Leonardo da Vinci designed a scythed chariot with rotating blades intended to cut through enemy soldiers.
The concept used a horse-drawn vehicle fitted with long blades that extended from a rotating mechanism. As the chariot moved, the blades were meant to sweep around the vehicle, turning it into a highly dangerous battlefield device. Leonardo’s drawing belongs to his broader study of weapons and military engineering.
The scythed chariot was a design concept rather than a confirmed working machine. Its practicality would have been limited by control, terrain, and the danger posed to the animals and operators. Leonardo’s version is also part of a much older military tradition: scythed chariots had been described in ancient warfare long before the Renaissance.
It is distinct from Leonardo’s armored vehicle, which used protective plating and cannon openings rather than rotating blades.