The purpose of historical research is to depict the fate of human beings in a pictorial form, as far as it is manifested in deeds and personalities. We would know
nothing of the Germanic migration period with its figures and battles if
we were solely reliant on ground finds. Among these, however, one group
is always overlooked or underestimated in its true historical
significance: the weapons. They are closer to history than fragments and
ornaments. They have been treated much too superficially by only
considering their ornamentation or manufacturing technique. There is a
lack of a psychology of
weapons. Every weapon also speaks of the style of fighting and thus of
the worldview of its bearers. In the invention, dissemination, or
rejection of certain weapons, there is an ethos.
The bow, for example, is the first distance weapon that was instinctively rejected as unchivalrous by a group of European tribes. This includes, among others, the Romans, the Greeks of the mainland, and most Germanic tribes. In the depictions of the Ionian Odyssey saga on Corinthian and Attic vases, therefore, the bow, which is necessary to characterise the scene, is placed to the side, and Odysseus is given a sword, the weapon of combat man to man. [...] A new kind of man belongs to this weapon [the chariot]. The joy of risk and adventure, of personal bravery and chivalric ethos, becomes apparent. Master races arise that view war as the content of life and look down with pride and contempt on peasant peoples and cattle-breeding tribes. Here, in the second millennium, is expressed a mankind that was not there before. A new kind of soul is born. From then on, there is conscious heroism.
Quoted from:
Oswald Spengler (February 06, 1934) - The Chariot and Its Significance in the Course of World History.
Oswald Spengler (February 06, 1934) - The Chariot and Its Significance in the Course of World History.
Lecture delivered at the Society of Friends of Asian Art and Culture in Munich, German Reich.