Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

CYRUS' ARMY. 25are unquestionably dressed up. But it has none the less asgreat value as it has charm.The Persians fought mainly on foot. There were fewhorses in Persia proper.But Cyrus found cavalry necessaryagainst the Asiatics, who had much which was excellent.collected ten thousand horsemen from various sources, andat Thymbra used the body to good advantage.HeThis was theorigin of the superb Persian cavaliy of later days. The foothad bows, slings, darts and small shields, to begin with, butgradually bettered these weapons asthey hewed their way intoAsia, andthereafter used battle-axes and swords,and wore helmet and mail. Thus,from what was at first but a species oflight infantry grew up a later body ofheavy foot, in addition to much thatremained light.The Persian foot hadbeen marshaled thirty deep ; Cyrusreduced it to twelve ranks.The cavahywas divided in a similar manner,— the bulk was light horse, comingmainly from the nomad allies ;a lesserpart was heavy-armed. Cyrus alsohad scythed-chariots, and Xenophon describes at the battleof Thymbra the use of towers on wheels, filled with armedmen, together with other curious devices, and camels carryingarchers and catapults, — questionable but interestingassertions.Pei'sian Warrior.In the art of fortification and sieges the Persians had madelittle or no advance, but they learned something from theMedes and other Asiatics, and gradually acquired the use ofcatapidts and rams. But stratagem, as at Sardis after thebattle of Thymbra, had generally to be put into practice to