The Assyrian double pipe was short, probably not exceeding ten or twelve inches in length.  It is uncertain whether it was really a single instrument consisting of two tubes united by a common mouthpiece, or whether it was not composed of two quite separate pipes, as was the case with the double pipes of the Greeks and Romans.

The two pipes constituting a pair seem in Assyria to have been always of the same length, not, like the Roman “right” and “left pipes,” of unequal length, and so of different pitches.  They were held and played, like the classical one, with either hand of the performer.  There can be little doubt that they were in reality quite straight, though sometimes they have been awkwardly represented as crooked by the artist.

The tambourine of the Assyrian was round, like that in common use at the present day; not square, like the ordinary Egyptian.  It seems to have consisted simply of a skin stretched on a circular frame, and to have been destitute altogether of the metal rings or balls which produce the jingling sound of the modern instrument.  It was held at bottom by the left hand in a perpendicular position, and was struck at the side with the fingers of the right. [PLATE CXXIX., Fig. 1.]

[Illustration:  PLATE 129]

Assyrian cymbals closely resembled those in common use throughout the East at the present day.  They consisted of two hemispheres of metal, probably of bronze, running off to a point, which was elongated into a bar or handle.  The player grasped a cymbal in each hand, and either clashed theme together horizontally, or else, holding one cupwise in his left, brought the other down upon it perpendicularly with his right. [PLATE CXXX., Fig. 1.]

Two drums are represented on the Assyrian sculptures.

One is a small instrument resembling the tubbul, now frequently used by Eastern dancing girls.  The other is of larger size, like the tubbul at top, but descending gradually in the shape of an inverted cone, and terminating almost in a point at bottom.  Both were carried in front, against the stomach of the player—­attached, apparently, to his girdle; and both were played in the same way, namely, with the fingers of the open hands on the top. [PLATE CXXX., Fig. 2.]

[Illustration:  PLATE 130]

A few instruments carried by musicians are of an anomalous appearance, and do not admit of identification with any known species.  One, which is borne by a musician in a processional scene belonging to the time of Sennacherib, resembles in shape a bag turned upside-down.  By the manner in which it is held, we may conjecture that it was a sort of rattle—­a hollow square box of wood or metal, containing stones or other hard substances which produced a jingling noise when shaken.  But the purpose of the semicircular bow which hangs from the box is difficult to explain, unless we suppose that it was merely a handle by which to carry the instrument when not in use.  Rattles of different kinds are found among the musical instruments of Egypt; and one of them consists of a box with a long handle attached to it.  The jingling noise produced by such instruments may have corresponded to the sound now emitted by the side-rings of the tambourine.