CHARIOT: THE ASTOUNDING RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD'S FIRST WAR MACHINE. de Cotterell, Arthur - 2004

London: Pimlico, 2004. 344 pp, 9 1/2" H. B&w photographs, drawings, maps. "The chariot changed the face of ancient warfare. First in West Asia and Egypt, then in India and China, charioteers came to dominate the battlefield. In 1274 B.C. at Kadesh in present-day Syria - where the untried pharoah Ramesses II was nearly defeated by the Hittites - some 5,000 chariots were deployed in battle. Its use as a war machine is grapically recounted in Indian epics and Chinese chronicles. Homer's Illiad tells of the attack on Troy by Greek heroes who rode in chariots. In 325 B.C. Alexander the Great faced charioteers in northern India, while in 55 B.C., on a Kent beach, Julius Caesar was met by British chariots. This unique book traces the rise and fall of the chariot right across the Old World, from Britain to Korea." Includes a chapter titled 'Survivals, Ritual and Racing'. Book is Fine. Dust jacket has very minor edge wrinkling, very minor rubbing on spine.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine.