Terracotta chariot group

Mycenaean, around 1300 BC
From Tomb 93, Enkomi, Cyprus

Two horses, four legs!

This terracotta group is of a pair of horses pulling a chariot carrying a charioteer. The chariot has been simplified to the extent that it has no wheels and is attached to the hindquarters of the two horses. Only the arms of the driver survive, holding clumsily modelled reins. The group is further simplified by the two horses sharing just four legs between them.

Mycenaeans using chariots for warfare, hunting and ceremonial processions are depicted in a variety of media, including vase paintings and frescoes. The earliest scene of a Mycenaean riding in a chariot was carved on a grave stone placed above one of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, dating to the sixteenth century BC.

R.A. Higgins, Greek terracottas (London, Methuen, 1967)