In Sennacherib’s time, the ordinary cavalry are equipped in much the same way; some of the regiments however are heavily armed with a coat of mail extending to the bottom of the back (cf. Fig. [107]). In the sculptures of Ashur-bani-pal, the horses of the cavalry are sometimes covered with a large cloth similar to that carried by the chariot steeds (cf. Fig. [108]), over which the saddle-piece is placed, but the equipment of the cavalry themselves shows little or no variation from that of former times.
The charioteers form the last division of the Assyrian army to be briefly considered. The chariot contained at least two persons—the driver and a warrior; but when the king took the field in person he was attended by a shield bearer, or sometimes two shield bearers, as well as by a charioteer. The normal weapon used by the chariot soldier is the bow, which he generally has full drawn, the arrow on the string; he is however not infrequently girded with a sword, while a spear is often lying at his side within easy reach. He is sometimes merely clad in a tunic, sometimes in a long coat of mail reaching down at least as far as the knees, but having short sleeves, doubtless with a view to facilitating the manipulation of the bow. He either discharges his shafts from the chariot itself, or else dismounts in order to take a more certain aim; in the latter case the attendant protects the bowmen by means of a shield which he holds in his left hand, while in his right hand he holds a spear or sword wherewith to repel any close attack. The warrior generally wears a helmet which is occasionally furnished with side and front pieces made of metal scales, calculated to protect the shoulders, the nape of the neck, and sometimes even the chin, but the attendant as a rule has no covering for his head.
Fig. 107.
The chariots were drawn by either two or three horses, but there was apparently never more than one pole; accordingly when a third horse was harnessed to the chariot, he must have been attached by a rope or thong, and was probably taken as a relief-animal to fill the place of one of the others in the event of either of them being shot through. The trappings of the horses were often very elaborate, as may be seen in Figs. [83], while the chariots were also sometimes very ornate. There are two main types of war-chariot represented on the Assyrian bas-reliefs, one being characteristic of the earlier period, when Calah (Nimrûd) was the capital of the empire, the other of the later epoch when the seat of the government was established at Nineveh. The chariots of the early period are low and short, the wheels
Fig. 108. being comparatively small, and as a rule only having six spokes, while the chariots portrayed on the later reliefs are generally more capacious and also loftier, while the wheels, which would appear to be about five feet in diameter, are normally eight-spoked (cf. Fig. [108]). A position in one of these later chariots consequently gave the warrior a good vantage ground for aiming at the enemy and also for viewing the situation. The poles of the chariots of both periods frequently terminate in the head of an animal, an ox or a horse as the case may be. Sometimes a cross-bar was fixed to the end of the pole, which also occasionally terminated in the heads of animals, the cross-bar being at times straight, at others curved.
