the convexity towards the muzzle, and the rein was attached near the posterior end. The cheek-strap, head-band, and nose-fillet, were ornamented with large rosettes at regular intervals; the hinder throat-band was wide, loose, full of rosettes, or other devices, and terminated below the throat in a ball, from which hung three large fringe-tassels, one below another. A bell was sometimes substituted for this.

We

But what was most characteristic of the headdress of this period was the huge massive frontlet (aunu), into which the simple fillet of the earlier age had grown. It was a thick mass, globose and bulging, on the forehead, but probably hollow, with the surface carved so as to resemble scales. may conjecture that it was formed of metal, perhaps gold, like those which adorned the horses of the chariot of Hera and of Ares in Homer, thence called χρυσάμπυκες. The summit of the head bore a crest of some kind, sometimes a triple tassel-shaped tuft;

The cheek-strap (agov) in Homer's time seems to have been similarly decorated with ornaments of stained ivory, the preparation of which was the work of the ladies.

As when a Carian or Mæonian maid
Impurples ivory trappings for the cheeks

Of martial steeds; them many a warrior views
With wistful looks, but they at length become
The prince's boast, too rich for all besides.

Il. iv. 150.

The Toorkman chiefs on the Oxus at this day decorate their horses with "rosettes and loose pieces of leather, ornamented with gold and silver, which fall behind the ear of the animal, giving his head a showy and becoming appearance."-Burnes' Bokhara, i. 248.

sometimes a helmet-crest arching forward, and more commonly a crescent, with the points downward, set on a foot stalk, and surmounted by a ridge and a central tuft.*

The reins were doubtless thongs of leather; but as they are coloured red in some of the Khorsabad

His fiery-neighing steeds, that toss their heads,
Proud of their nodding plumes, eager to rush

Against the gates, and snorting champ their curbs,
Boss'd with barbaric pride.

Seven Chiefs, p. 121.

sculptures, they may possibly have been gilded in the more sumptuous caparisons.

The collars by which the horse was attached to the pole for the purpose of draught were broad

CHARIOT-HORSE (Nimroud).

straps of leather that passed round the neck and chest. In the early time these were rather complex, and their form and arrangement will be under

Homer's description of this apparatus may be compared, though it is not very lucid:

Next they lower'd from the wall
The sculptured boxen yoke with its two rings;
And with the yoke its furniture, in length
Nine cubits. To the pole's extremest end
Adjusting this with care they cast the ring

Over the ring-bolt [or peg]; then thrice round the pin

They drew the brace on both sides, made it fast

With even knots, and tuck'd the dangling ends.-1l. xxiv. 340.

stood by the accompanying engraving better than by the most laboured description.

They were distributed over a wide space of the chest to render the pressure more easy; the lowest was furnished with a row of fringe-tassels. Two straps passed under the breast, behind the forelegs, to keep the others in their place, and one of these had a ring at the top, through which the rein passed. A large disk, carved, and furnished with several diverging tassels (usually three series of three each), hung behind the shoulder. The whole array of straps and bands was elegantly embossed.

In the time of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, the apparatus of draught was greatly simplified; consisting of one or two chest-straps, with two or more rows of tassels; the shoulder ornament was very large, and the disk sometimes triangular.

In general this was the whole of the trappings of a chariot-horse; but sometimes (as in a Nimroud sculpture) the whole neck and body were clothed with embroidered housings, reaching nearly as low as the belly, under which they were fastened by a double crossed belt, and a similar double belt passed round the breech. This example was that of a chariot carrying warriors of rank, but not the king.

The tail was always long, as was generally the mane. The former was commonly bound tightly round, near the middle, with a broad ribbon, or with a cord passed many times round in close series, Sometimes the end of the tail, made taper, was turned up to form a loop, and bound round. Both

fashions were adopted at all periods; the former the more commonly.*

Of the materials used for the various parts of this elaborate harness, we can say little. It is probable that, as with us, leather was employed for the straps and belts, metal of some kind for the bit, rings, buttons, &c., and perhaps worsted for the fringes and tassels. The remains of paint on the Khorsabad bas-reliefs enable us to see that the tassels of the shoulderlet, of the chest-strap, and of the triple tuft-crown, were sometimes all blue, sometimes blue and red alternately. These tassels may have been made of narrow bands of thin coloured leather, cut into slender strips along one edge, and then rolled up. The thick ampyx, we think, was certainly of metal; and as the scales were coloured alternately red and blue, it may have been of steel, inlaid with bronze (or gold). The bit was commonly, perhaps, of bronze or iron, sometimes of silver or gold† em

*The inhabitants of Cabool tie a knot in the tail of their horses.Burnes' Bokhara, i. 126.

+ Virgil speaks of golden bits; and his description may in other points be compared with the above:

The swift-paced steeds

With purple cloths and painted tapestries clad.
Collars and chains of chased gold hung down
Their arching necks; gold covered all their heads;
While ruddy gold their teeth impatient champ'd.

En. vii. 277.

Astyages gave Cyrus a horse with a bridle of gold (Cyrop. i.); and chariots with bridles of gold are enumerated as desirable things by the author of the Book of Esdras (iii. 6). Masistius, a captain of horse in the Persian invasion of Greece, used a golden bit (Herod. ix. 20). The