There is reason to believe that the Sassanian monarchs took a pleasure also in the pastime of hawking.  It has been already noticed that among the officers of the court was a “Head Falconer,” who must have presided over this species of sport.  Hawking was of great antiquity in the East, and appears to have been handed down uninterruptedly from remote times to the present day.  We may reasonably conjecture that the ostriches and pheasants, if not the peacocks also, kept in the royal preserves, were intended to be used in this pastime, the hawks being flown at them if other game proved to be scarce.

The monarchs also occasionally amused themselves in their leisure hours by games.  The introduction of chess from India by the great Chosroes (Anushirwan) has already been noticed; and some authorities state that the same monarch brought into use also a species of tric-trac or draughts.  Unfortunately we have no materials for determining the exact form of the game in either case, the Sassanian remains containing no representation of such trivial matters.

In the character of their warfare, the Persians of the Sassanian period did not greatly differ from the same people under the Achaemenian kings.  The principal changes which time had brought about were an almost entire disuse of the war chariot, [PLATE XLVI.  Fig. 3.] and the advance of the elephant corps into a very prominent and important position.  Four main arms of the service were recognized, each standing on a different level:  viz. the elephants, the horse, the archers, and the ordinary footmen.  The elephant corps held the first position.  It was recruited from India, but was at no time very numerous.  Great store was set by it; and in some of the earlier battles against the Arabs the victory was regarded as gained mainly by this arm of the service.  It acted with best effect in an open and level district; but the value put upon it was such that, however rough, mountainous, and woody the country into which the Persian arms penetrated, the elephant always accompanied the march of the Persian troops, and care was taken to make roads by which it could travel.  The elephant corps was under a special chief, known as the Zend-hapet, or “Commander of the Indians,” either because the beasts came from that country, or because they were managed by natives of Hindustan.

[Illustration:  PLATE XLVI.]

The Persian cavalry in the Sassanian period seems to have been almost entirely of the heavy kind. [PLATE XLVI., Fig. 4.] We hear nothing during these centuries of those clouds of light horse which, under the earlier Persian and under the Parthian monarchy, hung about invading or retreating armies, countless in their numbers, agile in their movements, a terrible annoyance at the best of times, and a fearful peril under certain circumstances.  The Persian troops which pursued Julian were composed of heavily armed cavalry, foot archers, and elephants; and the only light horse of