Ancient

Egypt, a

blessed empire that straddled the Nile River. It

enjoyed an ideal position on the Nile, protected by

vast stretches of empty desert and faced for the most

part with weak rivals.

But this situation would not last, in 1650 BC the

north of Egypt was slowly but surely invaded by a

conquering people known as the Hyksos. In their

invasion, the Hyksos introduced the subjugated

Egyptians to horses, chariots and Bronze Age

weaponry, of which the Egyptians had none. The

Hyksos advanced technology and weaponry ensured

that they would rule over northern Egypt for

hundreds of years.

The Composite bow was also introduced to Egypt

during the Hyksos invasion, a weapon that was first

used by the Akkadian civilization around 2200 BC.

It had a range that was two hundred yards greater

than Egyptian bows, it was smaller, lighter and more

powerful. Egyptians had never faced this weapon

before and quickly adopted it after exposure to the

Hyksos.

Chariots would have been terrifying weapons to the

Egyptians at first, and the Hyksos would control

northern Egypt for hundreds of years before they

were expelled. But by the time of Egypt’s 17th

dynasty the Pharaohs had learned their lesson. The

New Kingdom ushered in an age of the chariot; the

long Hyksos occupation was driven out and Egypt

reunified by the Egyptians new offensive and

mobile armies, headed by fast and light charioteers.

By the 18th Dynasty the Pharaohs had launched

Egypt on the path of a global power and the only

thing that could contest this powerful chariot army,

was another chariot army. When Egyptians began to

grow militarily again and use the chariot, they

became intrinsically linked to the powerful

composite bow that the Hyksos had shown them.

The fast chariots used by the Egyptians were not

simple bludgeoning tools used to smash into the

2Monaco, Rob. The Hyksos. Digital image. Podcast

History of Our World, n.d. Web.

Unknown. Assyrian War Chariot. Digital image. Ottův Slovník

Naučný, 13 Jan. 2014. Web.

enemy, but mobile firing platforms that would ride

the breadth of the enemy, harassing and breaking up

enemy formations with sustained bow fire. Archers

mounted on chariots had finally improved upon their

weapons by creating a vehicle that would speed them

away from danger.

The Hittites, one of the other civilizations to use the

chariot, contested the rule of the Ancient Egyptians at

the battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC. Hittites established

their first kingdoms with the help of the chariot in

1700 BC and thereafter had used them intensively.

The battle of Kadesh appears to have been the

greatest chariot battle ever fought in history, with

possibly over 5000 chariots taking part in the

fighting.

King Muwatalli of the Hittites had begun expanding

southwards whilst King Ramesses the 2nd of Egypt

had begun pushing northwards along the

Mediterranean coast; a conflict was inevitable. Both

empires had powerful militaries with chariots, but the

way they used those chariots differed greatly.

The Hittites used their chariots as heavy hitters;

armed with javelins and protected by armor and

shields, the heavy chariots were typically manned by

three soldiers. These were in stark contrast to the

lighter, faster Egyptian chariots that were typically

manned by two soldiers, one a driver and one an

archer.

Both combatants possessed large armies of around

20,000 soldiers and were well matched. In the initial

bout of combat, the Hittites broke the Egyptian ranks

with their fierce chariot charge and the Egyptians

routed. But the Hittites celebrated their victory too

early and began dispersing to loot the battlefield.

This allowed Ramesses to rally his fast moving

chariots, that had quickly escaped the fighting, and

counter-attack the Hittites. This counter-attack in turn

broke the already dispersed Hittites, who were then

hunted down by the far faster Egyptian chariots. The

battle was claimed a victory by Ramesses, but the

losses were heavy on both sides and peace broke out

soon after the battle between the Egyptians and

Hittites.

*

So did the chariot mounted archer change the killing

power of humans in its time? It must have; Egypt

after it adopted the chariot rocketed to a world power,

with its highly mobile offensive armies capable of

capturing massive territory. It was an unfortunate

situation that horses were not initially capable of

carrying individual riders into battle, as this limited

the archer’s options on the field, usually forcing them

to fight on the ground with regular infantry. But

where archers used the physical distance of a vehicle

like the horse or horse chariot, they ruled the

battlefield in most situations.

We must

also

realize

that the

horse

could just

as easily

be used

by close

combat

soldiers

to

influence

their own

killing power, as is clearly evidenced by the Hittites

use of heavy armoured chariots. Close combat horse

warriors would consistently negate the safety used by

The Battle of Kadesh. Digital image. Innovative

Article, 07 May 2013. Web.

Dunn, Jimmy. A Drawing of the Reliefs at the Temple of Luxor

Depicting the Battle of Kadesh. Digital image.

Http://www.touregypt.net/. Tour Egypt, n.d. Web.

the horse archer’s speed by using horses of their own

to close the distance. This is clear in the history of

ancient Egypt and it is has been a constant throughout

all the history of bows; heavy, melee oriented cavalry

would always be the bane of horse archers.

It must also be noted that infantry also became

resistant to chariots and horse attacks around this

period in history. The well documented Greek

Phalanx negated horse attacks of all kinds for

hundreds of years afterwards, iron weapons came into

common use starting in 1200 BC. It was around this

time in history that armored infantry truly began to

come into their own and they would forever be the

anathema to the bow armed warrior; generally

disdainful of archers, common melee soldiers

throughout antiquity would consistently scorn the

bow as unmanly.

And so the chariot

began to decline

slowly in the

ancient world,

starting around

500 B.C horseback

riding began to

evolve into a more

complex form,

horses became

stronger and faster

and individual

horse warriors

became more

populous.

Chariots were expensive and required skilled riders

from professional armies, individual horse riders

could be anyone from the steppe; rich nobles or poor

herders. Chariots were also prone to break down and

were not always easily used on rough terrain, whereas

the individual mounted warrior could travel through

all different types of terrain easily. In a strange

evolution, the horseback rider exceeded the horse-

drawn chariot rider in his killing power on the

battlefield.

The Scythians were one of the first forces of mounted

warriors known in history and in 700 BC they were

responsible for assaults on the Akkadian Empire.

Peoples from the Eurasian steppes, the Huns, Seljuk

Turks and Mongols were all particularly effective

mounted archers throughout history and used their

killing power to terrible effect.

For the hundreds of years of Greek and Roman

empires the legionary and the phalanx would

dominate the battlefield with their heavy armor and

superior tactics, but the bow would not be forgotten.

Indeed as tactics and equipment continued to

improve, these impressive formations would be

eclipsed with the rise of dedicated horse archers. But

the chariot had served its purpose in its time, showing

that with applied effort on the part of sophisticated

civilizations, armies could increase their mechanical

leverage over their enemies. Though their kind would

not be seen again for thousands of years with the

invention of vehicles of the modern age, the chariot

had been the blitzkrieg tank of the ancient world.

By Alexander Davis

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