The war chariot in ancient Egypt
The chariot or the wheel of the Egyptian war was the fighting backbone of the ancient Egyptian army during the era of the modern kingdom, also known as the era of the Egyptian empire.
The war chariot consists of wood, then a textile layer, followed by a decorative layer of gold foil and inlays.
The appearance of the chariot in the ancient Near East and Egypt goes back to the middle of the second millennium BC, and the Hyksos were the first to use the chariot and horse in their war with the Egyptians. After that, the Egyptians borrowed this striking weapon from their enemy. The chariots appeared for the first time as part of the armament within the Egyptian army during the era of the two kings Kamus and Ahmose the First with the end of the second transition era and the beginning of the modern state era when these two kings were fighting in the midst of the liberation war against the Hyksos.
The Egyptian war chariot is the culmination of the Egyptian military development and the truest example of the technical superiority of the ancient Egyptians and their ability to develop creatively, and one of the most important reasons behind the Egyptian military supremacy in the era of the modern state and the establishment of the Egyptian empire in the ancient Near East during that era.
The design of war chariots in ancient Egypt … The war scenes of the Battle of Kadesh, which the Egyptian army fought under the leadership of King (Ramses II) in the fifth year of his reign against the Hittites, showed how the Egyptian war chariots were light in weight and size. Their crew consisted of two individuals, one of whom was the driver carrying a defensive shield. The second was the fighter, one of the archers’ forces armed with the compound bow, armed with close combat weapons such as the scythe, daggers and spears, while the Hittite war chariots were heavy their crew consisted of three.
The Egyptian war texts indicate that the number of war vehicles used in the battles was large, and (Ramses II) mentioned in his war texts about the Battle of Kadesh that the Hittites used between 2,500 and 3,000 war vehicles.
Egyptian war chariots frequently appeared on Egyptian antiquities during the New Kingdom era and were depicted on the walls of temples in war scenes and scenes of individual graves in Thebes, in which scenes of daily life were recorded.
“Wright” was the most common word used to express the Egyptian war chariot in Egyptian texts, which was mentioned through the texts of the commander (Ahmose ibn Ibana) about the events of the war of liberation against the Hyksos, which continued during the era of the modern state and the subsequent historical periods. It also has “compound”, a lofty term popularized in Egyptian texts during the modern state era.
The war wheels were mentioned for the first time in Egyptian texts through the second (CAMS) painting, which talks about this king’s struggle with the Hyksos invaders during the events of the Liberation War, where they were mentioned as belonging to the Hyksos. Then they were mentioned as part of the Egyptian army’s arsenal in biographical texts. The commander (Ahmose ibn Ibana) recorded on the walls of his tomb in the Cape, where he mentioned that he was following a chariot (King Ahmose the First) on his feet during the siege Hyksos capital Awards.
The first appearance of the Egyptian chariot in the scenes of Egyptian cemeteries was through the Renni cemetery in the Cape (to hab), which dates back to the era of (King Amenhotep the First). After that, the mention and depiction of war chariots began to abound in Egyptian war texts and scenes.
The portrayal of the pharaoh during the era of the modern state while attacking his enemies in his war chariot was the most prominent and famous artistic and historical model on the walls of Egyptian temples during that era, and it became a vivid expression of the war heroics and military victories of the warrior kings of Egypt.
Chariots of the golden king Tutankhamun
6 of the Golden King chariots were found in his famous royal tomb in Thebes (No. 62), the only royal cemetery that has reached us completely after its discovery by the English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. These chariots are considered the largest and most important examples of the Egyptian war chariots that arrived at us on Launch from its discovery until now.
Horemheb was the actual military leader of the Egyptian army during the reign of King Tutankhamun, as he was leading the Egyptian military campaigns during the reign of Tutankhamun, as it was not proven that he led the Egyptian army himself due to his young age, in fact, to assume the throne at the age of nine, and his death at the age of 18 years old.
But it is possible that Tutankhamun used these war chariots on royal occasions and ceremonies or in military training. It is also possible that he inherited these war chariots from his great warrior ancestors. Despite the presence of some combat war scenes specific to Tutankhamun, scholars suggest that these scenes are merely symbolic views only to resemble his great warrior ancestors nothing more.
The war wheels are just a means of warfare but have turned into transportation and entertainment in the high social classes. By the year 1000 BC, war wheels were a sign of social class, as the upper classes used them in hunting and hiking, and Tutankhamun’s wheels himself were of this quality, as they were used in hunting trips.
On the walls of tombs and temples, the image of the king riding the wheel of war has become a common image. Multiple murals of tombs and temples depict this scene to the extent that it is a distinctive image of Egyptian civilization.