596 
ANCIENT ROYAL GUARDS, IN 
dress accords perfectly with the account given of it by Herodotus, 
(b. v. c. xlix.) who states that “ they were armed with a bow 
and a short spear, and habited in long robes, with their hair 
flowing full behind.” When describing the army of Xerxes, he 
writes, — “ The Persians defend their heads with a small helmet 
called a tiara ; their bodies are covered with sleeved tunics of 
various colours : upon these are plates of steel, like the scales 
of a fish ; their thighs are protected in the same way. They 
are armed with large bows and arrows, the shafts of which 
are reeds. They carry a short spear; and for defence use a 
shield denominated gerra: beneath it is the quiver ; and on 
their right side is a dagger hung from a belt.” — In neither of 
these descriptions do we find a sword mentioned; but Xe¬ 
nophon, in his Cyropedia, particularly names it, whenever the 
arms of the Persians are noticed. From all this, and never 
finding the vestige of a sword on any of these most ancient bas- 
reliefs, I am led to think that when the authors of greatest anti¬ 
quity speak of the Persian sword, they can only intend this 
dagger-like weapon, the izzivdKvjg of the Greeks, and the acinaces 
of the Romans, the poniard, so accurately delineated by Hero¬ 
dotus, being invariably worn on the right side. We find another 
sort of weapon of the kind, mentioned by writers as having been 
in use amongst the Persians; such as the copis of Q. Curtius. 
(b. viii. c. xiv.) But I should regard this latter, as the short 
falchion peculiar to certain tribes immediately bordering on the 
shores of the Euphrates, and the Persian gulf, who would, at 
times, serve in the Persian armies. It is described as curved, 
like the dagger of the present day, which is in use amongst 
r r r 
their descendants. 
Before I proceed farther in describing these memorials of, 
