Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c14.88

c14.88

The wheels of the Aryan chariot have spokes, though the number is nowhere mentioned. There seems to have been a tendency to increase the number from four (Mycenaean, Egyptian, early Hittite examples) to six or eight (Homeric chariots have eight spokes; Celtic examples with from four to ten or twelve are known: so, too, later Hittite and Assyrian vehicles with six or eight). The importance of the hole of the nave-hub being 'sweetly-running' on the axle was recognized and is mentioned. An extremely interesting point with regard to the construction of the wheels, however, is the references to the felloe being bent into shape: