Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 227 



chariot being of Libyan, rather than Asiatic origin, a con- 

 clusion supported by the fact that it has (like the chariots seen 

 on some Egyptian monuments and on the grave-stones of 

 Mycenae, p. 108) four-spoked wheels instead of wheels of six and 

 eight spokes, such as are seen on Hittite, Assyrian, and some 

 Egyptian monuments, and such as the eight-spoked chariots 

 of the Homeric Acheans in the early Iron Age. Moreover, the 

 fact that the yoke was originally covered with morocco, for the 

 manufacture of which the Libyans had long been famous in the 

 fifth century B.C. 1 , also points to a Libyan origin. 



It is therefore probable that the Egyptians obtained their - 

 light four-spoked chariot from the Libyans and along with it 

 the horse. 



Having once obtained the primitive Libyan chariot with 

 a four-spoked wheel and no metal, the Egyptians gradually 

 improved its construction by increasing the number of spokes 

 in the wheel to six (Fig. 68) and even to eight and by using 

 metal. In 1902 Mr Howard Carter and Mr Percy E. Newberry 

 excavated (at the cost of Mr Theodore M. Davis) the tomb of 

 Thothmes IV (circa 14141383 B.C.), at El Moluk. It contained 

 along with many other objects the remains of the king's chariot. 

 "Although the wheels and several other parts of the chariot 

 are missing, through its having been broken up and partially 

 destroyed by the ancient plunderers of the tomb, the fragments 

 that remain and the representations of the king's war chariot in 

 the scenes modelled in stucco on the framework of the ' body/ 

 give us valuable information respecting its structure 2 ." 



The ' body ' consisted of a semicircular framework, open at 

 the back, with a floor for the charioteer to stand on ; the body 

 of the chariot was supported by the pole which rested on the 

 axletree, and to steady it was strapped on either side of the 

 axletree by bands of leather. It was placed as far back as 

 possible, so as to take the weight of the charioteer, and thus 

 relieve the pole and yoke. The butt of the pole was dovetailed 



1 Herod, iv. 189. 



2 The Tomb of Thoutmosis IV, London, 1904. Mr Davis has just found (Times, 

 10 Mar. 1905) a complete chariot having wheels with wooden tires and six spokes, 

 in the tomb of the parents of Teie queen of Amon-hotep III. (See Addenda. ) 



152 



