Editing Chariot (section)

== Introduction in the Near East ==
Chariots were introduced in the Near East in the 17(18)th–16th centuries BC.{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=321}} Some scholars argue that the horse chariot was most likely a product of the ancient Near East early in the 2nd millennium BC.{{sfn|Raulwing|2000}} Archaeologist Joost Crouwel writes that "Chariots were not sudden inventions, but developed out of earlier vehicles that were mounted on disk or cross-bar wheels. This development can best be traced in the Near East, where spoke-wheeled and horse-drawn chariots are first attested in the earlier part of the second millennium BC..." and were illustrated on a Syrian cylinder seal dated to either the 18th or 17th century BC.<ref name="Crouwel">{{cite book|author1=Joost Crouwel|title=Chasing Chariots: Proceedings of the First International Chariot Conference (Cairo 2012)|date=2013|publisher=Sidestone Press|isbn=978-9088902093|editor1-last=Veldmeijer|editor1-first=Andre J.|page=74|chapter=Studying the Six Chariots from the Tomb of Tutankhamun – An Update|editor2-last=Ikram|editor2-first=Salima}}</ref>

===Early wheeled vehicles in the Near East===
[[File:Denis Bourez - British Museum, London (8747049029) (2).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Standard of Ur]] in southern Mesopotamia, {{circa|2500 BCE}}, depicting solid four wheeled, [[Kunga (equid)|Kunga]] drawn, war vehicles.]]
According to [[Christoph Baumer]], the earliest discoveries of wheels in Mesopotamia come from the first half of the third millennium BC – more than half a millennium later than the first finds from the Kuban region. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, some intriguing early pictograms of a sled that rests on wooden rollers or wheels have been found. They date from about the same time as the early wheel discoveries in Europe and may indicate knowledge of the wheel.<ref name="asianreviewofbooks.com">Christoph Baumer, [http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/pages/?ID=1478 ''The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors''.] I.B. Tauris, 2012 {{ISBN|1780760604}} p. 90</ref>

The earliest depiction of vehicles in the context of warfare is on the [[Standard of Ur]] in southern Mesopotamia, {{circa|2500 BCE}}. These are more properly called [[wagon]]s which were double-axled and pulled by oxen or a [[equid hybrid|hybrid]] of a [[donkey]] and a female [[onager]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC&pg=PA134|title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians|year=2007|page=134| publisher=BRILL |isbn = 9789004160545}}</ref> named [[Kunga (equid)|Kunga]] in the city of [[Tell Brak#Kingdom of Nagar|Nagar]] which was famous for breeding them.<ref name="kunga1">{{cite book|author=Paolo Matthiae, Nicoló Marchetti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaZg0ypYrnQC&pg=PA436|title=Ebla and its Landscape: Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East|year=2013|page=436| publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn = 9781611322286}}</ref> The hybrids were used by the [[Ebla#First kingdom|Eblaite]],<ref name="kunga1" /> [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|early Sumerian]], [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] and [[Ur III]] armies.{{sfn|Anthony|2010|p=403}} The seal depicts a line of vehicles, each carrying a standing charioteer (driver), accompanied by a standing axe or spearman, with a rack of three to four spare spears, driving over a smattering of dead bodies. Such heavy wagons, borne on solid wooden wheels and covered with skins, may have been part of the baggage train (e.g., during royal funeral processions) rather than vehicles of battle in themselves.{{according to whom|date=December 2024}}

The Sumerians had a lighter, two-wheeled type of [[cart]], pulled by four [[Donkey|asses]], and with solid wheels. The spoked wheel did not appear in Mesopotamia until the mid second millennium BC.<ref name="HA_(2015)">{{cite web|url=http://subscriptions.teachtci.com/shared/sections/6398?program_id=13|title=History Alive! The Ancient World: Lesson 5 – Ancient Sumer, Section 8 – Technology|website=learntci.com|publisher=History Alive|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref>

===Egypt===
{{Main|Chariotry in ancient Egypt}}
[[File:Ramsés II en Qadesh, relieve de Abu Simbel.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ramses II]] fighting from a chariot at the [[Battle of Kadesh]] with two archers, one with the reins tied around the waist to free both hands (relief from [[Abu Simbel]], 13th century BC)]]

Chariot use made its way into [[History of Egypt|Egypt]] around 1650 BC during the [[Hyksos]] invasion of Egypt and establishment of the [[Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourteenth Dynasty]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1659 BC the Indo-European [[Hittites]] sacked [[Babylon]], which demonstrated the superiority of chariots in antiquity.<ref name=":1" />

The chariot and horse were used extensively in [[Egypt]] by the [[Hyksos]] invaders from the 16th century BC onwards, though discoveries announced in 2013 potentially place the earliest chariot use as early as Egypt's [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] ({{circa|2686}}–2181 BC).<ref>{{cite web |first=Nevine |last=El-Aref |title=Old Kingdom leather fragments reveal how ancient Egyptians built their chariots |work=English Ahra |date=22 April 2013 |url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/69897/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Old%20Kingdom-leather-fragments-reveal-how-ancient-E.aspx }}</ref> In the remains of [[Art of ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] and [[Assyria]]n art, there are numerous representations of chariots, which display rich ornamentation. The chariots of the Egyptians and Assyrians, with whom the bow was the principal arm of attack, were richly mounted with quivers full of arrows. The Egyptians invented the yoke saddle for their chariot horses in {{circa|1500 BC}}. As a general rule, the Egyptians used chariots as mobile archery platforms; chariots always had two men, with the driver steering the chariot with his reins while the main archer aimed his bow and arrow at any targets within range. The best preserved examples of Egyptian chariots are the four specimens from the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]]. Chariots can be pulled by two or more horses.

