CHAP. I.J 



KclRLIEST CAVALRY. 



15 



chariots conld not be driven, they may have been in the 

 habit of detaching the horses from the car and mounting 

 them, probably, for instance, to follow a flying foe over 

 broken ground. 



Their seat in the earliest figures is very remarkable ; 

 the knees are drawn up as high as the horse's back, and 

 are pressed close against the neck and withers, the legs 

 and feet being naked and hanging close to the shoulder. 

 This shows that the mounting of the horse was a new 

 idea, and that they had not as yet discovered the proper 

 and natural m'slj of sitting. These cavalry represent 

 the very earliest idea of mounted soldiers. This is 

 shown by the fact that the horseman, whose chief weapon 

 is the bow, is accompanied by an attendant also mounted, 

 who is without any offensive weapons and wears a skull- 

 cap and tunic, and whose sole duty seems to be to hold 

 and guide the horse of the mounted archer while he is 

 discharging his arrows. This strongly supports the 

 assumption that the horses in these time;? must have 

 been taken from the chariot — the soldier riding upon 

 one and the charioteer whose duty it was to manage the 

 horses riding the other and guiding and directing both. 

 Horsemanship must have been i i its very infancy when 

 a practice such as that described was in use. The archer, 

 who was clad in an embroidered tunic and a pointed 

 helmet, besides his bow carried also a sword and shield, 

 but there is no instancie of these weapons being depicted 

 in actual use.^ 



After this type of horsemen the next period shows 

 many changes. The cavalry are of two kinds, part 

 being archers and the other spearmen, and great ad- 

 vances have been made in the art of horsemanship. A 

 pad or cloth, either square or the shape of a modern 

 saddle-cloth, has supplied the place of a saddle. It is 

 usually fastened by a single girth, although sometimes 

 a breast-strap and a species of crupper are also used.^ 

 The headstall and breast-leather are very highly orna- 

 mented. There is a marked improvement in the seat of 

 the riders in the later sculptures ; the seat on the horse 



* Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies i. 424. ^ jbid. 42.5. 



