EGYPTIAN CHARIOT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- under the pharaohs the chariot (wereret or merkebet, a Canaanite loan word) was a formidable weapon. Lightweight, manoeuvrable and stable, it was drawn by two stallions. On the basis of surviving yokes it appears that the average height of a chariot team was around 13.2 hands. The crew comprised a charioteer-cum-shield-bearer and a lightly armoured warrior equipped with a composite bow, short spears and a hefty sidearm of bronze, the khopesh. Beginnings ‘I will take over chariotry’ was the boast of the Theban pharaoh, Kamose(r.1555-155- BC), as he set out to break the rule of Hyksos king, Apepi(pritchard 1969: 554), However, it was left to his younger brother and the founder of Dynasty ⅩⅤⅢ, Ahmose, to complete the expusione of the Hyksos and thus launch what we know as the New kingdom period of Egyptian history. Yet Kamose, braggart though he may have been, was shrewd enough to see the potential advantages of incorporathing the chariot into an army based exclusively on the unarmoured foot-warrior. Introduced into Egypt by Hyksos (The Greek rendering of the Egyptian term heka khaswt, ‘rulers of foreign lands’), the horse-drawn chariot had played an important part in the task of reducing Lower Egypt to vassaldom. As a result of the successful struggle against the Hyksos, Ahmose and his successors, particularlt the warrior-pharaohs Thutmose Ⅲ(r.1479-1425 BC) and Rameses Ⅱ(r.1279-1213 BC), were able to forge an elite chariot corps, the primary striking arm of an army that was to spearhead Egyptian expansion into Retennu (rtnw, the Egyptian term for Syria-Palestine) and Nubia. Develpment prior to Thutmose Ⅳ(r.1400-1390 BC), Egyptian chariots were of lightweight design - witness the chariot being manhandled by a Syrian tribute bearer in a wall painthing from the tomb of Rekhmira at Thebes (TT100) - having evolved little from those of their Hyksos and Canaanite mentors. By the end of his reign Egyptan chariots had assumed a more native style, with various types of imported hardwood, chosen for their qualities of strength and flexibility, being employed in their construction. By Dynasty ⅪⅩthe chariot had reached a peak of efficiency. This is evident from a relief in the mortuary temple of Rameses Ⅱ, the Ramesseum, which portrays the warrior-pharaoh charging through the Hittites, his bow at the draw. His chariot has six-spoked wheels and its cab is generally heavier and more robust. With the axle set at the very rear of the body, the vehicle has optimum manoeuvrability and stability. Besides the bow-case, two extra weapon cases, both with arrows and two short spears, have increased the firepower. Each horse is wearing barding in the form of a textile trapper reinforced wiht bronze scales. Construction The cab of an early Dynasty Ⅻ chariot from Thebes is 1m wide, 50cm deep and 75cm high (Museo Archeologico, Florence). The axle is 1.5m wide and the four-spoked wheels are 80cm in diameter. The only provision for weaponry was the bow-case attached to the cab. while comparable in design, the cab of Tutankhamun’s chariot A1 is heavier and more robust, and measures Im in width and 1.25m in height (Egyptian Museum, Cairo JE61990). The axle is 1.75m wide and the six-spoked wheels are 90cm in diameter. Extra weapon cases were to be added under Seti I (r.1294-1279 BC). The cab was a steam-bent frame of ash or elm coverd with ox-hide. To increase lightness the cover was only stretched over the front of the cab, leaving a large ‘fenestration’ at each side. The cab was fully open at the rear and wide enough to allow the two-man crew to stand side by side. The floor was D-shaped in plan and constructed out of rawhide thongs that passed through slots cut in the floor frame; they were interwoven to provide a flexble and strong surface that acted as a form of suspension in an otherwise unsprung vehicle. The chariot gad a simple sub-frame with a single, heat-bent draught pole, usually of elm and some 2.5m in length, sandwiched between the rear-mounted axle and the two grooved mounthings that connected the axle to the sides of the sides of the floor frame. The draught pole thus ran beneath the centry of the floor, being secured by rawhide thongs to the front of the floor frame, before curving upwards to support a yoke, usually of willow. Cut from elm (felloes, hub), ash (felly-bands) and almond or plum(spokes), the wheels were large and six-spoked. The spoked were composed of six steam-bent pieces of wood that were formed into a V-shape. These were then glued together in such a way that every spoke was composed of two V-shaped pieces, each V-tip being fastened to the hub by wet cattle intestines, which hardened as they dried. The rim was formed of four felloes bound to four felly-bands by strips of birch-bark-covered rawhide. A bronze wire passed through holes in the felloe and then wound around the felly-band for added security. At the same time, the wire held the butt ends of the felloes toghther. Rawhide tyres were shrunk over the wheels to stabilize the composite construction. Each wheel was attached to the axle by a small-lynch pin and secured by a thong that passed through the lower end. Fashioned from ash or tamarind and covered with birch-bark, the axle was set as far back as possible to balance the vehicle and ot improve speed and manoeuvrability. Being much longer than the width of the cab, the resulthing wide wheel track gave the vehicle greater stability on sharp turns and provided good shock absorption. 이거 어떻게 번역해야댐??
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:53:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015