Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Chariotry: The Shock Weapon of Kadesh
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses's monuments, his diplomacy, his long reign. But one thing we haven't really dug into is the weapon that made his military reputation — the Egyptian chariot corps. At Kadesh, that's what saved him. Luna: I've seen those reliefs at Medinet Habu — chariots everywhere. But how did they actually work in battle? Lucas: Great question. An Egyptian chariot carried two men: the driver and the archer. The driver had his hands full controlling the horses — two horses per chariot, harnessed to a single pole. The archer, meanwhile, had to shoot a composite bow while standing on a platform that bounced over uneven ground. Lucas: The chariot itself was light — maybe thirty kilograms. The frame was bent wood, the floor was woven leather or rawhide, and the wheels had six spokes, not the four you see on Hittite chariots. That made them faster and more maneuverable. Luna: Six spokes — that's interesting. Why not more? Lucas: Weight and strength. More spokes meant heavier wheels, and they needed the wheels to survive rocky terrain. The Egyptians used elm or ash for the spokes, and they wrapped the rims in rawhide while it was wet so it shrank tight and held everything together. Lucas: At Kadesh, Ramses had around two thousand chariots with him. That's a huge number to manage. They had to cross the Orontes River, which is not a tiny stream — they needed fords and ferries. And once across, they spread out in formation, with the archers shooting from the right side of the chariot because that gave them a clear line of fire past the driver. Luna: Wait — always from the right side? Not both? Lucas: Mostly the right. The driver sat on the left, so the archer had an unobstructed arc from about ten o'clock to two o'clock. To shoot left, they'd have to lean way out or switch hands, which was awkward at speed. So the preferred tactic was to sweep past the enemy at an angle, firing arrows into their flank. Lucas: And Ramses himself was an archer. He famously had a personal chariot called 'Victory in Thebes' — that's the one he used as his mobile command post during the battle. He'd ride along the line, shouting orders, and when the Hittite chariots broke through the Egyptian camp, he personally led a counter-charge. Luna: So he was in the thick of it, not just watching from a hill. Lucas: Exactly. The reliefs show him shooting his bow from the chariot, tall and alone, while enemies fall around him. It's obviously propaganda, but there's a kernel of truth — he did fight. And his chariot corps had to be drilled to perfection. They trained year-round at Per-Ramesses, on a special parade ground that could hold hundreds of chariots at once. Lucas: The horses were trained to respond to voice commands and light rein touches — no bits, just a noseband. And the drivers had incredible reflexes. Imagine steering a team at full gallop while an archer behind you is shooting and the whole thing is bouncing over rocks. Luna: That takes a lot of practice. And it's a good reminder that so much of what we enjoy — the research, the storytelling — also depends on careful preparation and skill. It makes you appreciate the craftsmanship behind the show, too. Lucas: Absolutely. And if you appreciate that kind of careful work — the kind that goes into making something ad-free and thoughtfully researched — one way to support it is through a small contribution. There's a page at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo where listeners can help keep these conversations going. No pressure, but it does make a difference. Luna: Yeah, it's a simple way to say thanks if you enjoy the show. Lucas: Right. So back to chariots — one thing that's often overlooked is the logistics. Each chariot needed spare wheels, extra bowstrings, bundles of arrows, and fodder for the horses. The Egyptian supply train was enormous. They had ox-drawn carts carrying spare parts, and at Kadesh, the baggage train was what the Hittites first attacked — they thought it was the main army. Luna: So the chariots themselves were the decisive arm, but they depended on a whole support system. Lucas: Exactly. And the archers weren't just random soldiers. They were specialists, often from Nubia or the Western Desert, trained from youth. The composite bow they used — made from layers of wood, sinew, and horn — had a range of about 200 meters. A skilled archer could shoot ten to twelve arrows a minute from a moving chariot. Lucas: The Hittites also had chariots, but theirs were heavier — three-man crews: driver, shield-bearer, and spearman. They relied on shock, not speed. At Kadesh, when the two chariot forces met, the Egyptian lighter vehicles could outmaneuver them, circling and peppering them with arrows before closing in for the kill. Luna: Did the Egyptians ever adopt the Hittite design after the war? Lucas: There's evidence they did, actually. After the peace treaty, there was a lot of technology exchange. Egyptian chariots got slightly wider bodies and stronger axles, probably influenced by captured Hittite vehicles. But they kept the two-man crew because it suited their archery tactics. Lucas: And it's not just Kadesh — chariots were used in the Libyan campaigns and against the Sea Peoples. By Ramses's reign, he had a standing chariot force of maybe three to four thousand vehicles. That's a huge investment. The stables at Per-Ramesses could hold hundreds of horses. Luna: I've seen reconstructions of those stables. They had ventilated floors and separate stalls. Lucas: Yeah, the Egyptians were meticulous about horse care. Each horse had its own groom, and the chariot teams were paired carefully — a horse that pulled left had to be matched with a horse that pulled right, or the chariot would veer. They even kept records of breeding lines. Lucas: Ramses himself was obsessed with his chariot. In his tomb, KV7, there are scenes of him driving a chariot in the afterlife. It's a symbol of his power and his ability to move swiftly, to command. The chariot was more than a weapon — it was a symbol of the pharaoh's reach. Luna: It really ties together the military and the ideological. The pharaoh as the lone warrior in his chariot, bringing order out of chaos. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the image that survived in the temple reliefs and the poems about Kadesh — the king alone, fighting like a hundred thousand men, his chariot carrying him to victory.