NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 23was for use in parades and funerary rites. These
vehicles were not pulled by horses, but by oxen
and other draft animals, or equids such as don-
keys or mules. The Standard of Ur, a casket from
the Sumerian city of Ur dating to around 2600
b.c., features a chariot that looks like a solid-
wheeled wagon pulled by either mules or don-
keys.
The beginning of the second millennium b.c.
was a period of rapid change for chariot build-
ing. In this period, the horse was first used as a
draft animal, and wheels became increasingly
spoked, and therefore much lighter. The ad-
vances in speed and mobility that resulted
from these innovations led to the chariot
becoming essential military equipment
in the Bronze Age.
Two-wheeled models were acquired
for military use by the leading powers
of the day, including the Egyptians and
the Hittites. In 1650 b.c., during the
siege of a city called Urshu, the Hit-
tite king Hattusilis mentions 30 Hit-
tite chariots ranged against 80 chariotsbelonging to his Hurrian enemies. The Hittite
fleet of chariots would grow exponentially in
subsequent centuries, from tens to hundreds,
and later, to thousands.
Anatolian techniques of bending and shaping
wood helped the Hittites develop sophisticated
two-wheeled models. The imperial-era Hittites
left little illustrative evidence behind of such
vehicles (although, following the collapse of the
Hittite Empire, craftsmen in surviving Hittite
enclaves did leave artworks that depict chari-
ots). Other evidence tells historians that by the
17th century b.c., Hittite chariots had developed
lighter wheels.
Unlike Egyptian two-man chariots, the
Hittite model could carry three people:
the driver, a warrior armed with lances
or bow and arrows, and a shield bear-
er. The latter was tethered to the back
section of the carriage, lending stabil-
ity during tight maneuvers.KorucutepeMalatyaHarranSam’alEblaAleppoAlalakhAdana
TarsusHubishnaTuwanaKummanni
HüyükAcem
YalburtKara
HüyükGavur
KalesiGordiumMileto AphrodisiasBayrakliAkpinarAnkaraMashat
HüyükHoroztepeAltintepeShubat-EnlilInandikEflatun
PinarUgaritQatnaTerqaMariByblosArvadTell FrayyBeycesultanKarkemishNesa/KaneshAlaca
HöyükKadeshHattusaAHHIYAWAARZAWAUSSAPITASSAHILAKKU GURGUMTABALASSUWAWILUSALUKKAALASHIYAHATTI
ISHUWAALSHEHANIGALBATMITANNIAMURRUNUHASSAAMANUSKIZZUWATNAPALAGASGAHAYASA-AZZIA NA T O L I AB l a c k
(^) s
e a
m
e d
i t
e r
r a n
e a n (^) s e a
Limits of the Old Hittite Kingdom
(1650 B.C. - 1500 B.C.)
Maximum extent of the Hittite Empire
(1350 B.C.)
Limits of the Mitanni kingdom (1450 B.C.)
Egyptian border under Ramses II
Trade routes
USSA Ethnic groups and states
A KING HUNTS FROM A CHARIOT, AS DEPICTED ON A GOLDEN
PLATE FROM UGARIT, A SYRIAN KINGDOM WITH CLOSE TIES TO THE
HITTITES. 15TH OR 14TH CENTURY B.C., LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS
IMPERIAL
GROWTH
The Hittite Empire
expanded (above)
westward through
Anatolia, and
eastward into the
contested lands of
Syria and Mitanni in
the 14th century b.c.
DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES
EOSGIS.COM/NG MAPS
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