The heads of the slain were generally collected, and brought either to the king or to an officer appointed to take account of their number. When Ahab’s seventy sons were killed, their heads were cut off, and brought in baskets to Jezreel. They were afterwards, laid “in two heaps at the entering in of the gate” (2 Kings x. 8). The Egyptians generally counted by hands. This mode of reckoning the loss of the enemy was long resorted to in the East.
As soon as the soldiers entered the captured city, they began to plunder, and then hurried away with the spoil. They led off the horses, carried forth on their shoulders furniture and vessels of gold, silver, and other metals, and made prisoners of the inhabitants, who, probably, became the property of those who seized them. The Assyrian warriors are seen in the sculptures bearing away in triumph the idols of the conquered nations, or breaking them into pieces, weighing them in scales, and dividing the fragments. Thus Hosea prophesied that the calf, the idol of Samaria, should be carried away by the Assyrians.
When the city had been sacked it was usually given up to the flames and utterly destroyed. The surrounding country was also laid waste. If it had been a capital—a place of strength and renown—it was seldom rebuilt on the same spot, which was avoided as unfortunate by those who survived the catastrophe and returned to the ruins.
ASSYRIAN WAR COSTUMES AND WAR METHODS
The costume of the warriors differed according to their rank and the nature of the service they had to perform. Those who fought in chariots, and held the shield for the defence of the king, are generally seen in coats of scale armour, which descend either to the knees or to the ankles. A large number of the scales were discovered in the earliest palace of Nimrud. They were generally of iron, slightly embossed or raised in the centre, and some were inlaid with copper. They were probably fastened to a shirt of felt or coarse linen. Such is the armour always represented in the most ancient sculptures. At a later period other kinds were used; the scales were larger, and appear to have been fastened to bands of iron or copper. The armour was frequently embossed with groups of figures and fanciful ornaments; but there is no reason to believe that the rich designs on the breasts of the kings were on metal.
The warriors were frequently dressed in an embroidered tunic, which was probably made of felt or leather, sufficiently thick to resist the weapons then in use. On the sculptures of Kuyunjik they are generally seen in this attire. Their arms were bare from above the elbow, and their legs from the knees downward, except when they wore shirts of mail which descended to the ankles. They had sandals on their feet. The warriors on the later Assyrian monuments, particularly on those of Khorsabad, are distinguished by a peculiar ornament, somewhat resembling the Highland phillibeg. It appears to be fastened to the girdle, and falls below the short tunic.
In the sculptures of Kuyunjik and of monuments of the same period, the dress of the soldiers appears to vary, according to the manner in which they are armed. Those with spear and shield wear pointed or crested helmets, and plain or embroidered tunics, confined at the waist by a broad girdle. A kind of cross belt passes over the shoulders, and is ornamented in the centre of the breast by a circular disk, probably of metal. The slingers are attired in the embroidered tunic, which I conjecture to be of felt or leather; and wear a pointed helmet, with metal lappets falling over the ears. Both the spearmen and slingers have greaves, which appear to have been laced in front.
The archers are dressed in very short embroidered tunics, which scarcely cover half the thigh, the rest of the leg being left completely bare. They are chiefly distinguished from other warriors by the absence of the helmet. A simple band round the temples confines the hair, which is drawn up in a bunch behind.
Costume of an Assyrian Spearman