Editing Scythed chariot (section)

===Roman encounters===
[[File:Boudiccastatue.jpg|thumb|The statue ''[[Boadicea and Her Daughters]]'' near [[Westminster Pier]] shows British Celtic queen [[Boudica]] in a scythed chariot as commissioned by [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]] and executed by [[Thomas Thornycroft]] (completed in 1905).]]
Despite these shortcomings, scythed chariots were used with some success by the Persians and the kingdoms of the [[Hellenistic Greece|Hellenistic Era]]. They are last known to have been used at the [[Battle of Zela]] in 47 BC. The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] are reported to have defeated this weapon system, not necessarily at this battle, with [[caltrops]]. On other occasions the Romans fixed vertical posts in the ground behind which their infantry were safe ([[Frontinus]] [[Stratagems (book)|''Stratagems'']] 2,3,17-18)
There is a statement in the [[Scriptores Historiae Augustae]] Severus Alexander LV that he captured 1,800 scythed chariots. This is universally regarded as false.

Late in the Imperial period, the Romans might have experimented with an unusual variant of the idea that called for [[cataphract]]-style lancers to sit on a pair or a single horse drawing a "chariot" reduced to a bare axle with wheels, where the blades were only lowered into the fighting position at the last moment. This would have facilitated manoeuvring before battle. This at least is a reasonable interpretation of the rather enigmatic "''[[De rebus bellicis]]''" section 12-14.