Women’s Use of Chariots in Ancient Egypt
Writing historical fiction–even with some fantastical elements thrown in–requires careful use of accurate historical detail. I loved this post in Ancient Near East Today about Nefertiti’s chariot for the window into female transportation it gave me. Early on in my writing of fiction set in the Bronze Age, I asked myself how do my female characters get around? Are they restricted to walking and wagons? (The drawing at top is of Ramses II in his chariot.)
Chariots versus Horseback
To be honest, to start out, I wasn’t sure if men rode directly on horses or only via chariots and wagons. There were some vague references to this in the scholarship. To settle such a basic question, I consulted one of the friendly Hititologists who cheerfully refer me to the right article or, as in this case where there wasn’t one, give me their best guess. He came down on the side of logic, men must have ridden horseback despite the lack of evidence for it. Thank goodness for me, because I’d already written key scenes with my characters traveling through mountainous forests where chariots wouldn’t go.
Women on the Go, Nefertiti’s Chariot
So I had my male characters sorted, and I knew that wagons or walking would be the most common choice for women, but what about the ancient equivalent of a race car, chariots? Messengers and others used them for long distance travel. They clearly appear in battles.
But could/would a woman ride in one? I took a chance and put both Tesha and Daniti in chariots with their menfolk in my novel Of Kings and Griffins.
I haven’t yet had them driving chariots all by themselves. Now I can, based on this engaging article that documents the source materials showing Nefertiti and other Egyptian high ranking women using chariots both with and without men aboard. Apparently ripping down the road at top speed was available to royal women.
“Chariots are designed to be fast and may reach a speed of about 38 km/h. This allowed for the first time an experience of speed: until then travel on foot, by palanquin or by donkey could only reach 4-6 km/h. This explains the popularity of the chariot in the civil sector: it functioned like a modern sports car.”
Further Reading, Egyptian Chariots & Nefertiti
The ANE post first gives a brief overview of chariot technology and history in Egypt. Then it discusses the evidence for women on chariots. These women are from the “enemy” empire in my fiction, but I’m going to take their chariot use as a blessing on my fictional character’s enjoyment of riding beside their menfolk in the finest of chariots.
If you’d like to explore my historical fantasy series, this page about my books is a good place to start.
Every once in a while something like your post reminds me just how enormously privileged we are in things we take for granted. Imagine that traveling at top speeds of roughly 24 mph was something only the most elite could do. Of course, in the distant future, people will feel the same about our speeds today. Or they will shake their heads at the crudeness of needing to travel linearly rather than simply folding space, or something equally fantastical.
Ha! I’m all for folding space to get somewhere! I did smile at the presentation in the article of chariot riding as the sports car experience, which, without the sports car in my head, I’d incorporated into my fiction, especially the end of Of Kings and Griffins, for both male and female characters. You are also thinking about it from the point of view of a fiction writer. Travel times is always an issue in my fiction with an empire as the overall setting and even the simplest diplomatic endeavor not to mention military maneuver taking forever because of slow travel. Keeping the plot at fast pace when your characters can go 24 mph at their topmost speed for limited stretches is a good intellectual puzzle.
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