d a spear somewhat less than their own height.
Commonly they have a short sword at their right side. Their shield is
often ornamented with rows of bosses towards the centre and around the
edge. It is ordinarily carried in front; but when the warrior is merely
upon the march, he often bears it slung at his back, as in the
accompanying representation. There is reason to suspect that the
spearmen of this description constituted the royal bodyguard. They are
comparatively few in number, and are usually seen in close proximity to
the monarch, or in positions which imply trust, as in the care of
prisoners and of the spoil. They never make the attacks in sieges, and
are rarely observed to be engaged in battle. Where several of them are
seen together, it is almost always in attendance upon the king whom they
constantly precede upon his journeys.

The inferior spearmen of Sennacherib are armed nearly like those of
Sargon. They have crested helmets, plain tunics confined at the waist by
a broad girdle, cross-belts ornamented with circular disks where they
meet in the centre of the breast, and, most commonly, round wicker
shields. The chief points wherein they differ from Sargon's spearmen is
the following: they usually (though not universally) wear trousers and
greaves; they have sleeves to their tunics, winch descend nearly to the
elbow; and they carry sometimes, instead of the round shield, a long
convex one arched at the top. [PLATE XCIX., fig. 4.] Where they have not
this defence, but the far commoner targe, it is always of larger
dimensions than the targe of Sargon, and is generally surrounded by a
rim. [PLATE XCIX., Fig. 4.] Sometimes it appears to be of metal: but
more often it is of wickerwork, either of the plain construction common
in Sargon's time, or of one considerably more elaborate.

Among the foot soldiers of Sennacherib we seem to find a corps of
pioneers. They wear the same dress as the better equipped of the
spearmen, but carry in their hands, instead of a spear, a doubled-headed
axe or hatchet, wherewith they clear the ground for the passage and
movements of the army. They work in pairs, one pulling at the tree by
its branches while the other attacks the stem with his weapon.

After Sennacherib's time we find but few alterations in the equipment of
the foot soldiers. Esarhaddon has left us no sculptures, and in those of
his son and successor, Asshur-bani pal, the costumes of Sennacherib are
for the most part