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The scythed chariot was a modified war chariot. The blades extended horizontally for about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) to each side of the wheels. The Greek general Xenophon (430−354 BC), an eyewitness at the battle of Cunaxa, tells of them: "These had thin scythes extending at an angle from the axles and also under the driver's seat, turned toward the ground".
The "chariot" comprises the solar disk, the axle, and the wheels, and it is unclear whether the sun is depicted as the chariot or as the passenger. Nevertheless, the presence of a model of a horse-drawn vehicle on two spoked wheels in Northern Europe at such an early time is astonishing.
At the Battle of Sentinum for example, c. 295 BC, the Roman and Campanian cavalry encountered Gallic war-chariots and were routed in confusion – driven back from the Roman infantry by the unexpected appearance of the fast-moving Gallic assault. The discipline of the Roman infantry restored the line, however, and a counter-attack eventually ...
In antiquity heavy chariots with four mounted warriors with four barded horses would be developed. This chariot was a heavy construction and would sometimes be equipped with scythes on wheels. [4] The momentum of this heavy chariot was sufficient to break through enemy formations acting as heavy shock-troops. However engaging in melee was ...
Procession of two-horses chariots on a loutrophoros, c. 690 BC. The earliest reference to a chariot race in Western literature is an event in the funeral games of Patroclus in the Iliad. [4] In Homeric warfare, elite warriors were transported to the battlefield in two-horse chariots, but fought on foot; the chariot was then used for pursuit or ...
Roman military engineering was of a scale and frequency far beyond that of its contemporaries. Indeed, military engineering was in many ways endemic in Roman military culture, as demonstrated by each Roman legionary having as part of his equipment a shovel, alongside his gladius (sword) and pila (spears).
Martial, a Roman poet, refers to Scorpus twice in Book X of his Epigrams, composed between 95 and 98 AD: [1] Oh! sad misfortune! that you, Scorpus, should be cut off in the flower of your youth, and be called so prematurely to harness the dusky steeds of Pluto. The chariot-race was always shortened by your rapid driving; but O why should your ...
A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937 [8] traces the origin of the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) gauge even further back than the coalfields of northern England, pointing to the evidence of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire.