uge tassels, one above another;
while at the intersection of the second and third was placed a rosette
or other suitable ornament. The first strap was divided where it
approached the bit into two or three smaller straps, which were attached
to the bit in different places. A fourth strap sometimes passed across
the nose from the point where the first strap subdivided. All the straps
were frequently patterned; the bit was sometimes shaped into an animal
form and streamers occasional floated from the nodding plume or crest
which crowned the heads of the war-steeds.

The collar is ordinarily represented as a mere broad band passing round
the neck, not of the withers (as with ourselves). but considerably
higher up, almost midway between the withers and the cheek-bone.
Sometimes it is of uniform width while often it narrows greatly as it
approaches the back of the neck. It is generally patterned, and appears
to have been a mere flat leathern band. It is impossible to say in what
exact way the pole was attached to it, though in the later sculptures we
have elaborate representations of the fastening. The earlier sculptures
seem to append to the collar one or more patterned straps, which,
passing round the horse's belly immediately behind the fore legs, served
to keep it in place, while at the same time they were probably regarded
as ornamental; but under the later kings these belly Lands were either
reduced to a single strap, or else dispensed with altogether.

The breast-ornament consists commonly of a fringe, more or less
complicated. The simplest form, which is that of the most ancient times,
exhibits a patterned strap with a single row of long tassels pendent
from it, as in the annexed representation. At a later date we find a
double and even a triple row of tassels.

The pendent side-ornament is a very conspicuous portion of the
trappings. It is attached to the collar either by a long straight strap
or by a circular band which falls on either side of the neck. The upper
extremity is often shaped into the form of an animal's head, below which
comes most commonly a circle or disk, ornamented with a rosette, a
Maltese cross, a winged bull, or other sacred emblem, while below the
circle hang huge tassels in a single row or smaller ones arranged in
several rows. In the sculptures of Sargon at Khorsabad, the tassels of
both the breast and side ornaments were colored, the tints being in most
cases alternately red and blue.

O