Wheelchairs in antiquity

[galastel]

What mobility aids would be available to a person with little or no use of their legs, middle-east region, circa 500 CE?

My setting is based on Sasanian Persia; fantasy setting, so I have some flexibility. (So if there's record of something being available in earlier Rome or in Egypt or in India, for instance, I can assume the idea travelled.)

Comments

[evil_little_dog]

A palanquin might be what you're looking for but that would mean having people to carry your character around.

[tabaqui]

This might give some insight: "Much depended on mobility. There were no wheelchairs, so people used crutches, staffs, or canes. Others had to crawl about on their sound leg, supporting themselves with a hand on the ground. Donkeys, carts or litters could assist those who were unable to walk, provided they had the means to finance them. Prosthetic devices were individually crafted. Hegesistratus was the diviner of the Persian general Mardonius. When he was thrown into jail by the Spartans, he cut off his foot in order to escape and then fashioned a prosthetic foot out of wood. "

https://mentoringreece.com/mount-olympus-disability-ancient-greece/

Also: https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2016-2-3-2-Mahran.pdfhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/

[tabaqui]

And, apologies - while those links were mostly for the common or poor individuals, someone who was wealthy/from a wealthy family honestly would probably be carried about in a litter chair or palanquin, and otherwise probably not be very mobile at all (servants waiting on them, etc.)

[madman101]

Good answers, but the first thing that came to my mind, since it is a fantasy, was...

Flying carpets!

[evilcoc0nut]

hah, that's totally what i would use.

but so, not Persian, but there's a Chinese wuxia drama where a character can't walk and is in a wheeled chair. I think as long as the invention of the wheel is there, there's no reason it couldn't be on a chair.

[marycatelli]

Yes, but wheels are vastly overrated. Without reliable surfaces, they may be more trouble than they are worth. Many merchants used pack animals instead of wagons because the wheels weren't worth it.

Mud. Slopes. Plant growth. Etc.

Did the wuxia drama have the character use the chair outside? Inside would have its uses, to be sure.

[evilcoc0nut]

yeah they did, but in a city. it was a very fantasy-oriented wuxia.

[ariss_tenoh]

If the character is poor, they're out of luck as they'd have to depend on themselves. The wealthy would be carried by servants, eunuchs if it was a woman, or in a palanquin.

I wouldn't put much stock in the Chinese wuxia you mentioned. A lot of recent wuxia has been adapted for modern audiences, even the clothing is sometimes not period accurate.

[evilcoc0nut]

oh yeah i know, but it's fantasy, that's my main point. the characters all had super powers beyond even normal wuxia stuff lmao

[ariss_tenoh]

LOL! Doesn't count then.

But you'd need paved roads as someone mentioned above because a wheelchair won't work in a normal dirt road with potholes.