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the subject without remarking that the semicircular knife used by the Egyptians to cut leather was precisely similar to our own, even in the remote age of king Amunoph II., who lived 1450 years before our era.

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In war chariots, the wheels had six spokes t, in many curricles, or private cars, employed in towns, only four ; and the wheel was fixed to the axle end by a small linch-pin, sometimes surmounted with a fanciful head, and secured by a thong which passed through the lower end: plainly proving that the axletree itself did not turn, as some have imagined. There are no instances of chariots with more than two wheels §; currus falcati, or cars armed with scythes, were unknown in Egypt, being

*It occurs very frequently. Vide wood-cut, No. 55., c.

+ The spokes appear to have been generally round.

Homer gives the car of Juno wheels with eight spokes, “ kukλa.. OKTакVημа" (Il. ε, 723.), which is the usual number in the Greek sculptures; instances, however, occur of four, six, and twelve. Hope's Costumes, pl. iii. 205. and 236.

Vide

§ There is only one representation of a carriage with four wheels.

Vide wood-cut at the end of Chap. V.

probably contemned by them as by all nations who made any great advances in military tactics; nor was it their custom to use camels, or elephants, in war, like the Indians and some other nations of antiquity; and it is probable that the former were only employed in their army for the transport of baggage and provisions, much of which was carried upon assest, in those parts where water was abundant.

The harness of curricles and war chariots was nearly similar; and the pole in either case was supported on a curved yoke fixed to its extremity by a strong pin, and bound with straps or thongs of leather. The yoke, resting upon a small well padded saddle, was firmly fitted into a groove of metal; and the saddle, placed upon the horses' withers, and furnished with girths and a breastband, was surmounted by an ornamental knob; and in front of it a small hook secured the bearing rein. The other reins passed through a thong or ring at the side of the saddle, and thence over the projecting extremity of the yoke; and the same thong secured the girths, and even appears in some instances to have been attached to them. In the war chariots, a large ball, placed upon a shaft, projected above the saddle, which is generally supposed to have been connected with the reins, and to have been intended to give a

* And even by the Greeks after the time of Alexander.

+ Baggage carried by asses is represented at Thebes and other places, but no camels have yet been met with, either in the sculptures or the hieroglyphics; a remark which has been made even by Abd-el Azees, the Arab historian. For this I can give no reason, since we know that animal existed in Egypt in the time of Abraham. Gen. xii. 16.

greater power to the driver, by enabling him to draw them over a groove in its centre; but there is reason to believe it was added solely for an ornamental purpose, like the fancy head-dresses of the horses, and fixed to the yoke immediately above the centre of the saddlet, or to the head of a pin which connected the yoke to the pole.‡ The same kind of ornament §, though of a different form, is met with in Persian cars; and that it was not a

No. 56.

Saddle of a horse yoked in a Persian car.

British Museum.

necessary part of the harness is shown by the many instances of its omission in Egyptian curricles, and even in some of the chariots of war. I

The traces were single, one only on the inner side of each horse, fastened to the lower part of the pole, and thence extending to the saddle; but no exterior trace was thought necessary: and no provision was made for attaching it to the car. Indeed the

* Such was my own opinion; but on further examination of numerous drawings of chariots, I am inclined to believe it stood on the yoke or the pole.

Vide wood-cut, No. 53. fig. 2.
Vide wood-cut, No. 53. fig. 1.
Vide wood-cuts, Nos.48. and 49.

§ Vide wood-cut, No. 56., at e.

yoke sufficed for all the purposes of draught as well as for backing the chariot; and being fixed to the saddle, it kept the horses at the same distance and in the same relative position, and prevented their breaking outwards from the line of draught, a remark which applies equally to the Greek car; and the description given of it by Homer agrees very

* Π. ε, 722. et seq. :

*

« Ήβη δ' αμφ' οχεεσσι θοως βαλε καμπυλα κυκλα,
Χαλκέα, οκτακνημα, σιδηρες αξονι αμφις
Των ητοι χρυσεη ιτυς αφθιτος, αυταρ ύπερθεν
Χαλκε' επισσωτρα, προσαρηρότα, θαύμα ιδέσθαι
Πλημναι δ' αργυρου εισι περιδρομοι αμφοτερωθεν
Δίφρος δε χρυσεοισι και αργυρεοισιν ἱμασιν
Εντεταται δοιαι δε περίδρομοι αντυγες εισι"
Του δ' εξ αργύρεος ῥυμος πελεν αυταρ επ' ακρ
Δησε χρύσειον καλον ζυγόν, εν δε λέπαδνα
Καλ' έβαλε, χρυσει· υπο δε ζυγον ηγαγεν Ηρη
Ίππους ωκυποδας, μεμαυί' εριδος και αΰτης.”

Where the poet mentions the κυκλα, wheels, with eight spokes ; the αξων, axle; the ιτυς, wooden fellies of the wheel; the επισώτρα, metal hoops; the πλημνη, its box or nave; the αντυγες, sides or framework of the car; ῥυμος, the pole, sometimes nine cubits, or 131 ft. in length, (Π. ω, 270.), with the ζυγον, yoke, fastened at its extremity; and the λεπαίνα, or straps over the horse's breast. In another place (Il. ω, 268.) he describes the mode of fixing the yoke to the pole, by a ring passing over a peg at its extremity, and by a strap nine cubits in length, lashed thrice backwards and forwards across a prominent boss in the centre of the yoke, the end of the strap being tied in a knot below:

σε Ζυγον . . . ομφαλοεν . . .

Εκ δ' έφερον ζυγόδεσμον άμα ζυγῳ εννεαπηχυ

Και το μεν ευ κατέθηκαν εΰξεστῳ επι ῥυμῳ,

Πεζη επι πρωτη, επι δε κρικον έστορι βαλλον

Τρις δ ̓ ἑκάτερθεν εδησαν επ' ομφαλον αυταρ επειτα
Εξειης κατέδησαν, ύπο γλωχινα δ' εγναμψάν

but as this refers to a moveable yoke, taken off the pole when the animals were released, it bears less resemblance to that of the Egyptian chariot than of the plough or cart, as I shall have occasion to remark hereafter, when comparing it with an ox-yoke found by Signor d'Anastasy in a tomb at Thebes.

It may not be uninteresting, while examining the subject, to notice the Roman carriages. Besides litters or palanquins, and other modes of conveyance, they had carriages called unarotum, with one wheel, drawn VOL. I.

A A

nearly with that used by the Egyptians. In order to render this more intelligible, I shall introduce a pair of horses yoked to a chariot according to

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by slaves; the birotum, and the quatrirodium, with two, and four wheels. The biga was a car with two horses; the triga, with three; and the

No. 57.

An Egyptian car and horses in perspective, designed from a comparison of different sculptures.

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