3.] The Assyrian armies were abundantly supplied with these engines, of which we see as many as seven engaged in a single siege.

They were variously designed and arranged.

Some had a head shaped like the point of a spear; others, one more resembling the end of a blunderbuss.

All of them were covered with a frame-work, which was of ozier, wood, felt, or skins, for the better protection of those who worked the implement; but some appear to have been stationary, having their framework resting on the ground itself, while others were moveable, being provided with wheels, which in the early times were six, but in the later times four only.

Again, sometimes, combined with the ram and its framework was a moveable tower containing soldiers, who at once fought the enemy on a level, and protected the engine from their attacks.