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A Hittite horse-training text is attributed to Kikkuli the Mitanni (15th century BC). The first certain attestation of chariots in the Hittite empire dates to the late 17th century BC ( Hattusili I). Since the text mentions teams rather than chariots, the existence of chariots in the 18th century BC is uncertain. The oldest testimony of chariot warfare in the ancient Near East is the Old Hittite Anitta text (18th century BC), which mentions 40 teams of horses (40 ?Í-IM-DÌ ANŠE.KUR.RA ?I.A) Template:Clarify at the siege of Salatiwara. Hittite chariot (drawing of an Egyptian relief) Some scholars argue that the chariot was most likely a product of the ancient Near East early in the 2nd millennium BC. The Andronovo culture over the next few centuries spread across the steppes from the Urals to the Tien Shan. The Sintashta-Petrovka chariot burials yield the earliest spoke-wheeled true chariots. It built heavily fortified settlements, engaged in bronze metallurgy on an industrial scale and practiced complex burial rituals reminiscent of rituals known from the Rigveda and the Avesta. This culture is at least partially derived from the earlier Yamna culture. The earliest fully developed true chariots known are from the chariot burials of the Andronovo (Timber-Grave) sites of the Sintashta-Petrovka Eurasian culture in modern Russia and Kazakhstan from around 2000 BC.
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2000 BC and their use peaked around 1300 BC (see Battle of Kadesh). The earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots for use in battle was the spoked wheel. Obsolete terms for chariot include chair, charet and wain. In ancient Rome and other ancient Mediterranean countries a biga required two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga required four horses abreast.
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A chariot of war or of triumph was called a car. The word "chariot" comes from Latin carrus, which was a loan from Gaulish. The vehicle was used for travel, in processions, games, and races after it had been superseded by other vehicles for military purposes. The chariot, driven by a charioteer, was used for ancient warfare during the bronze and the iron ages. The car was little more than a floor with a waist-high semicircular guard in front. The original chariot was a fast, light, open, two-wheeled conveyance drawn by two or more horses that were hitched side by side. Chariots were used for war as "battle taxis" and mobile archery platforms, as well as more peaceable pursuits such as hunting or racing for sport, and as a chief vehicle of many ancient peoples, when speed of travel was desired rather than how much weight could be carried. The chariot is a type of carriage using animals (almost always horses) to provide rapid motive power.