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CART, WAGON.—The cart, like the chariot, is an Asiatic invention. The earliest wheeled carts show a light framework set upon an axle with solid wheels (illust. in Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp. [1878], i. 249). The type of cart in use under the Heb. monarchy may be seen in the Assyrian representation of the siege of Lachish (Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, ii. pl. 23), where women captives and their children are shown seated in wagons with a low wooden body (cf. 1Sa_6:14), furnished with wheels of 6 and 8 spokes. They were drawn by a pair of oxen (Num_7:3; Num_7:7-8)—exceptionally by two cows (1Sa_6:7; 1Sa_6:10)—yoked to a pole which passed between them, and were used for the transport of persons (Gen_45:19 ff.) and goods (Nu l.c.), including sheaves of grain to the threshing-floor (Amo_2:13). The rendering ‘covered wagons’ (Num_7:3) is doubtful. For the threshing-wagon, see Agriculture, § 3.
A. R. S. Kennedy.