[Illustration:  PLATE 94]

The use of the bearing-rein, which prevailed in Egypt, was unknown to the Assyrians, or disapproved by them.  The driving-reins were separate, not stitched or buckled together, and were held in the two hands separately.  The right hand grasped the reins, whatever their number, which were attached at the horses’ right cheeks, while the left hand performed the same office with the remaining reins.  The charioteer urged his horses onward with a powerful whip, having a short handle, and a thick plaited or twisted lash, attached like the lash of a modern horsewhip, sometimes with, sometimes without, a loop, and often subdivided at the end into two or three tails. [PLATE XCIV., Fig. 4.]

Chariot-horses were trained to three paces, a walk, a trot, and a gallop.  In battle-pieces they are commonly represented at full speed, in marches trotting, in processions walking in a stately manner.  Their manes were frequently hogged, though more commonly they lay on the neck, falling (apparently) upon either side indifferently.  Occasionally a portion only was hogged, while the greater part remained in its natural condition.  The tail was uncut, and generally almost swept the ground, but was confined by a string or ribbon tied tightly around it about midway.  Sometimes, more especially in the later sculptures, the lower half of the tail is plaited and tied up into a loop or bunch [PLATE XCIV., Fig. 5], according to the fashion which prevails in the present day through most parts of Turkey and Persia.

The warrior who fought from a chariot was sometimes merely dressed in a tunic, confined at the waist by a belt; sometimes, however, he wore a coat of mail, very like the Egyptian, consisting of a sort of shirt covered with small plates or scales of metal.  This shirt reached at least as low as the knees, beneath which the chariot itself was sufficient protection.  It had short sleeves, which covered the shoulder and upper part of the arm, but left the elbow and fore-arm quite undefended.  The chief weapon of the warrior was the bow, which is always seen in his hands, usually with the arrow upon the string; he wears, besides, a short sword, suspended at his left side by a strap, and he has commonly a spear within his reach; but we never see him using either of these weapons.  He either discharges his arrows against the foe from the standing-board of his chariot, or, commanding the charioteer to halt, descends, and, advancing a few steps before his horses’ heads, takes a surer and more deadly aim from terra firma.  In this case his attendant defends him from missiles by extending in front of him a shield, which he holds in his left hand, while at the same time he makes ready to repel any close assailant by means of a spear or sword grasped firmly in his right.  The warrior’s face and arms are always bare; sometimes the entire head is undefended, though more commonly it has the protection of a helmet.  This, however, is without a visor, and does not often so much as cover the ears.  In some few instances only is it furnished with flaps or lappets, which, where they exist, seem to be made of metal scales, and, falling over the shoulders, entirely conceal the ears, the back of the head, the neck, and even the chin.