playing the instrument, which is held
across the chest in a sloping direction, and was probably kept in place
by a ribbon or strap passed round the neck. [PLATE CXXVIII., Fig. 1.]

It is curious that in the Assyrian remains, while the double pipe is
common, we find no instance at all either of the flute or of the single
pipe. All three were employed in Egypt, and occur on the monuments of
that country frequently; and though among the Greeks and Romans the
double pipe was more common than the single one, yet the single pipe was
well known, and its employment was not unusual. The Greeks regarded the
pipe as altogether Asiatic, and ascribed its invention to Marsyas the
Phrygian, or to Olympus, his disciple. We may conclude from this that
they at any rate learnt the invention from Asia; and in their decided
preference of the double over the single pipe we may not improbably have
a trace of the influence which Assyria exercised over Asiatic, and thus
even over Greek, music. [PLATE CXXVIII., Fig. 1.]

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 e