Chariots
𐀺 𐀏
Wo-ka
Chariot
The Mycenaeans were a chariot-using people, and chariots and chariot parts are lovingly inventoried in the Linear B records. The Mycenaean chariot was small, swift, and typically only carried two passengers; the Iliad speaks of the Greek heroes and their charioteers.
Homer does not mention the chariot actively being used in warfare, merely as a kind of taxi ferrying heroes to and from the battlefield. By Homer’s time, chariot warfare had gone out of fashion, but in the thirteenth century B.C., the time of the Trojan War, chariots were mobile fighting platforms from which warriors could hack, impale, shoot, or simply run down their enemies. The Bettany Hughes documentary Helen of Troy includes a wonderful demonstration by warfare expert Mike Loades on how chariots would have been used at Troy.
The Mycenaean chariot was made from lightweight wood or wicker, with a flexible platform of plaited leather or perhaps more wicker. The front was usually covered with hide or painted leather. The wheels were also lightweight, and spoked.
Here is a painted clay model of a chariot. Perhaps it was a child’s toy. I can imagine a prince like the young Orestes playing with such an object.
