. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . ught side by side on behalf of theIcing into a single royal army in which the diflTerent kinds of troops werekept separate. 298 THE MEDES AND THE SECOND CHALDEAN EMPIRE with wide sleeves, tied in. at the waist by a belt, andsometimes reinforced by iron plates or scales, as well asgaiters, buskins of soft leather, and large wickerwork shieldscovered with ox-hide, which they bore in front of themlike a movable bulwark; their weapons consisted ofa short sword, which depended from the belt and layalong the thigh, one or two light javelins
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . ught side by side on behalf of theIcing into a single royal army in which the diflTerent kinds of troops werekept separate. 298 THE MEDES AND THE SECOND CHALDEAN EMPIRE with wide sleeves, tied in. at the waist by a belt, andsometimes reinforced by iron plates or scales, as well asgaiters, buskins of soft leather, and large wickerwork shieldscovered with ox-hide, which they bore in front of themlike a movable bulwark; their weapons consisted ofa short sword, which depended from the belt and layalong the thigh, one or two light javelins, a bow with a strongly pro-nounced curve,and a quiver fullof arrows madefrom reeds.^Their horsemen,like those of otherwarlike nationsof the Bast, usedneither saddlenor stirrups, andthough they could make skilful use of lance and sword,their favourite weapon was the bow.^ Accustomed fromtheir earliest childhood to all kinds of equestrian exercises,they seemed to sit their horses as though they actuallyformed part of the animal. They seldom fought in A MEDIC 1 Herodotus describes the equipment of the Persians in much the sameterms as I have used above, and then adds in the following chapter thatthe Medes had the same equipment, for it is the equipment of the Medesand not that of the Persians. 2 Drawn by Paucher-Gudin, from a cast of the Medic intaglio in theCabinet des M^dailles. ^ Herodotus says that the Medic horsemen were armed in the samemanner as the infantry. CYAXARBS FIRST ATTACK UPON NINEVEH 299 but, from the very beginning of an action, hung like a densecloud on the front and flanks of the enemy, and riddledthem with missiles, without, however, coming to closequarters. Like the Parthians of a later epoch, they waiteduntil they had bewildered and reduced the foe by theirceaseless evolutions before giving the final charge which wasto rout them completely. No greater danger couldthreaten the Assyrians than the establishment of asystematically organised mi
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