Besides the chariots the Romans had other two-wheeled cars, and four-wheeled waggons of different shapes, and giving different accommodation; but first they were kept for conveying agricultural produce, and for moving goods and baggage, and the better sorts were reserved for the conveyance of the images of their gods and vestal virgins in religious processions. Then came the triumphal processions of successful military commanders, and a variety of vehicles conveyed the conqueror, the captives, and the arms and valuables taken from the enemy. Plutarch tells us that Emilius, the Roman Consul, had 750 waggons in his triumph in the year 170 B.C., bearing the spoils of Perseus, last king of Macedonia. On the column of Trajan at Rome is modelled one of these waggons. It is a large square basket on four wheels, the back a little higher, and the hind wheels also are a very little higher than the front.
Roman history, of the time of Camillus, 350 B.C., mentions a carriage termed a _Pilentum_, as a splendid four-wheeled carriage with a covering to it, and with seats suspended by straps. The use of these _Pilenta_ was allowed as a special favour to a few great Roman ladies. The Empress Agrippina also had a _Carpentum_, an elegantly carved carriage on two wheels, the arched covering of which was supported by four female statues; it was drawn by two mules. The Romans also used _Basternæ_, which were litters or couches with low coverings, carried on poles by horses or mules; and _Lecticæ_, or litters carried by men only. The Roman chariot was called a _Currus_.
Herodotus (450 B.C.), and other writers tell us of the vehicles of the ancient Scythians. These were a race of people who inhabited the country near the Caspian Sea, and wandered about with large herds of cattle and horses. They used a rough two-wheeled cart which consisted of a platform, on which they placed a covering shaped like a bee-hive, and composed of basket-work of hazel-wood covered with skins of beasts or thatched with reeds. When they were stationary in any part these bee-hive huts were taken off the carts and placed upon the ground to serve as their dwellings, like gipsy tents.
The war-chariots used by the Persians were larger and more unwieldy than those previously built. The idea seems to have been to form a sort of turret upon the car, from which several warriors might shoot or throw their spears. These chariots were provided with curved blades or scythes projecting from the axle-trees. The Persians had also cars that were used for state processions, in which the king or noble was raised above the crowd among which he passed on a sort of throne of many steps.