V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 481 



The Chariot. We have already seen that in most regions 

 men employed the horse for draught before they habitually rode 

 upon his back, not because they were afraid to mount him, but 

 because he was either too small to be used effectively as a 

 charger, or because where he was of sufficient size to carry 

 a man easily, it took a long time before men were able to 

 devise weapons and methods of warfare suitable for a man 

 mounted on horseback. For example, peoples who carried large 

 oblong shields, like the Egyptians, the Greeks of the Mycenean 

 (Bronze) Age, or the Assyrians, would have to discard their 

 national shields and adopt a new shape better adapted for a 

 horseman. How unsuited the large oblong shield was for 

 cavalry, is proved by the fact that although the Roman infantry 

 carried the scutum, the cavalry carried the round shield, though 

 even the latter was not the best possible shape for a horse- 

 soldier. Accordingly the Teutonic peoples, such as the Normans, 

 who had once used circular shields, when they began to fight on 

 horseback, devised a shield large at the top and tapering 

 towards the bottom somewhat like a boy's kite. Such are the 

 shields carried by the Norman knights on the Bayeux tapestry, 

 and from this type came the later medieval shield, which 

 through its importance in heraldry has become the conventional 

 idea of a shield in modern times. This shield tapering towards 

 its lower end was admirably suited for horseback, its broad 

 upper part protecting the bearer's body, whilst the tapering 

 lower part fitted down along his thigh, thus obviating the incon- 

 venience arising from a circular shield of any size, the lowest 

 part of which, if it covered the wearer's body, would have had 

 its bottom resting on the front of the saddle ; if to obviate 

 this it was worn to one side, it would leave a considerable 

 portion of the body exposed. 



Again, tribes whose chief weapon was the bow, like the 

 Scythians and many other nations, would have to learn to 

 shoot from horseback before they could use their horses effec- 

 tively in warfare. On the other hand the archer had little 

 difficulty in shooting with precision from the chariot, as was 

 the practice with the Egyptians (p. 217) and the Hittites 

 (p. 215). 



R. H. 31 



