[194] See the Vignette to this Chapter, No. 24, p. 52.
[195] As we never hear of heroic chariots with one horse, this may be an imperfect representation of two. The same remark applies to the next tombstone. See p. 86.
[196] XXIV. 190 and 267. Homer also uses πείρινθα (the word only occurs in the accusative) for the wicker-basket which held the load fastened on to a cart (ἅμαξα); and this, its original sense, may be a guide to its form in the chariot also (comp. Od. xv. 131).
[197] Il. V. 727-728:—
δίφρος δὲ χρυσέοισι καὶ ἀργυρέοισιν ἱμᾶσιν
ἐντέταται· δοιαὶ δὲ περίδρομοι ἄντυγές εἰσιν.
"The chariot-board on gold and silver bands
Was hung, and round it ran a double rail."
[198] My friend, Mr. W. S. W. Vaux, calls my attention to the fact that this four-spoked chariot wheel, seen also in the cut No. 120 (p. 74) and on the Mycenean intaglios hereinafter described, is characteristic of the earliest Greek coins. The early Egyptian and Ethiopian and Assyrian wheels have six spokes. The Persian Achæmenid sculptures show chariots with eight-spoked wheels.
[199] The Greek drachma is worth about 8½d. English.