===Ancient Canaan and Israel===
{{See also|Merkabah}}

Chariots are frequently mentioned in the Hebrew [[Tanakh]] and the [[Greek Old Testament]], respectively, particularly by the prophets, as instruments of war or as symbols of power or glory. First mentioned in the story of [[Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph]] ([[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 50:9), "Iron chariots" are mentioned also in [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] (17:16, 18) and [[Book of Judges|Judges]] (1:19,4:3, 13) as weapons of the [[Canaan]]ites and [[Israelites]]. [[Books of Samuel|1 Samuel]] 13:5 mentions chariots of the [[Philistines]], who are sometimes identified with the [[Sea Peoples]] or [[Mycenaean Greece|early Greeks]].

Examples from [[Jewish English Bible translations#New JPS .281985.29|The Jewish Study Bible]]<ref name="TJSB">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT7 The Jewish Study Bible]'' (2014, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-997846-5}})</ref> of the [[Tanakh]] (''Jewish Bible'') include:

*[[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 2:7 ''Their land is full of silver and gold, there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, there is no limit to their chariots.''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "Criticism of the nation's sins: magic, amassing extraordinary amounts of wealth, pursuing military power, and idolatry. All these vices embody inappropriate confidence in humanity's own powers. This confidence is not only mistaken, but offensive to God."; TJSB 2014, p. 771}}
*[[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] 4:13 ''Lo, he'' <small>[I.e., the invader of v. 7.]</small> ''ascends like clouds, his chariots are like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, we are ruined!''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "A second passage on the enemy's approach, this time using weather images (''clouds'' and ''whirlwind'') and fauna (''horses'' and ''eagles'', see [[Habakkuk|Hab.]] 1:8)"; TJSB 2014, p. 917}}
*[[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] 26:10 ''From the cloud raised by his horses dust shall cover you; from the clatter of horsemen and wheels and chariots, your walls shall shake−when he enters your gates as men enter a breached city.''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "[[Nebuchadrezzar]] conquered [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] using cavalry and chariots surrounding the city and embankments placed against the city walls (...) the city was sacked and covered with water (...) In contrast, Ezekiel's description presupposes the tactics and weapons of land war, which were useless against an island state."; TJSB 2014, p. 1079}}
*[[Psalms]] 20:8 ''They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses, but we call on the name of the [[YHWH|L<small>ORD</small>]] our [[Elohim|God]].''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "The strength of [[divine Presence]] over military might is a central biblical theme."; TJSB 2014, p. 1289}}
*[[Song of Songs]] 1:9 ''I have likened you, my darling, to a mare in Pharaoh's chariots''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "Throughout the Song, the lovers use comparison to praise one another's beauty and charm. ''Mare in Pharaoh's chariots,'' either an image of adorned majesty (...) or a reference to an ancient battle strategy in which a mare was let loose among cavalry to distract the stallions."; TJSB 2014, p. 1562.}}

Examples from the [[King James Version]] of the [[Christian Bible]] include:
*{{sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=2 Chronicles|chapter=1|verse=14}} ''And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.''
*{{sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Judges|chapter=1|verse=19}} ''And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.''{{refn|group=note|TJSB commentary: "Only in the case of [[Judah (biblical person)|Judah]] is there a justification for non-dispossessing."; TJSB 2014, p. 499}}
*[[Book of Acts|Acts]] 8:37–38 ''Then [[Philip the Evangelist|Philip]] said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that [[Jesus]] [[Christ]] is the [[Son of God]]." So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the [[eunuch]] went down into the water, and he baptized him.''

Small domestic horses may have been present in the northern Negev before 3000 BC.<ref>Thomas E. Levy, David Alon, Yorke Rowan, Edwin C. M. van den Brink, Caroline Grigson, Augustin Holl, Patricia Smith, Paul Goldberg, Alan J. Witten, Eric Kansa, John Moreno, Yuval Yekutieli, Naomi Porat, Jonathan Golden, Leslie Dawson, and Morag Kersel, "Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction at Nahal Tillah, Israel (ca. 4500–3000 B.C.E.): An Interim Report on the 1994–1995 Excavations", Bulletin of the  American Schools of Oriental Research, 307/August 1997, pp. 1–51</ref> [[Jezreel (city)]] has been identified as the chariot base of King [[Ahab]].<ref name="Ussishkin">David Ussishkin, "Jezreel{{snd}}Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs", ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', July / August 2010.</ref> And a decorated bronze tablet thought to be the head of a [[lynchpin]] of a Canaanite chariot was found at a site that may be [[Sisera]]'s fortress [[Harosheth Haggoyim]].<ref name="Haifa">[http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=3309 "Archaeological mystery solved"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705114906/http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=3309|date=2010-07-05}}, University of Haifa press release, July 1, 2010.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Long time archaeological riddle solved |url=https://www.jpost.com/christian-in-israel/features/long-time-archaeological-riddle-solved |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |date=2 July 2010 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Urartu ===
In [[Urartu]] (860–590 BC), the chariot was used by both the nobility and the military. In Erebuni ([[Yerevan]]), King Argishti of Urartu is depicted riding on a chariot which is pulled by two horses. The chariot has two wheels and each wheel has about eight spokes. This type of chariot was used around 800 BC.