Ancient chariot warfare ancient chariot warfare differed greatly dependant on the tribe or region using it in battle. You could say the chariot of ancient times is the equivalent of the tanks used today.
The biggest comparison that can be made between ben hur and star wars, though, is the similarity between the chariot race and the podrace. Sebulba and anakin are stand-ins for messala and ben hur. Ben hur won’t betray his countrymen at messala’s behest and messala tells ben hur in a very darth-vader-in-revenge-of-the-sith sort of way, “if you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.
Before ben hur is able to get home, though, he wins his freedom by saving a roman commander from drowning.
Today you will be enlightened into the knowledge of the chariot, the tactics used in ancient chariot warfare and more. Availability: ben hur is widely available on dvd and blu-ray, and can be streamed instantly on amazon, google play, and itunes for a small rental fee.
It also won 11 academy awards, a record held by only two other films: titanic and return of the king.With the chariot race in ben hur, the sound design was two-dimensional. Com! he’s also the co-host of the star wars podcast, full of sith. Thus they display in battle the speed of horse, the firmness of infantry; and by daily practice and exercise attain to such expertness that they are accustomed, even on a declining and steep place, to check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest celerity to their chariots again. While the greeks were at the forefront of weaponry it is understood that the rugged and rocky terrain was not good for chariot warfare. I watched it with my son and we both marveled at the amount of violence many of the secondary racers suffered. It tells the story of judah ben hur, played by charlton heston, a jewish prince betrayed by his roman friend and sent into slavery. ” eventually, ben hur is sentenced into slavery by messala for a crime he didn’t commit and his mother and sister are imprisoned in his absence.
That alone would be remarkable, but lucas is able to improve on the ideas. The greeks used the chariot for auspicious occasions but rarely used the chariot to great effect in battle. The film is framed by the birth and death of jesus, who teaches judah humility and the strength to cast aside much of the hate in his heart for those who wronged him. Famous chariot battle the most famous chariot battle is the battle of kadesh where around 5,000 to 6,000 chariots were engaged in battle between the egyptians and the hittites. It’s appropriate for children of all ages, though the chariot race gets intense. But the film that shares the most with ben hur is the phantom menace, though anakin’s journey through the entire era of the old republic echoes that of judah ben hur. This happened in 1274 bc, the pinnacle of chariot usage in battle.
The shang dynasty of china also greatly used the chariot in battle and through using this form of weaponry they were able to take over other areas of china and consolidate their control over the region. The tactics of use of chariots by the chinese is not known, all we know is it was a big reason why the chinese were successful in battle. The power of chariots and its devastating effect in battle were quickly realised. When sebulba is just off screen and behind anakin, you can hear and feel it. Although it was used post 400 ad for public appearances and racing. He arrives back to his desert home, just like anakin, only to find his family presumed dead and in himself finds a growing thirst for vengeance.
Bryan young author & podcaster released in 1959, ben hur is a cinematic achievement from director william wyler that took the world by storm. It’s truly remarkable.
Watching all three anda half hours of ben hur it’s apparent that it had an influence on the star wars saga.
This chariot was then pulled by two or more horses giving a light weight and super fast. Sebulba’s pod is built to damage the other pods around them, and so is messala’s chariot. His competing honor and thirst for vengeance elevate him out of slavery and into roman nobility. The earliest chariots were simply a twowheeled cart with a floor platform and semi circle covering in front.
Here the chariot would employ two men, one acting as a horseman while the other was an archer picking off the enemy in battle.You can also follow him on twitter. The horses galloping and the crowds cheering sounded the same at all points during the race.
The film sets heston’s ben hur against messala, played by stephen boyd.
It was a fast and fearsome weapon that allowed the ancients to move quickly in battle and attack their foe before making off without injury to themselves. As i do more and more of these articles and examine films through the lens of star wars, my breath is constantly being taken away by how george lucas was able to take storylines, sequences, and themes from classics like ben hur and distill them to their essence for inclusion in star wars. Further east, the ancient near east of present day turkey, the middle east and egypt, used the chariot in open battle regularly. Over time the design of chariots changed to use wheels with spokes and shields to offer more protection, but the overall look of the chariot did not change much.
The charioteers in the meantime withdraw some little distance from the battle, and so place themselves with the chariots that, if their masters are overpowered by the number of the enemy, they may have a ready retreat to their own troops. For all of the greatness of ben hur, it’s incredibly long, doesn’t have an intermission, and delves into religious territory. The britain’s were seen as formidable opponents in the use of chariots in ancient warfare, the below is the britain’s stance of using the chariot in battle according to julius caesar himself: xxxiii. In its day, it pulled in $74 million at the box office.
Like anakin in attack of the clones, ben hur is driven to save his loved ones against the reality of his situation. At one point, the decisive moment in the race, messala and ben hur’s chariots are locked together at the wheels, just like anakin and sebulba at the end of the podrace.On a base level, this film used a lot of matte paintings and composite shots of the sort that star wars built upon, making the first film possible in the first place. Eventually, he’s able to face off against the man who wronged him in a chariot race. A parade in rome is thrown in his honor and the comparisons to the parade on naboo at the end of the phantom menace could not be more clear.
But with the podrace, lucas directed ben burtt to create a soundscape that adds much more personality than the chariot race could ever have achieved.
Bryan young is an author, a filmmaker, journalist, and the editor in chief of bigshinyrobot.
When adjusted for inflation, that makes it the 13th highest grossing film of all time, right behind the empire strikes back, which clocks in at number 12.