it.

Each horseman was attended by a groom, who rode abreast of him, and held
his reins during an action, so that he might be free to make use of
his weapons. This body of cavalry, having little confidence in its own
powers, kept in close contact with the main body of the army, and was
not used in independent manouvres; it was associated with and formed an
escort to the chariotry in expeditions where speed was essential, and
where the ordinary foot soldier would have hampered the movements of the
charioteers.*

* Isolated horsemen must no doubt have existed in the
Assyrian just as in the Egyptian army, but we never find any
mention of a _body_ of cavalry in inscriptions prior to the
time of Assur-nazir-pal; the introduction of this new corps
must consequently have taken place between the reigns of
Tiglath-pileser and Assur-nazir-pal, probably nearer the
time of the latter. Assur-nazir-pal himself seldom speaks of
his cavalry, but he constantly makes mention of the horsemen
of the Aramaean and Syrian principalities, whom he
incorporated into his own army.

[Illustration: 010.jpg A MOUNTED ASSYRIAN ARCHER WITH ATTENDANT]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bronze bas-reliefs
of the gate of Balawat.

The army thus reinforced was at all events more efficient, if not
actually more powerful, than formerly; the discipline maintained was as
severe, the military spirit as keen, the equipment as perfect, and the
tactics as skilful as in former times. A knowledge of engineering had
improved upon the former methods of taking towns by sapping and scaling,
and though the number of military engines was as yet limited, the
besiegers were well able, when occasion demanded, to improvise and make
use of machines capable of demolishing even the strongest walls.*

* The battering-ram had already reached such a degree of
perfection under Assur-nazir-pal, that it must have been
invented some time before the execution of the first bas-
reliefs on which we see it portrayed. Its points of
resemblance to the Greek battering-ram furnished Hoofer with
one of his mam arguments for placing the monuments of
Khorsabad and Koyunjik as late as the Persian or Parthian
period.

The Assyrians were familiar with all the different kinds of
battering-ram; the hand variety, which was merely a beam tipped with
iron, worked by some score of men; the