Dear Friend,
What connects Asterix comics, the Iliad, Ben-Hur, the Yamnaya Archaeological Culture, the exile of Rama, the game of chess, the Standard of Ur, the Terracotta Army, the assassination of Karna, and the battle of Kadesh?
It’s humanity’s fascination with the chariot — the light-wheeled, personal transport vehicle that emerged in the Eurasian steppe with the domestication of the horse. Whether as a ‘battle-taxi’ or as a mounted platform for archers, the chariot proved decisive in Antiquity’s battles, enabling the expansion of the Egyptian, Hittite, Achaemenid, Nanda, Han and Roman empires, and became the centre-piece of several works of literature and art that still capture our imagination today.
Yet, improvements in cavalry that enabled the use of the recurve bow on horseback, and the mastery of the elephant in India and Carthage, rendered the chariot increasingly obsolete.
In his Talk, “From Wonder Weapon to Damp Squib: A History of the Chariot”, military archaeologist Raamesh Gowri Raghavan offers a fascinating ride piecing together four millennia of art history, iconography, literature and excavational evidence of the birth, evolution and eventual decline of the chariot.
The online Talk in English is at 5.30 pm IST on Saturday, November 14th, 2026.
To receive your link for the talk, please register at: bit.ly/THT_Register
With regards
Tamil Heritage Trust