![]() ![]() The hyksos princes introduced it to Egypt, and then it became common all over the Middle East. Early evidence for chariot warfare links it to the Hittite kingdom. The Hurrian princes took advantage of the general disorder: in about 1550 BC a great Hurrian kingdom called Mitanni arose in northern Mesopotamia and soon contested the domination of Syria with the Hittites.Īll these kingdoms relied upon a new military technology, the horsed chariot and the composite bow. Like earlier barbarian invaders of Mesopotamia they were quickly Akkadianized their king called himself ‘King of the Kassites’, but also ‘King of Sumer and Akkad’ and the dynasty lasted longer than any of the native dynasties of Sumer and Akkad, though next to nothing is known of its history. As a result, the enfeebled dynasty of Hammurabi vanished and was soon replaced by barbarians known as Kassites from the Iranian hills. His successor Mursilis extended Hittite rule over northern Syria, and in 1595 BC performed the most spectacular military exploit in history to that date, when he led his army all the way to Mesopotamia, sacked the great city of Babylon and carried off the statue of its god Marduk, doubtless accompanied by much booty of a secular nature. ![]() At about the same time a Hittite king called Hattusilis created a powerful state, controlling central Anatolia from his citadel at Hattusas. Amorite and Hurrian invaders, called by the Egyptians hyksos (‘foreign chieftains’), established themselves in the Nile Delta and in about 1650 BC proclaimed a new dynasty with its capital at Avaris – the first non-Egyptian dynasty in the history of Egypt. In the old centres of civilization alien conquerors took over, and new powers arose in the north. Everywhere records failed, leaving the seventeenth and much of the sixteenth century a dark age. In the late eighteenth century BC both the Egyptian Middle Kingdom and the Babylonian Empire fell apart. Attached to the sides were one or two quivers, each containing thirty or forty arrows, a bow case, and sometimes a quiver for javelins. ![]() It had two wheels, each with four (later six) spokes, and an axle placed at the very rear of the body for stability on fast turns. The frame was made of wood covered with leather. Complete chariots have been found in Egyptian tombs. They discover astonishingly advanced features, including spoked wheels, springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars, and even aconvex shaped rear mirror, leading one of them to compare the level of design to the engineering standards of 1930’s-era Buicks! By driving the pair of replicas to their limits in the desert outside Cairo, NOVA’s experts test the claim that thechariot marks a crucial turning point in ancient military history.The war chariot was made possible by two inventions, the spoked wheel and the bit. Some historians claim that the chariot launched a technological and strategic revolution, andwas the secret weapon behind Egypt’s greatest era of conquest known as the New Kingdom.Ļut was the Egyptian chariot really a revolutionary design? How decisive a roledid it play in the bloody battles of the ancient world? In BuildingPharaoh’s Chariot, a team of archaeologists, engineers, woodworkers, and horse trainers join forces to build and test two highly accurate replicas of Egyptian royal chariots. Aroundij,600 years ago, reliefs in Egyptian tombs and temples depict pharaohs and warriors proudly riding into battle on horse-drawn chariots. ![]()
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