We are quite used to the dramatic use of ancient cavalry and horses in both historical and fantasy novels.  However, riding on the back of horses actually came quite late in history (roughly 700 BC), before then the chariot held sway.  Horses were domesticated from around 3500 BC in the Eurasian steppes and used for farming and simple wagons with solid wheels.  But we need to wait until the invention of the spoked wheel in 2000 BC before the first chariots started to appear in the Indo-Iranian cultures of modern day Russia and Kazakhstan.  Quite quickly this light vehicle, with two wheels, drawn by one or more horses, spread throughout the ancient world and dominated the ancient battlefields between 1700 BC and 500 BC.  Surely there is scope here for some fantastic historical and fantasy novels to exploit these wonders of the ancient world?  Here are a few types. traveltoeat.com Hittite Chariot The first references to chariot warfare came in the ancient Near East where forty chariots were used at the siege of Salatiwara.  The …