Chariot

Chariot, in ancient times a kind of carriage upon two wheels used both in peace and in war. The Roman form, the currus, was entered from behind, was closed in front and uncovered. It was drawn by two, three, or four horses, and carried either one or two persons, both standing. The word biga is often applied to a two-horse chariot for battle or for racing; triga was a name for a chariot drawn by three horses yoked abreast, of which two drew from the pole; while the quadriga was drawn by four horses abreast, the two centre ones (jugales) only yoked, the two outside ones (funales) being attached by ropes. The last was a form common in the racing chariot of the circus, and in processions. The currus triumphalis, in which the Roman generals rode during their triumphal entrance into the city, was a chariot of particular form, being quite round and without any side open, while its panels were richly decorated with carvings in ivory. The Roman writers speak of the use among the Britons and some other foreign nations of war-chariots carrying iron blades or scythes fixed to the end of the pole and axle-tree. The war-chariot of the Homeric heroes (harma) was somewhat lighter than the Roman currus, being partly formed of open rail-work instead of paneling. The oldest war-chariots of which we read are those of Pharaoh (Exodus, xiv. 7). All the eastern nations used them, and many Assyrian tablets represent heroes, such as Sennacherib or Esarhaddon, riding in triumph at the head of their armies in chariots much heavier but otherwise not unlike the Roman forms of chariots with which we are familiar. Two fine four-wheeled chariots with rich ornamentation in bronze-work were dug up by Dr Petersen in a peat-bog in Jutland in 1881 and 1883, and dated by him a hundred years before Christ. See ASSYRIA.